Esri Complete Street Rule Discussion-Feedback?

[DavidWasserman]

Hi All,

My name is David Wasserman, the urban planner/programmer that wrote Complete_Street.cga that is featured in the Complete Street Example. I was hoping that if anyone had any comments on the rule or suggestions for changes/features/bug fixes I wanted to provide a forum for that on Geonet. So say what ever comes to your mind, but I would prefer constructive feedback. This could be a forum where everyone could provide input, discussion, and hopefully create a better rule. If you want to discuss transportation/parking/urban planning rules generally for CityEngine consider hitting this thread first.

I have attached some example renderings for those unfamiliar with the rule and its capabilities. In addition, there is now documentation for the rule available for download here. It is still pretty rough, so feedback is appreciated. In addition to the documentation, there is a new version of the rule posted about here, feedback would be appreciated.

In addition, this is also an ok forum if you are having problems with the rule. If you comment on here, I get buzzed. In the numbered section below I will recount a short summary of problems discussed in this thread.

Kind Regards,
David Wasserman

PS: If you  do anything with the rule or want to share a rendering you made (a nice one), feel free to share your images/experience.

Discovery 1: Webscene issues that were worked out pretty easily, small webscenes work typically better.

Discovery 2: Street rule is not compatible with CE 2013. Its Crosswalks Depend on 2014 UVSpace options, and there is not an ESRI.lib file for 2013. Rule is designed for and works best with the most recent version of CE (2014).
Discovery 3: For road segments to snap, you must make sure they are apart of the same layer. Merge layers if you have snapping problems.

Discovery 4: Short road segments are hard for the street rule to handle at times. A few work around with short segments include: Change crosswalks and stop types to none, making the CrosswalkBegin/End attributes a negative number, manipulating nodes to be longer, or deleting unnecessary nodes to create longer street segments (use simplify graph tool) (Thanks Steve).

Discovery 5: A discussion about curb extensions  and how to make them albeit an unorthodox way is both below and on this thread.

Discovery 6: Bridges have a minimum height requirement to generate (structure just does not make sense below a certain height). Also if you want Piers to appear regardless of Occlusion settings use On, Show All Piers. If it still does not work try: Making a new segment to test the rule one, restarting CE, or re-importing the road layer and starting again.

Discovery 7: When cropping or re-sizing your aerial for your CE project chances are you will need to georeference the image to your geography or another aerial. Georeferencing an aerial in ArcMAP will take on the ArcMAP scene projection but that is not enough. Be sure to use the "Project Raster" in the Toolbox and this will ensure proper scale and placement for your CE scene.

Discovery 8: Mapped Attributes: IF you map the streetWidth or sidewalk street parameters, and you want to adjust them after the fact you must change both the mapped object attribute AND the shape parameter. See responses below for details.

Discovery 9: Handles - Recent editions to the rule in 2017 have started to support handles for traffic lights and streetlights for more custom edits that were typically reserved for photoshop. If you have any suggestions for handles please add a comment. 

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Notice: 1: There is a 2015 Version of the Complete Street rule. There was a bug in the street rule that did not make it work in 2015, and in this version of the rule the bug is fixed. It should work in 2014 as well as 2015 versions of CE.

[DavidWasserman]

Totally missed these replies.

Yes haha you got it. I am still experimenting with dealing with some of these issues (geometry functions I change out in the spare time).

You honestly know the street rule pretty well at this point. 😃

[DavidWasserman]

Huh, actually changing intersections to crossing tends to make the rule functions a lot better at intersections just so you know... I am working with the rule too ATM. Just make sure you don't change other intersection types. It makes more complex intersections more manageable.

[DavidWasserman]

Hi Steve!

I thought it could help with the intersection, I am not sure how it will work for for the land access points. Even that was a guess. It does look good. I am going to take a look at this more later. To be honest, the bicycle conflict spacing almost got removed because I was worried about bugs (and it was not a perfect solution how I made it).

Yes, I was hoping it would help us find the problem streets. Yes, I know exactly why it is shifted. Notice how the red extend into the intersection...it is because the rule thinks the street is wider than it actually is. You can either adjust corner radii, adjust Crosswalk_Begin/End, change crossing type, or create a buffer and turn that buffer to asphalt to fill it in and shift the road (last one not suggested). This is a perfect example of the UVspace, Unitspace conflicts I have run into creating this rule...it is a headache and I am sorry you have to share it.  Sometimes it is an issue sometimes it is not. =/

David

[SteveRhyne]

Not a bad headache to have. I wouldn't even call it a headache. This is good stuff and this only creates opportunity to further enhance this awesome rule you have created.

[DavidWasserman]

Thanks. 😃

[DavidWasserman]

Hey Steve,

Just so you know, the crosswalk width will equal the max sidewalk width, so if you widen the sidewalks you widen crosswalks...I abstracted that away because I felt it was right to defer to NACTO on that issue (see number 2). If you want to have crosswalk width be visible though, go into the rule and unhide the crosswalk width attributes I created. 

Happy Street Building,

David

[SteveRhyne]

Sweet!!!... I'm glad you have the option build in. My crosswalks are larger so this will help my scene. Thanks!!

[DavidWasserman]

Its a small thing but I try. There are other hidden attributes too that I added in the last update...just in case people don't like my assumptions. I am thinking about making crosswalk width explicit (not hidden) in the next update.
There are other hidden attributes too that might be worth revealing just do a Cntl+ F in the rule and search @Hidden. They usually have a description with them if I intended them to be revealed by a user if they wanted.
Hope this helps,
David

[Andy_Standley]

Hi. re: Complete Street.CGA (January 2015 version).                                                                                            

I am trying to create bridge piers and managed to get the piers displaying and looking great, then the piers stopped generating. The attributes remain the same. Is there a known issue/workaround to force piers to appear?. Thanks, Andy.

[DavidWasserman]

Yeah Andy, the Piers are interesting in that they include commands to override them in certain circumstances (we had concerns about occlusion settings for the bridge).
What setting are you using? On, Show All Piers should override it.

Are you making a highway by chance? If you are just know that shoulders are available in bicycle buffer settings and in the center section choices.

David