"It may be necessary to update, or even upgrade, the GIS system to make sure that hydraulic modeling software integration is effective."īenefits of GIS and Hydraulic Modeling Integration "Integration of GIS and hydraulic modeling may not make sense if GIS data is not accurate or up-to-date," says Ball. "Without hydraulic modeling and GIS, utilities really end up working "˜blind.'"Īre there any instances when it might not make sense to integrate the two? "When hydraulic modeling is integrated with GIS, it provides utilities with a very powerful tool to let them know how their system is performing at the time the model is created, as well as how it should perform," says Steve Bruskiewicz, product manager, water, for Aclara who spent almost 25 years managing water and wastewater plants before coming to the company.
This makes the use and implementation of any hydraulic modeling software easier."Įd Kura, GIS manager for Aclara, says, "It makes sense for utilities to include all of their hydraulic modeling within their GIS, because the GIS is a great place to collect this information and edit it as time goes on, so they can keep track of their network." Kura has spent the majority of his career working on building GIS databases for water and wastewater networks, including the integration of hydraulic modeling. It simplifies data entry, since elevation data, pipe sizes, devices, and many other parameters are normally identified in GIS. "Integrating hydraulic modeling with GIS makes sense, because it allows both systems to share a single database. "Increasingly, GIS is becoming a system of record for all assets in a water utility system," says Joe Ball, director of marketing, water, North America, for Itron. When integrated with hydraulic modeling, GIS also provides opportunities for spatial analysis and data management. However, it quickly became obvious that GIS was more than just a mapping tool. Originally, the primary function of a GIS for a water or wastewater utility was to be able to map capital assets. The GIS hydraulic water model can run scenarios for capital improvement plans, fire flow analyses, water quality, and future growth of the distribution system. Typically, hydraulic analyses, such as determination of system capacities, development of what-if scenarios, and planning of improvements have been performed independent of GIS technology. However, as hydraulic models have increased in complexity and need to be updated more frequently, utilities are looking for more cost-effective and timesaving methods to renew these models. In the past, hydraulic models were reconstructed every few years, a necessary but time-consuming process.
Go to Join Geotables > Add Joins, which will update the geotable so that symbology can be added and updated.Editor's note: This article previously appeared in the November/December 2014 issue of Water Efficiency magazine.ĭoes it make sense for water utilities to integrate GIS (geographic information system) technology with hydraulic modeling? In most cases, the answer is yes.
To view color coding, display active topology, or display flow arrows, you would first move the WaterGEMS model data to the geotable using Join Geotables. You can also add elements manually from the "WaterGEMS (Layout)" tab in the ribbon interface. Tools like ModelBuilder, LoadBuilder, and Terrain Extractor (among others) are all available, as with the Standalone version of WaterGEMS. Once you have added or created a hydraulic model to use in WaterGEMS for ArcGIS Pro, the workflow for adding and editing model elements and computing a model will be similar to working in WaterGEMS Standalone or using the WaterGEMS tools in WaterGEMS for ArcMap. You can add a new or existing WaterGEMS model file from the WaterGEMS tab and selecting Hydraulic Model, then choosing either "Add New Hydraulic Model" or "Add Existing Hydraulic Model." Similar to using WaterGEMS for ArcMap, you will then be prompted to add a personal geodatabase that will be associated with the model.
The ArcGIS Pro ribbon will include the WaterGEMS menus.