topic Re: Tier question for non-contiguous systems in ArcGIS Utility Network Questions

Tier question for non-contiguous systems

KJ_GIS — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 18:55:43 GMT

Hi, I have a general organization question I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction on. My water utility has a large "main" distribution system as well as some "satellite" systems around our periphery. The satellite systems are relatively close, but aren't physically connected to our main system and have their own sources, etc. What's the best practice to model this within tiers, etc. in UN?

thank you!

Re: Tier question for non-contiguous systems

RobertKrisher — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:34:57 GMT

In utility network terms, these satellite systems would be considered 'disjoint' (and each system or pressure zone is called a subnetwork). The utility network can be configured to allow disjoint subnetworks, and the water models provided by Esri have this enabled by default.

This allows you to model all your satellite networks as a single system, or as multiple systems depending on your preferences and business requirements. The same decision can be made for pressure zones, but it's more common that pressure zones are modeled as separate, smaller subnetworks instead of one large disjoint subnetwork.

Re: Tier question for non-contiguous systems

KJ_GIS — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 17:46:22 GMT

Hi Robert, thank you for the information! If I wanted to experiment with both those options (sounds like I don't need to do anything for the first option (single system), for the second option of multiple systems, what modifications would I need to make given that I'd want each system to have its own subnetworks (pressure zones)?

Re: Tier question for non-contiguous systems

RobertKrisher — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 19:04:50 GMT

This setting is controlled by the Set Subnetwork Definition tool. The difference between the two options is that if you create a situation in which the subnetwork controllers for a subnetwork are disjoint, the system will create a Disjoint Subnetwork subnetwork error when you run Update subnetwork.