Latest Contributions by ChrisDonohue__GISP

I have to admit, official Canadian documents are certainly more interesting than American ones with the inclusion of these cartoons: Figure 1: 9-1-1 is a brand with different outcomes across the country Source:  A Report on Matters Related to Emergency 9-1-1 | CRTC Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

Question for Darren (that is definitely answerable).  If there is an emergency in Canada, do people dial 911 on ones phone like they do in the United States to report it?  Being a different country, I wasn't sure if it Canada used the same standard/process. Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

This looks like something Joe Borgione might know as part of his emergency response work. Also, adding Darren Wiens on the off chance he knows as he lives in your part of the world. Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

For folks who are curious about what stream ordering is, here's some information: How Stream Order Works ArcGIS Help 10.1 Strahler number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Food for thought: If one were to run the entire Mississippi River drainage, think about the value differences between the Shreve and Strahler ordering for the same segment of the Mississippi River near New Orleans.  The Shreve system would result in a slightly higher value....  Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

I wonder if the cell size is being defaulted too coarse as the data gets processed.  Are you employing Environments Settings when running the tools?  I would check these in any event, as they sometimes default to settings that cause unexpected results. Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

Minor request, but may help with troubleshooting - are you trying for a specific stream order system, like Shreve or Strahler? order_method (Optional) The method used for assigning stream order. STRAHLER — The method of stream ordering proposed by Strahler in 1952. Stream order only increases when streams of the same order intersect. Therefore, the intersection of a first-order and second-order link will remain a second-order link, rather than creating a third-order link. This is the default. SHREVE — The method of stream ordering by magnitude, proposed by Shreve in 1967. All links with no tributaries are assigned a magnitude (order) of one. Magnitudes are additive downslope. When two links intersect, their magnitudes are added and assigned to the downslope link. Source:  ArcGIS Help 10.1 Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

I'll second what Joe Borgione said.  Mileage is nice, but response time will ultimately be more important. As Joe mentions, plan for this to be an interative process.  Do a run, check the results, research where things went awry, tweak the network.  Rinse and repeat. Field check the results.  For example, don't assume the street centerline you were given is correct in its assignments of which streets are one-way. And even once it is solid, realize other organizations will do things over time that will cause you to have to update your network on a regular basis.  Some examples:  new development, road alterations, implementation of "street calming" measures. In the longer term, I would also highly recommend going over to see your Dispatch folks and see what it looks like from their perspective.  Not only can they show you examples of where the system isn't working as well as expected, but you can also get unique insight from them that will allow you to then tweak the network to provide better results. Ben - Sorry if I bombarded you with too much information - but just wanted to pass on some words of wisdom learned the hard way.... Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

One more bit to add.  If you haven't done Network Analysis before, be aware it can take a bit of time to figure out.  It's an odd duck of an extension, having originally been designed by another firm then bought and rebranded by ESRI.  The result of this is the way it operates is different in several ways than other extensions.  Plus the instructions in some cases are worded using terminology that is used differently in other parts of ESRI software, which can add to the confusion. So I'd take some time to run through the tutorials and get your feet wet before doing your analysis.  Also, if your organization has funds, the Network Analysis class given by ESRI Training is a good way to get going.  In particular, if the requested analysis is considered life-critical, I would lobby hard for training and also the time to do a solid analysis. Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

Some particulars to add beyond the information Dan Patterson provided: Make sure your Street Network is solid before running this.  My experience is that it is not hard to build a network, but to actually build a good network that provides realistic results can take a considerable amount of time.  There are a variety of issues that come up when putting together a street network that works with Network Analyst, so be sure to check the data thoroughly before hitting the "Solve" button on the Network Analyst toolbar.  In particular, make sure you have connectivity between all your linework as expected.  Additionally, double-check all the network-specific attributes, like for example "OneWay", as it is easy for a few attributing mistakes to totally sink an analysis. More resources: Network Analyst Tutorial http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/pdf/network-analyst-tutorial.pdf Tutorial - Network analysis data prep https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=23&ved=0CCkQFjACOBRqFQoTCP_Rz9fCwMgCFUfyYwodJeUCow&url=htt… Network analysis - 99% data cleanup and 1% analysis Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

An potential alternative: Would Copy Raster (Data Management) work better than using Raster Calculator?  In Copy Raster, there is a Pixel Type (optional) setting that looks like it could be used to control the output. Pixel type (Optional) Determines the bit depth of the output raster dataset. If left unspecified, the output bit depth will be the same as the input. There will be no rescaling of the raster values when a different pixel type is chosen. If the pixel type is demoted (lowered), the raster values outside the valid range for that pixel depth will be truncated and lost. 1_BIT—A 1-bit unsigned integer. The values can be 0 or 1. 2_BIT—A 2-bit unsigned integer. The values supported can be from 0 to 3. 4_BIT—A 4-bit unsigned integer. The values supported can be from 0 to 15. 8_BIT_UNSIGNED—An unsigned 8-bit data type. The values supported can be from 0 to 255. 8_BIT_SIGNED—A signed 8-bit data type. The values supported can be from -128 to 127. 16_BIT_UNSIGNED—A 16-bit unsigned data type. The values can range from 0 to 65,535. 16_BIT_SIGNED—A 16-bit signed data type. The values can range from -32,768 to 32,767. 32_BIT_UNSIGNED—A 32-bit unsigned data type. The values can range from 0 to 4,294,967,295. 32_BIT_SIGNED—A 32-bit signed data type supported by GRID. The values can range from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647. 32_BIT_FLOAT—A 32-bit data type supporting decimals. 64_BIT—A 64-bit data type supporting decimals. Source:  Copy Raster (Data Management) h EDIT - scratch that - it looks like you already tried that. Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

You may already be doing this, but if not: Reference the same layer twice. Use a Definition Query each layer to separate out the lines that look fine from the lines that dissippear.  Example.  Shape.length<100 for one (the "dissippearing lines") and Shape.length >=100 for the other. Symbolize each differently. To provide discernable lines throughout a wide variety of viewing ranges, you also may have to employ multiple layer references of the "dissippearing lines" and not only use the definition query but employ Scale Dependency as suggested by Darren Wiens Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

Here's a link to the ESRI Training SIte.  Their is a email and contact phone number on the right side near the top (under "Speak with a Specialist".  I would contact them, as they could guide you through this issue. Common Questions Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

Thanks for your input Chad.  The part you mentioned about knowing the specific department and program besides knowing GIS reminds me of one of your poll categories "Know the Business".  In other words, one has a better shot at a job if one can find out the role and purpose of the department and program (besides just showing one is competent in GIS). Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

If your dataset is static (not edited often), a workaround could be to select only the segments that are "disappearing", then use Feature to Point (Data Management) to make a separate point feature class from them. ArcGIS Help 10.1 Caveat:  this requires an Advanced license. Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more

OK, time to resurrect this thread, as I think my poor choice in timing (Friday night just before the Holidays) led to a lack of response.  Hopefully it is not because there are few GIS Managers on GeoNet (thought that is possible). GIS Hiring Managers - how do you go about deciding on a candidate to fill a position you have open? Chris Donohue, GISP ... View more