Latest Contributions by TomDeWitte

 DHC2021 Symbols The symbols provided with this style file were created for use with ArcGIS applications. This DHC2021_symbols.stylx file contains symbols create specifically for the District Heating and District Cooling industries. The symbols correlate to the asset types defined in the District Heating and Cooling 2020 Data Model. If you have questions or comments, please post them to this geonet community, so everyone can see and share the information. Thank you Tom DeWitte Esri Technical Lead – District Heating and Cooling Industries  ... View more

By Tom DeWitte Earlier today Esri posted the first ever industry data model for managing District Heating and District Cooling (DHC) pipe systems. This data model continues Esri’s efforts in providing industry specific template data models. The DHC 2020 data model provides District Heating and District Cooling organizations with an implementation ready configuration for Esri Geodatabase data repositories. This data model template is provided as a free download for all to use. Why Create This Data Model The goal of the DHC 2020 data model is to make it easier, quicker, and more cost effective for organizations responsible for the management of District Heating or District Cooling pipe systems to implement the ArcGIS platform. The DHC 2020 data model accomplishes this by freely providing a data model template that demonstrates a best practice configuration of the Esri geodatabase to address the system of record needs of DHC organizations. How was this Data Model Created Creating a new industry data model requires an immense amount of information.  More information than any one person or organization contains. Fortunately, many persons from around the world were willing to share their knowledge and time to help bring this data model to life.  This group effort from organizations big and small, public and private, incorporates hundreds of years of industry knowledge into this data model. Best Practice Application of ArcGIS Technology DHC 2020 was configured to take advantage of the latest capabilities provided by the ArcGIS Technology. This includes recent enhancements such as contingent values, attribute rules, and the Utility Network. In this data model you will find contingent value configurations to restrict the valid types of pipe insulation and pipe material based on whether the pipe transits, steam, condensate, heated water, or chilled water. Included in DHC 2020 are many attribute rules to automate attribute population as well as provide data quality checks. This data model includes utility network subnetwork configurations for defining pressure zones, circulation areas, leak detection zones, cathodic protection zones, and energy zones. And let’s not forget the thousands of connectivity, containment and association rules of the utility network. Industry Business Rules Business rules are a great way to share industry knowledge. Sometimes it is simple, such as ensuring that the maximum operating temperature is greater than the standard operating temperature, or that the in-service date occurred after the date of installation. Others are more complicated, such as knowing when to create a containment association between two assets.  Thanks to the combined knowledge of many persons across the industry, these business rule examples and many more are included with this data model. Sample Data Included in the download file stored on the District Heating and Cooling industry page of geonet in addition to the data model asset package is a sample dataset.  This dataset is fully 3D and provides great examples of the many facilities which participate in a District Heating or District Cooling pipe system.                 Data Dictionary As I noted in my October update, writing a data dictionary is not fun, but it is very important to explaining the what, the how and the why of the data model.  Work on the data dictionary is complete and included in the download file as a PDF document. This data dictionary includes descriptions of each featureclass subtype layer.  For each subtype layer a full description of each attribute that is appropriate is provided. Additionally, the data dictionary includes a listing and description of each attribute rule that is to be included with the data model.   How to Download This data model, its sample data, and data dictionary are available as a single download from the District Heating and Cooling industry page on geonet.  You can download it directly with this link: https://community.esri.com/t5/district-heating-and-cooling/district-heating-and-cooling-data-model-2020-release/ta-p/1008751 As noted previously, this data model is the cumulation of the input of many persons.  This data model can only evolve with your feedback. If you have suggestions for improving this data model or see something that requires correction to help the next person, please reply to this blog and post your feedback, or you can email me directly at: tdewitte@esri.com. ... View more

DHC 2020 Edition This is the official release of the 2020 Edition of the District Heating and Cooling Data Model (DHC2020). It is designed to support data management for the District Heating, Steam and District Cooling industries.  The downloadable files are: -DHC2020_AssetPackage.zip -DHC2020_DataDictionary.pdf The DHC2020_AssetPackage.gdb file geodatabase is an ArcGIS Pro version 2.6 asset package. The asset package includes the data model and the sample data. The data dictionary provides full documentation of the data model. If you have questions, please post them to this geonet community, so everyone can see and share the information. Thank you Tom DeWitte Esri Technical Lead – District Heating and Cooling Industries   ... View more

Attached is a short video showing how the new ArcGIS Field Maps can be for Digital As-Builting.  This demo leverages the arcade scripts to provide construction crews the ability to validate assets prior to installation, and to document installed assets.  This configuration of ArcGIS Field Maps works in both a connected network and a disconnect network. ... View more

