Tag Archives: Templates
What is the Local Government Information Model?
The maps and apps that comprise ArcGIS for Water Utilities are built around the Local Government Information Model, so we thought it would beneficial to explain what the Local Government Information Model is in this blog and in a follow up blog explore its benefits for water, wastewater and stormwater utilities.
We’ll start by breaking down the term Local Government Information Model into two parts “Local Government” and “Information Model”.
Local Government
ArcGIS for Water Utilities is a module of ArcGIS for Local Government. ArcGIS for Local Government is organized around typical services or functions of a local government – water, sewer and stormwater utilities, public safety, land records, public works, etc. From a GIS perspective, no matter what type of entity a water utility is – a municipal department, an authority, part of a county, part of national government, private or a public private partnership, the scale of the data necessary to effectively map and manage your utility is similar to the scale of GIS data used by other local government entities. Simply put, water utilities need local scale GIS data.
The feature classes and feature datasets in the Local Government Information Model are “harmonized” meaning that they are designed to work across and support typical functions of local governments without duplication and redundancies. This enables municipal departments, functions within an organization or entire organizations to manage data that is specific to their domain and utilize data from other domains within local government as base data.
If you look across a typical city enterprise GIS implementation that encompasses all of a city’s departments, what you’ll notice is that the “operational data” of one department is often “base data” for another. For example the parcels maintained by a city’s land records department are typically base data for the city’s water utility. The water utility may use the attributes of the parcels for analysis or may join a table to the parcels with water utility specific information. Another example is the GIS features of a city’s storm water system that are maintained by the water department but are used as base data for the city’s 411 system that is managed by the city’s public works department. It’s important to point out that when we say “base data” we don’t just mean the data is used as a base mapping layer, it can be used for analysis or can be extended by the utility (in the example of joining a table of utility created data to a parcel data). Data not maintained by the utility is used as base data to provide perspective but can also blur the lines and become operational data when used for analysis or joined to information maintained by the utility
The same logic applies to water utilities that are authorities or private companies. Some of the layers they use for base data typically come from other local units of government (cities, towns, counties) within their service territory.
Information Model
We are using the term Information Model because this is more than just a data schema. In the GIS realm the term “data model” has commonly implied a schema or database structure only. The Local Government Information does include a schema, but we consider things like the Map Documents for our maps and apps and specifications for services to be part of the information model as well.
We are including Map Documents in the Local Government Information Model for two main reasons. First the Map Documents for our maps and apps are built upon best practices for each particular type of map. For example in the Mobile Map Template the .MXD documents have been designed to show best practices for building an interactive water utilities map for field crew use.
Secondly the maps and apps are built specifically for the geodatabase schema that is part of the Local Government Information Model. What this means is if you change the underlying schema to better reflect the true organizational needs of your utility than depending on the changes made you may have to modify any map documents that use that layer. Since you use the Map Documents to publish services to ArcGIS Server than the same logic applies for including services in the Information Model. The schema, the map documents and the services are intertwined.
Campus Maps and Apps added to ArcGIS for Local Government
Recently, we added the Campus Editing and Campus
Basemap templates to the ArcGIS
for Local Government Gallery and a new ArcGIS for Facilities Group on
ArcGIS.com.
These Campus maps can be used to capture interior and/or
exterior assets on a university or business campus. They can also be used by government agencies
to capture these same assets in a downtown, or on a government complex or
military base. These interior and
exterior assets are the foundation for a variety of desktop, mobile and web
mapping applications deployed to support facilities management, education,
public works, planning, and military business needs.
The Campus Editing template is an ArcMap editing map,
editor extension, and set of editing workflows for managing building, interior
space and related exterior campus data. It is an editor that can be
used by mapping technicians in a college university, private corporation, or
public works agency to streamline the collection, maintenance and use of asset
information.
The Campus Basemap template is an ArcGIS Map
Document that can be used to create a high-resolution, multi-scale (~1:9k to
1:141) basemap for a university, or business campus. As we mentioned earlier, this basemap can also be used
by government agencies to produce a high-resolution basemap for a downtown,
government complex, or military base.
Stay tuned for future maps and apps that will leverage this
high-resolution data.
The first application we’ll release is called the Campus
Place Finder. This application will work in concert with the basemap and
editing templates. Leveraging the new building interior features
incorporated in thee Local Government Information Model FacilitiesStreets
feature dataset, users will be able to search by occupant name or interior
space (e.g., office number) to locate people or places of interest within
campus facilities.
When you’re ready to start using the Campus
Editing map with your data, start by downloading the Local Government
Information Model schema-only layer package. It can be used to create the empty
geodatabase you’ll need to migrate your facilities data and publish these
campus maps.
What makes up Production Mapping?
In a previous blog topic we provided an introduction to Esri Production Mapping and its benefits. Now that you know what sorts of organizational challenges are solved by using Production Mapping, let’s talk about some of the key capabilities that allow you to produce high quality geospatial data and maps faster and with fewer resources.
