public works engineering - geodatabases, the common ... · advantages of the geodatabase become...

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The release of ArcGIS™ has introduced a new technology, that of GeoDatabases. Two of the prime impacts of the GeoDatabase are (a) the pro- vision of an efficient environment for multi-user and multi-departmental use, and (b) the ability to store multiple data sources in a single database. The former is particularly applicable to Public Works agencies, and consulting engineers that pro- vide services to such agencies, while the latter fa- cilitates the management and maintenance of spa- tial as well as tabular data. Typically, the MIS/GIS department of a munici- pality maintains the municipality’s GIS, while the Public Works department relies on the MIS/GIS department to provide pertinent information for planning and design needs. This sometimes can lead to a “turnaround”issue, by which, based upon work load, needed information may be somewhat slow in forthcoming. This is where the GeoData- base provides a solution. Using the GeoDatabase, Public Works engineers can view, or “check out” GIS information without assistance from MIS or GIS staff, and proceed with the application(s) at hand using the latest available GIS data. The City of Oklahoma City is one example of a City that has implemented an enterprise ArcGIS solution. In the early 1990’s, the City installed several licenses of workstation ArcInfo ® , on a Unix based platform, and over the years has built a comprehensive GIS, which is utilized by a variety of departments, the Engineering Divi- sion of the Department of Water and Wastewa- ter Utilities being one of them. In building its GIS, the City took the extra effort to ensure that the GIS could be used not only for planning and general information analysis purposes, but also for in-house engineering design applications. To accomplish this goal the City had to create a very precise GIS, which at that point of time was a fairly unique approach to take. As a re- sult of taking this approach, the City has cre- ated a comprehensive and dynamic database that is used to manage and meet the ever evolving needs of its infrastructure (streets, sewers, wa- ter, and other components). Over the last year or so the City has migrated from workstation ArcInfo to the ArcGIS environment, on a Windows XP platform, and converted their coverage based GIS into an Oracle based Geo- Public Works Engineering - GeoDatabases, the Common Denominator Database. When the City converted to the ArcGIS environment, the Engineering Division, as well as all of the other departments which utilized GIS data, also had to convert in order to continue using the City’s GIS. One of the soft- ware packages used by the division is CEDRA- AVland™ . This software package provides the City with Civil Engineering design capabilities directly within ArcGIS. Since the City’s GIS is of engineering design pre- cision, the Engineering Division relies heavily upon the use of GIS data. This data include right-of-way, buildings, contours, water lines, wastewater and storm water sewer lines and many other layers of data which comprise the City’s base map data. All of this information resides on a server to which the Engineering Division’s engineers have access. From a cen- tral repository on the server engineers are able to view and/or download information relevant to their work. To facilitate the map preparation process for use in the City’s in-house design projects, the City sur- vey department developed an extensive point and line coding scheme, which when processed with the CEDRA-AVland software produces a com- plete, annotated, topographic map. Field surveys are conducted in the Oklahoma State Plane coor- dinate system so that survey information can over- lay directly upon the City’s GIS data. As part of the preparation of the topographic map, the City requires that existing feature descriptions (topo notes) appear along, and offset, from the survey base line. This approach leaves the plan sheet area, within the confines of a new design, available for construction information. This form of base survey map preparation, as produced by CEDRA-AVland, is common among many engineering design offices. With the topographic map mass generated, the advantages of the GeoDatabase become apparent during the design process. A typical Engineering Division projects involves a street center line, or as commonly referred to as an alignment. Utiliz- ing the Personal GeoDatabase (PGD), the CE- DRA-AVland software creates a PGD for each alignment that is being designed. Within the PGD, the software stores the horizontal geom- etry of the street alignment, its vertical align- ment, cross-sections, profiles, and all annota- tion associated with the street center line. In addition, the information stored in the PGD con- tains elevation data (Z’s). As such, the 3D Ana- lyst™ can be used to display three-dimensional images of the project. Thus, the designer in a single PGD has all of the relevant information associated with the street center line with the individual components of the alignment being stored as separate data sets. Working entirely within an ArcMap™ docu- ment, an engineer is able to interactively tran- scribe deeds, carry out general coordinate geom- etry (COGO), design roadway alignments, ex- tract original ground cross sections and profiles along any alignment, design new roadway pro- files, introduce typical roadway sections (tem- plates), generate individual or multi-surface (ex- isting and proposed conditions) roadway cross sections, develop existing and proposed road- way contours and merge them to create a new ground model, and compute earthwork quanti- ties. Applications, previously performed in stand-alone or CAD systems, can now be per- formed within ArcGIS. Based on the principle that drafting should be a by-product of the design process, a major por- tion of the drafting of the new roadway design is done by the engineer during the design phase using CEDRA-AVland from within ArcMap. The engineer focuses on the design process, and upon completion produces the desired drawing information. This includes the alignment sta- tioning , horizontal curve and profile annota- Plan view of new water main design (Courtesy of the City of Oklahoma City Department of Water and Wastewater Utilities - Engineering Division) tion, vertical curve tables, and any profile re- lated information. In addition to the automation of the drafting of design information, CEDRA-AVland provides the ability to carry out general drafting opera- tions, such as typical roadway sections and most any other detail from within ArcMap, and gen- erate drafted plan and profile sheets, as well as detail sheets for construction pur- poses. Again, the PGD is used to store individual de- tails with a detail drawing being noth- ing more than a col- lection of PGD’s. Although not of di- rect interest to Pub- lic Works agencies, CEDRA-AVland provides engineers who are involved in land development projects (subdivi- sion design) with the ability to introduce local zoning geomet- ric regulations, and automatically subdi- vide in mass blocks of land into lots in accord with said zoning regu- lations. In addition, the engineer can introduce house envelopes, and mass annotate lots with their metes and bounds, lot numbers and areas, storing all of this information in a PGD. Utilizing ArcMap and a GeoDatabase approach, in conjunction with CEDRA-AVland, a Civil En- gineer now has available a GIS based design tool. Portion of annotated street profile Existing and proposed cross-sections Detail drafting (manhole) Profile of new water main design (Courtesy of the City of Oklahoma City Department of Water and Wastewater Utilities - Engineering Division) CEDRA-AVland™ for ArcGIS™ , a new software announcement by The CEDRA Press, an imprint of The CEDRA Corporation © 2003

