Sewer Lateral Stationing

[GordonBowne]

Hi to All,

I am putting in sewer laterals in our sewer network. Our stationing is measured from the down stream Manhole. Is there a way to automate the stationing? I want to use the "add lateral" tool but it is a guess at the stationing distance. I would also like the process to fill in the distance from into a field the downstream Manhole. Is any of this possible?

Thanks

[JoshuaDamron]

I understand that you have data (likely from a CCTV inspection) that gives you distances from the manhole point to a lateral tap in the mainline.  You want to use this footage data to automate mapping of laterals.  Ideally the process would draw a line from the property to the main at the correct location. (EDIT: I just re-read your post, you said you have stationing... but you don't have the distance from the manhole to the station?  I think I'm missing something...).

If this is correct then I understand what you would like to achieve, I'm not sure ArcGIS will do exactly what you are hoping in one fell swoop.  I'm stepping outside my expertise here so I�??m going to point you in the right direction then bank on others chiming in to clarify the missing links and issues where my assumptions are off.

I have not done this task but I�??ve thought about how it could be done.  For my municipality, we are in the process of purchasing sewer inspection software that will automate mapping point observations along the mainline and create point shape files from the observations as well�?� I guess this was my method of avoiding this issue for the time being.

As I understand it the way to get dots on a line is by setting up linear referencing which works with �??M�?� values,  M values are basically stationing values of a distance along the line.  M values are necessary for working with �??routes.�?�  I know that routes sound like something you would use for vehicle directions but they do a bit more than that.

Here are a few blog posts that I found helpful in understanding how M values & routes work:

http://eaglemap.com/blog/bid/46766/How-to-Calculate-Pipeline-Length-in-ArcMap

http://eaglemap.com/blog/bid/46805/How-to-Add-Measure-Station-Values-to-Pipelines-in-ArcMap

In theory that will get you on your way to placing vertices along a line where they belong in the real world.  I�??m not certain how you turn those into points though.  (EDIT: you may try using the Feature Verticies to Points  tool http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00170000003p000000 ) (this is a good place for someone else to jump in)

Once you have points, the next trick is getting the lines in�?� I know I found a blog or forum post about this a while back but I�??m not sure where it is or what it would be called but there is a tool/process for connecting points/ drawing lines at a set direction from points.  In the example I had seen they had used it for drawing a line from a hydrant at an angle perpendicular to the nearest water main that then connected the hydrant to the water main (If I stumble onto it again I�??ll post back here).

It seem seems like you can use this same process to extend a line from your lateral tap point to a parcel boundary or building poly boundary, therein giving you a line to the property (I�??m not sure how you would designate which direction to extend the line towards).  Obviously if you had property line cleanouts mapped you would want to connect to those but I�??m not sure how you would connect a specific point to a specific point with out giving them all matching numbers�?�

That�??s all the theoretical talk I�??ve got for the day!  I hope this all helps you some how!

Post back with what you learn cause I'd love to know!

[GordonBowne]

Thank you for the response. I will use the links you sent and see what I can come up with. If I can find an easy way to accomplish this I will post back.

[JoshuaDamron]

Came across this thread in the water utilities forum: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/72813-Sewer-Service-laterals looking at the  PDF attached to the first posts it would appear that getting lines to autogenerate at points along a line is not rocket science... but I'm not sure what exactly the process is either...

Please do post back here as you make progress as it will help the many people like you and I who are trying (either now or in the future) to figure out the riddle.