Tired of playing GIS gymnastics with multiple data silos of your pipe system data.  Please join us on October 29 th from 12:00pm – 1:00pm U.S. Central time for a presentation followed by live Q&A on using ArcGIS for managing a single digital natural gas pipe system from wellhead to meter.  A pipe system that leverages both linear referencing and connectivity to manage the gas pipe assets. See all the details at: https://imgis2020.esri.com/live-stream/19752784/Unified-Pipe-Data-Management-Managing-Your-Pipe-System-with-UN-and-APR This presentation is part of Esri’s Infrastructure Management and GIS conference. The conference is complementary to all Esri customers that are current on maintenance and subscriptions. ... View more

Wondering how to better manage the Cathodic Protection portion of your pipe system. Please join us October 28 th from 12:00pm – 12:30pm U.S. Central time for a brief 20-minute presentation on using the utility network and attribute rules to simplify data management and enhance capabilities. See all the details at: https://imgis2020.esri.com/exhibitors/11EAFD0B4900378082654F82FCF35551/See-a-Demonstration This presentation is part of Esri’s Infrastructure Management and GIS conference. The conference is complementary to all Esri customers that are current on maintenance and subscriptions. ... View more

This is the second beta release of the District Heating and Cooling Data model.  It is a version 2.6.0 asset package.  This is a specific configuration of a file geodatabase, that when coupled with the Utility Network Package Tools, can be used to create, load and configure a full utility network for this industry.   Please post any comments or suggestions to this geonet site.   Thanks Tom DeWitte Esri Technical Lead District Heating and Cooling ... View more

This is the first beta release of the District Heating and Cooling Data model.  It is a version 2.6.0 asset package.  This is a specific configuration of a file geodatabase, that when coupled with the Utility Network Package Tools, can be used to create, load and configure a full utility network for this industry.   Please post any comments or suggestions to this geonet site.   Thanks Tom DeWitte Esri Technical Lead District Heating and Cooling ... View more

By Anastasiia Savchenko and Tom DeWitte The Esri User Conference is done, and summer is rapidly coming to an end. But progress on the District Heating and Cooling (DHC) data model continues. Since the early July release of Alpha 4, we have been working towards a mid-August release of beta 1. The goal for beta 1 is to have a complete rule base, network attributes, summary attributes, attribute rules and subnetwork definitions. With these additions to the data model we are getting very close to being feature complete. Let's discuss these remaining items in detail. Rules, Rules, Rules          A key component to the Utility Network is its ability to help data editors to enter and update components of the pipe system correctly. This not only improves data quality it also improves editing efficiency by helping editors enter the information correctly the first time.  The upcoming beta release will be the first release with a full set of connectivity rules to join the previously defined sets of containment and attribute rules. Network Attributes Network attributes are the utility network variables that allow summary attributes and trace tasks to be able to leverage a feature’s attributes.  This upcoming release will contain an updated set of network attributes. Summary Attributes   For each unique type of subnetwork, a specific set of summary attributes can be defined. These summary attributes will leverage a network attribute to define the information from the pipe system components to be summarized for a specific subnetwork.  For example, each pressure zone currently has the following summary attributes which the software will automatically tabulate. Total Pipe Length Total Transmission Pipe Length Total Distribution Pipe Length Total Supply Pipe Length Total Return Pipe Length Pipe Volume Number of Valves Number of Pumps Number of Heat Exchangers Number of Expansion Joints Testing and more Testing Before the beta can be released, there needs to be testing of the rule base and testing of integration with the other domain specific data models.  This is an important step to insure that multi-utility organizations are able to easily append this DHC 2020 data model onto electric, gas ,water, and other Esri domain specific data models. Almost Done             There are still a few aspects to modeling District Heating and Cooling systems that need to be completed.  First is understanding how to correctly model a Leak Detection system so it can be created, maintained, and traced with minimal effort and no duplication of data.  Second is the creation of a data dictionary, and third is the creation of a symbology style set. Conclusion             Even though there are still a few outstanding items to complete, this effort is on schedule.  But we are always looking for more volunteers with industry knowledge to help with this effort.  If you work in, or support the Steam, Heated Water, or Chilled Water utility organizations and are interested in joining one of our working groups, please let us know.  You can contact us via geonet or directly via email: tdewitte@esri.com, asavchenko@esri.com . ... View more

This is the fourth alpha release of the District Heating and Cooling Data model.  It is a version 2.5.1 asset package.  This is a specific configuration of a file geodatabase ,that when coupled with the Utility Network Package Tools, can be used to create, load and configure a full utility network for this industry.   Please post any comments or suggestions to this geonet site.   Thanks Tom DeWitte Esri, Inc ... View more

This is the third alpha release of the District Heating and Cooling Data model.  It is a version 2.5.0 asset package.  This is a specific configuration of a file geodatabase ,that when coupled with the Utility Network Package Tools, can be used to create, load and configure a full utility network for this industry.   Please post any comments or suggestions to this geonet site.   Thanks Tom DeWitte Esri, Inc ... View more