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Page 1: Public Works Engineering - GeoDatabases, the Common ... · advantages of the GeoDatabase become apparent during the design process. A typical Engineering Division projects involves

The release of ArcGIS™ has introduced a newtechnology, that of GeoDatabases. Two of theprime impacts of the GeoDatabase are (a) the pro-vision of an efficient environment for multi-userand multi-departmental use, and (b) the ability tostore multiple data sources in a single database.The former is particularly applicable to PublicWorks agencies, and consulting engineers that pro-vide services to such agencies, while the latter fa-cilitates the management and maintenance of spa-tial as well as tabular data.

Typically, the MIS/GIS department of a munici-pality maintains the municipality’s GIS, while thePublic Works department relies on the MIS/GISdepartment to provide pertinent information forplanning and design needs. This sometimes canlead to a “turnaround” issue, by which, based uponwork load, needed information may be somewhatslow in forthcoming. This is where the GeoData-base provides a solution. Using the GeoDatabase,Public Works engineers can view, or “check out”GIS information without assistance from MIS orGIS staff, and proceed with the application(s) athand using the latest available GIS data.

The City of Oklahoma City is one example of aCity that has implemented an enterprise ArcGISsolution. In the early 1990’s, the City installedseveral licenses of workstation ArcInfo®, on aUnix based platform, and over the years hasbuilt a comprehensive GIS, which is utilized bya variety of departments, the Engineering Divi-sion of the Department of Water and Wastewa-ter Utilities being one of them. In building itsGIS, the City took the extra effort to ensure thatthe GIS could be used not only for planning andgeneral information analysis purposes, but alsofor in-house engineering design applications. To

accomplish this goal the City had to create avery precise GIS, which at that point of timewas a fairly unique approach to take. As a re-sult of taking this approach, the City has cre-ated a comprehensive and dynamic database thatis used to manage and meet the ever evolvingneeds of its infrastructure (streets, sewers, wa-ter, and other components).

Over the last year or so the City has migrated fromworkstation ArcInfo to the ArcGIS environment,on a Windows XP platform, and converted theircoverage based GIS into an Oracle based Geo-

Public Works Engineering - GeoDatabases, the Common Denominator

Database. When the City converted to theArcGIS environment, the Engineering Division,as well as all of the other departments whichutilized GIS data, also had to convert in order tocontinue using the City’s GIS. One of the soft-ware packages used by the division is CEDRA-AVland™ . This software package provides theCity with Civil Engineering design capabilitiesdirectly within ArcGIS.

