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]

Also Kathryn thanks for the curb extension idea...I never thought about using the rule like this...but this really looks like a curb extension. Thanks for experimenting!

Steve Rhyne‌ I thought you would appreciate this. The joint issue is still there, but over all a pretty likely scenario.

David

[KathrynAngleton]

Actually, that's what the rule file did as a result of our nonstandard street widths in Downtown. You pointing out that it's a curb step gave me a great idea though, since a lot of our parking is indented/bulbs (I'm a land use gal, don't know much about the transpo jargon). That will help make our scenes more true to life. Thanks!

[DavidWasserman]

Hi Kathryn,

We both benefited then!

Here is what I was referring to for reference:Curb Extensions | NACTO

I am here to answer questions if you need me.
David

[SteveRhyne]

So I've asked a few questions in this string and I thought it would be helpful to share the project I'm working on and what a street design may involve. Below is a portion of a project I'm working on where we are designing bike and ped improvements. The design is focused on directing bike travel along a safer route and you will notice a 2-way bike lane starting at the right side, traveling north, crossing the northern intersection and then traveling south. I marked areas such as free right-turns or pork chop islands that are challenging to model but are common elements in any roadway design. I've found some work around but hopefully this helps with any future developments of your Awesome Complete Street rule. Also, I've attached a draft version of the CE site.

http://www.arcgis.com/apps/CEWebViewer/viewer.html?3dWebScene=31c92693bb544e30b1b184e88d3a49e3

You will notice you will need to turn on 2 layers to see the improvements. Part of my work around was to create a new layer for the free right-turns.

[DavidWasserman]

Steve, this is simply amazing work. I am glad the rule can be used in this way, and I appreciate you sharing.

I like how you handled the intersection bike lane, I experimented with making bike lane only segments before with similar results. If I may ask, did you try the conflict spacing option for the intersection portion? If that is a separate segment, the spacing option might...might cover the entire intersection...I never tried it with a double bike lane though. Also...I noticed that some of the "empty curb space" was a little large in some parts. If you turn on "flag empty space" it will flag the ones that might be errant roads. If you want to adjust them use the Crosswalk_Begin/End to get it outside the geometry. Still this is great work.

I will use this webscene as a good case study to look at. Thanks Steve.

David

[SteveRhyne]

Thanks. I'm glad you like it and that it's helpful.

Where do I select conflict spacing option and flag empty space? I can't seem to find it.

[DavidWasserman]

Here Steve,

This is Flag Empty Space in Display options. If you hover over it, its description will tell you it will turn the grey portions red when it is greater than laneWidth/3.

Conflict spacing is here. When they are both on it looks like the example below. Notice that the large grey curb gap is flagged red and that the dashed conflict spacing is created. For two way bike lanes...I did not test it much, but it might look somewhat meaningful in the project at that intersection.

I know the rule is complex, and we will be making a video soon to illustrate most* of its features.

Kind Regards,

David

[SteveRhyne]

Got it. Thanks. The bike conflict will work for the intersection but it does't allow the dash to continue through the lanes. Nonetheless, it still works. The driveway locations are more challenging because the dash length starts at the beginning therefor the opposite side is a solid green. You see I have the empty space flagged. That section is the same as the other but for some reason the texture is shifted. Any ideas? I'm wondering if the intersection is driving the shift.

[SteveRhyne]

I changed the radius on the intersection back to 3 meter and the texture shifted back to normal for the street segment.

[SteveRhyne]

AHA!!! Changed the "type" on the intersection node from Smart to Crossing and that fixed it.... Smart..hah!!!