We all know that a generic production workflow consists of four main stages – collecting, editing/updating, reviewing data, and producing the final output (which may be data in another format or cartographic products). While ArcGIS provides a number of tools to produce geospatial data and maps, there are not many tools to automate or standardize the production processes and to ensure consistency and repeatability while also keeping track of work in progress. Esri Production Mapping extends ArcGIS Desktop to support the production stages by providing tools to manage workflows, perform advanced editing and intelligent attribution, ensure data quality, and produce high-end cartographic products. These tools are flexible, allowing you to configure them to suit your industry- or your organization-specific requirements. We hope that providing an overview of the major functionality will help you understand what makes up Esri Production Mapping. Today’s topic will also serve as the starting point for future topics where we will discuss these functionalities in more detail.
Make Your Own Social Media Map (in 3 easy steps)
Want to know what’s going on with Hurricane Irene and see for yourself what folks on the ground are saying? Here’s how you can quickly make your own ArcGIS Online Hurricane Irene map, add geo-located tweets, and share your map with others in three quick and easy steps.
Step 1: Get your map
You can start off with a new map and hunt for services to add, but there’s no reason to do that when there are a number of hurricane maps already available that have been publicly shared. So we’ll start by going to ArcGIS.com and search for the keyword “Irene:”
Introducing the Emergency Management Maps Templates
Recently, an updated version of the Emergency Management Maps template and a brand new template, the Production Mapping for Emergency Management Maps template, were released on the Public Safety Resource Center. These templates provide useful maps and production configurations that will help you streamline your emergency management map production. Continue reading
Feedback from the User Conference
I wanted to thank all our Water and Wastewater users that attended this year’s User Conference. It was a fun week for us and I hope it was for you too. It is such a busy week, we did not get a chance to talk to all of you, so we wanted to solicited any feedback you had for us. Of those we did talk to, we received some great enhancement request. I listed some of them below for the editing template, but if you have any other suggestions, want to expand a topic or if we missed your request, let us know. You can post them as a comment or send us a note(ArcGISTeamWater@esri.com).
- Tool to move taps and laterals from an existing main to a new main
- Ability to add a flag or barrier then run traces from the Infrastructure Editing Toolbar
- Ability to load Multi Configuration files
- Ship the Configuration file in the documentation folder with a script to load it to the correct location
- Report of the trace results
- Sewer design tools
- Warning or deactivate the Attribute Assistant on a split
- Tool to add spin to a rotated feature
- Attribute Assistant rule to validate attribute input
- Attribute Assistant rule to not allow disconnected features to be created
- Tools to help localize the data model
- GP Models as tools to move features from Proposed to In-service, In-service to Abandon
- Intersected Line layers in profile trace
Tools for Social Media
During the Emergency Management Special Interest Group (SIG) Meeting (sponsored by IBM) at the Esri International User Conference I gave a talk on Tools for Social Media. Many of you were interested in the tools so I wanted to share the links via this blog.
Public Information Map
The first tool we talked about was the Public Information Map. This application is something that we have developed over time to include live mapping in support of our Disaster Response Program website. The Public Information Map is available as a template that you can download and configure.
There are many live examples of the Public Information Map that you can visit now with current information in support of our Disaster Response Program. The Public Information Map Template has been configured for:
- Earthquakes
- Flooding
- Severe Weather
- Wildfires
- Hurricanes & Tropical Cyclones
- Global Incident Viewer
- Current Event Maps
Also note that Jeff Archer (@vee_dubb) wrote a nice blog post on lessons learned applying this template.
Social Media Widget
Social Media is on a path to evolve to become another critical source of situational awareness just like weather. A Social Media Widget has been developed to be able to bring in Social Media into command and control applications, such as the Common Operational Picture Template.
Here is an example of the Social Media widget in action during the National Level Exercise we tracked the Commonwealth of Kentucky Division of Emergency Management Public Information Officer as she traveled around the State with the Brigadier General:
ArcGIS.com Tweet Mapping Template
As described in this previous ArcGIS Online blog, you can add Twitter to your ArcGIS.com map. Simply create your ArcGIS.com web map and then share using the Azure Twitter template. Here’s an example from the #EsriUC and the 5K Fun Run/Walk:
Ushahidi ArcGIS Desktop Add-In
Often times during disasters we will stand up a Trends Map, such as this example from Japan, where we can look at the density of Ushahidi reports visualized as a heat map. During the flooding in Australia, we took this one step further and put together an ArcGIS Desktop Add-In for Ushahidi data so you could export Ushahidi data in to a local geodatabase to do further analysis. The Add-In for Australia flooding example can be found on ArcGIS.com.
We are actively working with the Ushahidi community to make this tool more generic and broadly available. Stay tuned for more information.
ArcGIS Explorer Twitter Add-In
The ArcGIS Explorer Twitter Add-In was updated just before the User Conference. Here’s an example screenshot of a slightly earlier version of the tool from when FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate (@CraigAtFEMA) came to visit Esri last year.
There you have it, a tour of some of the Social Media Tools
and Templates from Esri that we discussed during the Emergency Management SIG. This is an area that we continue to do more
research and development on. Watch
Twitter and the blogs for more updates!