Since the City’s GIS is of engineering design pre-cision, the Engineering Division relies heavilyupon the use of GIS data. This data includeright-of-way, buildings, contours, water lines,wastewater and storm water sewer lines andmany other layers of data which comprise theCity’s base map data. All of this informationresides on a server to which the EngineeringDivision’s engineers have access. From a cen-tral repository on the server engineers are ableto view and/or download information relevantto their work.

To facilitate the map preparation process for usein the City’s in-house design projects, the City sur-vey department developed an extensive point andline coding scheme, which when processed withthe CEDRA-AVland software produces a com-plete, annotated, topographic map. Field surveysare conducted in the Oklahoma State Plane coor-dinate system so that survey information can over-lay directly upon the City’s GIS data.

As part of the preparation of the topographic map,the City requires that existing feature descriptions(topo notes) appear along, and offset, from thesurvey base line. This approach leaves the plansheet area, within the confines of a new design,

available for construction information. This formof base survey map preparation, as producedby CEDRA-AVland, is common among manyengineering design offices.

With the topographic map mass generated, theadvantages of the GeoDatabase become apparentduring the design process. A typical EngineeringDivision projects involves a street center line, oras commonly referred to as an alignment. Utiliz-ing the Personal GeoDatabase (PGD), the CE-DRA-AVland software creates a PGD for eachalignment that is being designed. Within the

PGD, the software stores the horizontal geom-etry of the street alignment, its vertical align-ment, cross-sections, profiles, and all annota-tion associated with the street center line. Inaddition, the information stored in the PGD con-tains elevation data (Z’s). As such, the 3D Ana-lyst™ can be used to display three-dimensionalimages of the project. Thus, the designer in asingle PGD has all of the relevant information

associated with the street center line with theindividual components of the alignment beingstored as separate data sets.

Working entirely within an ArcMap™ docu-ment, an engineer is able to interactively tran-scribe deeds, carry out general coordinate geom-etry (COGO), design roadway alignments, ex-tract original ground cross sections and profilesalong any alignment, design new roadway pro-files, introduce typical roadway sections (tem-plates), generate individual or multi-surface (ex-isting and proposed conditions) roadway crosssections, develop existing and proposed road-way contours and merge them to create a newground model, and compute earthwork quanti-ties. Applications, previously performed instand-alone or CAD systems, can now be per-formed within ArcGIS.

Based on the principle that drafting should be aby-product of the design process, a major por-tion of the drafting of the new roadway design isdone by the engineer during the design phaseusing CEDRA-AVland from within ArcMap.

The engineer focuses on the design process, andupon completion produces the desired drawinginformation. This includes the alignment sta-tioning , horizontal curve and profile annota-

Plan view of new water main design(Courtesy of the City of Oklahoma City

Department of Water and Wastewater Utilities - Engineering Division)

tion, vertical curve tables, and any profile re-lated information.

In addition to the automation of the drafting ofdesign information, CEDRA-AVland providesthe ability to carry out general drafting opera-tions, such as typical roadway sections and mostany other detail from within ArcMap, and gen-erate drafted plan and profile sheets, as well as

detail sheets forconstruction pur-poses. Again, thePGD is used tostore individual de-tails with a detaildrawing being noth-ing more than a col-lection of PGD’s.

Although not of di-rect interest to Pub-lic Works agencies,C E D R A - AVlandprovides engineerswho are involved inland developmentprojects (subdivi-sion design) with theability to introducelocal zoning geomet-ric regulations, andautomatically subdi-vide in mass blocks

of land into lots in accord with said zoning regu-lations. In addition, the engineer can introducehouse envelopes, and mass annotate lots withtheir metes and bounds, lot numbers and areas,storing all of this information in a PGD.

Utilizing ArcMap and a GeoDatabase approach,in conjunction with CEDRA-AVland, a Civil En-gineer now has available a GIS based design tool.

Portion of annotated street profile

Existing and proposed cross-sections

Detail drafting (manhole)

Profile of new water main design(Courtesy of the City of Oklahoma City

Department of Water and Wastewater Utilities - Engineering Division)

CEDRA-AVland™ for ArcGIS™ , a new software announcement by The CEDRA Press, an imprint of The CEDRA Corporation © 2003◆◆◆◆ ◆◆◆◆