Solution tools to help configure maps for the Utility Network
Creating maps has always been an important aspect of providing value with a GIS. Even with the proliferation of web and mobile GIS apps, the foundation of most of these experiences is configuring a map that presents users with the information they need. Did you know that the ArcGIS Solutions team has created several productivity tools that help make creating, configuring, and deploying maps easier? This will highlight several important tools included in the Utility Data Management Support tools (UDMS) from the ArcGIS Solutions team that will make your life easier.
If you’re not familiar with the Utility Data Management Support tool you can access their documentation and downloads for each release of ArcGIS through the above link. The tools we will be discussing in this article are:
- Update Data Sources
- Map Layers to CSV
- Set Field Properties to CSV
- Configure UN Layer
Before we begin looking at these tools, let’s look at a feature included in ArcGIS Pro that helps make it easier to configure different maps.
Copy and Paste Properties
When creating a map for a project you are typically taking configuration from one or more existing maps, merging them, then adding new configuration on top of the resulting product. Most users are familiar with saving/loading layer files or copying layers between maps to achieve this, but did you know that you can also copy and paste the properties between two layers?
This feature lets you take the configuration of one layer and paste all the properties onto another layer, even if they are pointed at different feature classes. If you attempt to copy and paste the properties between two layers that are too different, like a point and line feature class, you will receive an error:
However, in these cases it is still possible to copy some of the properties between the layers. The Paste Properties command has a flyout menu that lets you select which property you want to paste onto the layer. Using this menu will allow you to paste supported properties between different types of layers, if the property is available on both layer types.
This trick is especially useful for pasting definition queries between layers, since having consistent definition queries between layers allows you to multiselect layers and change all their definition queries at the same time.
Next up, we’ll look at a tool that makes it easier to take already configure maps and deploy them to multiple environments.
Update Data Sources
As GIS and IT professionals we often share our work across multiple environments. Maybe you maintain internal and external-facing copies of the same map, or more commonly you may maintain a staging environment that mirrors your production deployment. When you make a change in one of these environments and need to promote it to the other the most efficient way of doing this is to take the map you want to copy, point it to the appropriate environment, then replace/overwrite the map in the target environment.
A key part of this process is to update all the data sources in the map to point to the correct environment. For maps that contain many layers, or subtype group layers, this can be a tedious and slow process. This is where the Update Data Sources tool comes into play. It lets you choose one or more maps in your project and point them to a specific workspace. The tool even allows you to repoint maps between local (file or mobile) geodatabases, enterprise geodatabases, and even feature services.
Field Properties
When we think about configuring maps it’s easy to think that its all about symbology and labeling but properly configuring the fields in a map is arguably just as, if not more important. Because each map is designed to meet the needs of a specific set of users it’s important that we only present attribute information to users that is relevant to their workflow. An important part of creating a curated experience is to:
- Hide fields that aren’t relevant to the workflow
- Order visible fields in a way that is meaningful to users
- Highlight any fields that require user attention
- Ensure all the fields required for contingent values are visible
Going through this process with a handful of layers, with a handful of fields, for a few maps is straightforward; what do you do when your GIS contains hundreds of layers with hundreds of fields and hundreds of maps? You need something to work more effectively. This is where there are several tools that can help make the process easier, and more efficient.
The first tool to look at is the Map Layers to CSV tool.
This tool allows you to export the field property configuration of a given map to a CSV file. However, the spreadsheet isn’t just used for informational purposes. Once you’ve exported this file you can easily review the field configuration for a map and make the necessary adjustments to the various field properties (visibility, display order, highlighting, alias, etc).
After populating the spreadsheet, you can then use the Set Field Properties to CSV tool to apply the configuration in the CSV back to the original map.
This approach has two main benefits. First, it allows you to quickly make a significant number of changes to the configuration of a map. Secondly, it allows you to save a copy of your desired configuration locally so you can easily review it with customers, apply it to other projects, or track how it has changed over time.
Popup configurations are typically configured to match the field properties of a layer, so make sure you configure your field properties before you adjust your popups to save yourself time!
Configure UN Layers
All the tools up until this point have been applicable to any map, but this next tool is unique to the utility network. However, the next tool is designed specifically to add information about the utility network to a map that contains layers and tables that belong to a utility network.
The Configure Utility Network Layers tool allows you to add information to the popups, labels, and definition queries to the utility network layers in a given map. This additional information is very useful for GIS administrators and super-users who are first learning the utility network. This configuration typically isn’t added to maps used by most users because the extra information it adds is not meaningful to their needs or in some cases there may be a performance cost associated with loading the popup. When a configuration has a possible performance impact, it will be noted below.
The tool has options to add five different pieces of information to a layer, let’s examine what each of these looks like.
Rule Popup
This option adds a section to the bottom of a popup that will show all the network rules associated with the feature. This information is useful when new users are trying to learn what types of features are allowed to be connected or related to each other and is especially useful when trying to work through invalid connectivity errors.
Category Popup
What features are allowed to act as controllers in the network? What kind of equipment serves a protective or isolation role in the network? Each utility network contains a mix of system-defined and user-defined network categories that allow you to answer these questions.
By adding Network Categories to the popup for a feature you can better understand that feature’s role within the network.
Subnetwork Popup
When looking at the subnetwork information on a feature we can only see the subnetworks that it belongs to. However, when trying to understand the larger picture it is often useful to understand relationships between the current feature’s subnetwork(s) and other subnetworks in the system.
By adding Subnetwork information to the popup, you will see information about any subnetworks adjacent to the current subnetwork. When a feature belongs to subnetworks in different tiers, you will see the information listed for each tier that it belongs to. This situation is more common for hierarchical domain networks but also happens for subnetwork controllers in partitioned domain networks that exist at the boundaries between two tiers (i.e. Distribution and Transmission).
Note: This configuration can impact the performance of loading the popup because the expression queries the feature layers to identify adjacent subnetworks.
Category Display Filter
Seeing the Network Category assigned to a feature is useful, but when familiarizing yourself with your data it is often useful to visualize the network categories as well. The Category Display Filter will add display filters to the map that allow you to toggle between different network categories you are interested in.
This is a quick way to understand the roles of different features in your map (Subnetwork Controller, Isolation, etc.) without needing to review thousands of popups.
Note: This configuration can impact the performance of drawing the map at small scales. This is because a display filter is a client-side filter, which means that all the features within the extent of the map must be loaded from the database but only the ones that match the expression will be displayed.
Terminal Popup
Asset Types that have a Terminal Configuration assigned to them allow a device or junction object to have explicit, predefined Terminals that other features can use to connect to them. This is useful when you need to distinguish the inlet and outlet ports of a device that sets or regulates pressure, a device that is stepping up/down the voltage of electricity, or when you need to distinguish between the lines connected to either side of a device.
Adding the Terminal Configuration information to the popup for a feature makes it quick to see which features have terminals, whether those terminals are directional (upstream/downstream), and whether the device itself has internal paths that can affect tracing through the device.
Conclusion
If you’re interested in discovering more tools to help with utility network projects, check out the Utility Data Management Support Tools GitHub page for the full list. You can also learn about more tools to help with data modeling/migration as well as reporting.
If you have specific questions about how to solve different workflows, please visit the ArcGIS Utility Network channel on the Esri Community site. This is a large community with thousands of active members.