Where are the users of the Templates
We get asked all the time, who is using the Water Utility Templates? We know of a lot of users and partners that have downloaded them, implemented them, and helped us improve them, but we do not know who and where you all are. We put together a simple ArcGIS.com map for you to provide us your location and some feedback. Let us know what you think.
2011 Esri User Conference
A big thanks to all of the water, wastewater and stormwater ArcGIS users who spent time with us during the 2011 Esri User Conference and attended our Technical Workshops on ArcGIS for Water Utilities. You gave us some very valuable feedback on the maps and apps that are part of ArcGIS for Water Utilities and we are aggregating that feedback now and will address it in a follow up blog. Feedback from the user community is what drives our activities.
A common question we heard throughout the user conference was “what is the best way to give feedback on ArcGIS for Water Utilities”?
The Water Utilities Forums is the place where we encourage you to give us feedback about the maps and apps that make up ArcGIS for Water Utilities. We want to know what is working, what isn’t, how we can do things better and we very much appreciate you sharing your success stories around deploying ArcGIS for Water Utilities or it’s predecessor the Water Utility Templates. You can also reach us at our email alias: ArcGISTeamWater@Esri.com
Ideas.ArcGIS.Com is the place to request enhancements to the ArcGIS System as well as ArcGIS for Water Utilities. The more votes an idea gets, the easier it is for us to understand how big of a need it is for our water utility users. Just be sure to tag your ideas with “Water and Wastewater” as well as any other appropriate descriptions.
Again, thank you to our water, wastewater and stormwater customers for making the 2011 Esri User Conference such a great experience for the Esri staff working with you!
ArcGIS for Local Government UC Wrap Up
We wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who attended our sessions at the UC last week. The feedback we got was outstanding and we look forward to working with you in the near future.
If you couldn’t make the UC Tech Workshops, we’ll try to get the video for the ArcGIS for Local Government: An Introduction Tech Workshop published on the Resource Center later this summer. In the meantime, the presentation is attached to this blog post for reference.
We’re excited to incorporate what we learned at the conference in to our plans and we’d also like to take this opportunity to share with you our plans for the next 60 days (rest of the summer here in Michigan…).
New Maps and Apps:
We will be adding a series of maps and apps to the ArcGIS for Local Government offering. They include:
Maps and Apps Gallery: A web application that provides citizens a single gallery of maps and apps you’ve published for your organization. It also allows external developers who are leveraging your authoritative data to submit their apps for inclusion in your gallery.
Address Editing Map: An editing map that helps planning, public safety, and land records organizations in local government maintain road centerlines w/ address ranges, site addresses, and related postal addresses.
Service Request for HTML 5: A HTML 5 application that allows citizens to submit non-emergency requests for service from a mobile phone, desktop computer or tablet device.
Community Planning: A web application that allows citizens to propose community master plan design alternatives.
Park Finder: A web application that allows citizens to find a park nearby, or list of parks that Offer recreation activities you’re interested in.
Sign Inspection: A universal iOS application that allows public works and DOT field staff to collect new street signs and conduct inspections on existing signs.
Campus Editing Map: An editing map that helps facility managers maintain interior spaces and exterior assets found on building grounds or a campus.
Campus Basemap: A multi-scale basemap for facility managers that can be used as a backdrop for facility applications and to enhance content found in your local government basemaps.
Campus Room Finder: A web application that allows users to find an office, conference room, or other interior space in a building or among many buildings on a campus.
Easier to Deploy:
In addition to adding a new set of maps and apps, we will be taking several steps to make it easier for you to deploy ArcGIS for Local Government in your organization. In doing so, look for:
Quarterly Releases: A consistent quarterly release schedule that includes new maps and apps, updates to existing maps and apps, and any bug fixes reported by users. Our first quarterly release will be in October 2011.
On-premise Offering: A single ArcGIS for Local Government download that is simple to install and configure. This single download will replace the individual downloads on the Resource Center today. It will also allow you to identify one or more ArcGIS for Local Government modules you’d like to deploy in your organization; and install the individual applications contained within each module.
Online Help: An ArcGIS for Local Government online help system for users and partners deploying the system.
Partner Offerings:
Esri is committed to developing a community of partners who are actively engaged in selling and delivering ArcGIS for Local Government. It is through collaboration with its partner community that Esri best meets the needs of local government customers.
In order to make this collaboration with Partners repeatable and successful, Esri has created the ArcGIS for Local Government Specialty designation within the Esri Partner Network. It is designed for Partners who are focused on the local government marketplace and who want to work more closely with Esri.
Several Esri Partners approached the ArcGIS for Local Government team at the UC and are ready to add their applications to growing ecosystem. We will be working with these partners to ensure the applications can be deployed with the Local Government Information Model and simply by users. We look forward to highlighting the good work these partners are doing in local government.
Thanks again for the tremendous feedback at the UC. We were delighted that many of you took the time to attend the sessions we had. As always, feel free to contact us with any specific feedback or questions you may have.
