Water and Waste Water Symbols

[TomasRiesco]

Im creating a water and wastewater Atlas in a 1" to 300' scale. Im having problems with the current symbols out of the box from ArcMap. For example, if I have a tee and 3 valves one on each water main it all looks like one big ball of symbols. Anyone has any advise on how to fix this issue??

Thanks

Tomas

[JoshuaDamron]

Tom,
  I appreciate the compliment, I like seeing that we have both taken different directions, made thoughtful compromises, and come out with very different maps that serve our City�??s purposes.  I have to be honest though, I am foreseeing a shift toward asset management software in our near future and when that comes I�??m not certain how my map style will keep up with the demand for massive labeling annotation�?� perhaps tablets will be my saving grace?  We will see�?�

Thank you for the tip with Data Driven Pages tied to Python.  I have yet to make the push to learn Python but I appreciate the good documentation in your script, makes it so dummies like me can make it work.

Would you be able to post your symbols legend?  I think many find it useful to compare symbology styles.  I�??m seeing that you have mapped fittings as well, very clean and impressive.  Did you use out of the box ESRI symbology of did you make your own fittings symbols?

Hi mtnbker1213,
  The Details are actually a feature dataset in the same geodatabase, and they are in a group layer in the data view, not the layout view.  Their are significantly less features in the detail feature classes, basically just a point, line and polygon feature, but the symbolization is much more extensive so that it can symbolize each feature as any type of feature in the database.

The blow up details you have are awesome to say the least.  I understand that the tact you have used is to place the details in the Data View as a feature, so the dashed circle around a detail is a white polygon feature class with a dashed border set above the parcels and behind the various line/point features.  The line and point features are a �??dummy�?� feature for visual purposes only, trimmed to length in the polygon and symbolized to match the �??real�?� water features.  If I have that right then I applaud the creativity of merging some CAD philosophy with GIS.   

Keep up the good work.

[JoshuaDamron]

As far as cartographic representations is INFO required for these? how well has that worked for you?

To answer your representations questions, so far as I know you need an ArcINFO/ArcAdvanced license to create them.  In my experinces to date I have not found representations to be very user friendly on a large scale for purposes such as map books.  Honestly I�??d love to find a clear tutorial on representations and representation management but I have not yet so I�??ve done the best I can with what I�??ve figured out on my own�?� If someone would like to help clarify my understanding of representations that would be great! 

As I mentioned my ideal use of representations would be to create rules for valve clusters to pull them away from each other for clarity while enabling teh actual features to remain at their actual real world scale able locations/coordinates.  Unless I�??m doing something wrong I found this to be overly cumbersome for hundreds or thousands of features.  I found that I can for example create 4 rules for 4 valves clustered at an intersection.  In theory I would create 4 rules (rules come in many, many shapes and forms):

Rule #1 (north): Offset point symbol along Y axis +3
Rule #2 (south): Offset point symbol along Y axis -3
Rule #3 (east): Offset point symbol along X axis +3
Rule #4 (west): Offset point symbol along X axis -3

Adding representations to the geodatabase adds a rule field, each rule name is added to the applicable features in the rule field.  I could then simply select all of the valves on the north end of a cluster and field calculate to add Rule #1.  I would then repeat this for each direction.  This would be perfect if all of our mains were aligned with streets and all of the streets ran north/south by east/west.

The problem is how many streets intersect at the same angles and how many water main valve clusters actually intersect at similar angles?  In my town there�??s a handful at one angle here and a handful at another angle there which makes representations cumbersome as the points slide further and further from the line with shifting angles.  To overcome this a new rule is created to place valves at slightly different locations for each angle�?� which raises the question of how many rules can you keep straight?  It would be great if you could structure a rule to recognize a topological relationship between a point and a line and have it offset a point a desired distance along a line and have the point remain over the line.  Again, I don�??t consider myself very advanced in the use of representations but as far as I know representation rules can�??t be tied to topoplogy rules.

While many aspects of ArcINFO/Advanced have proven to be incredibly useful, with representations I�??ve only used them for a few isolated circumstances but found them to be generally hard to keep track of.  I'm sure there is a discussion of how users are organizing their representations to easily keep track of intricacies of the many different rules and where they are used but I haven't stumbled onto it yet.

I wish you the best.

[TomMagdaleno]

Here is my water legend Joshua.  These are standard symbols, or easily created custom symbols.  I have to give Nobel credit for a lot of the look of the map.  I have just added to it over the years.

[JoshuaDamron]

Tom,
  Thank you for the legend, I realized its rude to ask you to show me yours without showing you mine�?�

Among other things, I see that you included casings/encasements & vaults; I�??ve been working to add these as a line feature with a heavier width than the water/sewer main that is encased and showing vaults (including some larger manholes) as polygons.  Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Happy Monday!

[TomMagdaleno]

No offense taken Joshua, I ask for stuff here all the time.  I'm glad I can pay it back.  We are showing casings and easements as polygons, I just think it is more versitile for exporting as a polygon.

[JimmyY]

The blow up details you have are awesome to say the least.  I understand that the tact you have used is to place the details in the Data View as a feature, so the dashed circle around a detail is a white polygon feature class with a dashed border set above the parcels and behind the various line/point features.  The line and point features are a �??dummy�?� feature for visual purposes only, trimmed to length in the polygon and symbolized to match the �??real�?� water features.  If I have that right then I applaud the creativity of merging some CAD philosophy with GIS.   

Keep up the good work.

Tom and Josh,

I believe I am missing a key piece of the puzzle. I understand creating a separate polygon feature for the AOI under its own dataset and group with the details. But what confuses me is each feature class has its specified coordinate system, when you add the data, how do you place it in the blowup polygon and not have it placed on its correct GPSed coordinates within the map? Or am I completely off my rocker? If it would be easier to explain over the phone, or what I'm asking doesn't make sense and you'd be willing to PM me your number, I'd be very grateful! Thanks!

[TomMagdaleno]

I think what you are thinking is that I use the same feature in the blow up.  I do not.  I create a new feature with a very simple table because its really only for visual reference.  Its practically like placing graphics in the map, but its in a feature class.  Does this make sense?

[JimmyY]

Ohhh okay. Now it just clicked and makes sense now. I was thinking exactly that. I thought you used the same feature class from your primary map and copied it into a different dataset. That just didn't make sense. haha. I understand now of the simplified feature class and it practically just being a graphic. Thanks!