Utility Network and Geographic Coordinate Systems

[EdwardBlair]

Hello -

I just heard in a workshop that the Utility Network does "not work well" with data in a geographic coordinate system.   I thought this was supposed to be one of the advantages of the Utility Network compared to a geometric network.   Could anyone elaborate?

Thx,

Ed

[RemiMyers]

While most users & partners are using some form of projected coordinate system for implementations; there should be no limitation that would impact a data set that is projected with a geographic coordinate system.  If you have specifics or aware of a bug, please let us know and we can look into it.

Thanks,

Remi

[EdwardBlair]

Remi -

Thanks for the info. It was a data migration partner who said that their

tools would not work with data in a geographic coordinates. I guess on

reflection this wouldn't mean that UN itself doesn't support data in

geographic coordinates.

Thanks again,

Ed

[RemiMyers]

No worries, I could see where the transformation & conversions of gcs features would be difficult to handle.   Still it was a good question to ask.

Thanks for reaching out.

Remi

[JohnAlsup]

currently the FME Workbench for electric must move features in some cases to properly build out the assemblies and other complex combinations of features.  The current input is the number of units in decimals and consequently will not work with un-projected data.  We will evaluate how difficult it would be to implement this, but we were told that most (99.9%) of customers would have projected data for the utility data.  Sounds like either you got the one or that information was incorrect.  Ed, how many customers would you be aware of or estimate have non-projected utility data?

[EdwardBlair]

Hi John –

While I can’t speak for either of them I’ve worked with two companies in

the past three years who were limited in their use of the geometric network

because of the requirement for projected coordinates. In one case the

company divided the service territory into different databases by region

each with its own coordinate system and geometric network. In the other

case the company chose to use geographic coordinates and forego use of the

geometric network.

I believe the first company is in the process of moving to the U/N – but

again, I’m not in a position to speak for them.

My exposure to Esri utility customers is certainly less than yours, but I

would imagine any company with holdings across the country or continent,

for example many pipeline companies, would want to use geographic

coordinates.

Hope this helps,

Ed