Try ArcGIS Utility Network¶

• Reference

Create network features¶

1. To begin, you'll review the provided data and its structure.
2. Then you'll modify feature templates and use editing tools to create connection points, medium voltage lines, a fuse, and a transformer.
3. You'll then validate the network topology and save your edits.

Modify feature templates¶

1. Download the Auburn Utility Network project package.

   • A .ppkx file is an ArcGIS Pro project package and may contain maps, data, and other files that you can open in ArcGIS Pro.

2. The project opens in ArcGIS Pro. It contains part of the electric utility network in Auburn, Alabama.

   

3. Utility network data is structured into relatively few layers, but classification is built within each layer using the Asset Group and Asset Type fields.

   1. The Electric Distribution Device layer shows a unique symbol for each Asset Group value (for example, Circuit Breaker, Fuse, Generation, and so on) and each of these values is further subdivided by Asset Type values.
   2. The Asset Group field is also the subtype field for each layer.
   3. Subtypes are a method of subcategorizing layers that allows each asset group to behave more like independent layers.

   

4. On the ribbon, click the Map tab. In the Navigate group, click Bookmarks and choose Service drop.

   1. The map moves a short distance to the east, to the intersection of Ogletree Rd. and White Oak Ln.
   2. This is the location indicated in the design where a new service drop must be added.

   

5. Before you begin editing, you'll verify that your snapping environment is properly configured.

   1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Snapping group, click the lower half of the Snapping button
   2. Verify that Snapping is enabled, as well as the first four snapping options: Point, Endpoint, Vertex, and Edge.

   

6. On the ribbon, in the Features group, click Create.

   1. The Create Features pane appears. It lists feature templates for all the subtypes in the utility network.

   

7. At the top of the Create Features pane, click the Manage Templates button.

   

   1. In the Manage Templates pane, click Electric Distribution Junction and double-click Connection Point.

   

   2. The Template Properties window appears.
      1. In the Template Properties window, click the Attributes tab to display the default attributes used with the Connection Point template.
      2. In the attributes list, make the following updates:
         1. For Phases Built, choose B.
         2. For Phases Normal, choose B.
         3. For Phases Current, choose B.
         4. For phasesenergized, choose B.
         5. Click OK

   

8. In the Manage Templates pane, click Electric Distribution Line and double-click Medium Voltage to open its template properties.

   1. In the Template Properties window, click the Attributes tab and update the following attributes:
      1. For Asset type, choose Single Phase Overhead.
      2. For Phases Built, choose B.
      3. For Phases Normal, choose B.
      4. For Phases Current, choose B.
      5. For phasesenergized, choose B.
      6. Click OK to close the window.

   

9. In the Manage Templates pane, double-click Low Voltage and update the following attributes:

   1. For Phases Built, choose B.
   2. For Phases Normal, choose B.
   3. For Phases Current, choose B.
   4. For phasesenergized, choose B.
   5. Click OK.

   

10. In the Manage Templates pane, click Electric Distribution Device. Update the Circuit Breaker, Fuse, Service Point, and Transformer templates with the following attributes:

    1. For Phases Built, choose B.
    2. For Phases Normal, choose B.
    3. For Phases Current, choose B.
    4. For phasesenergized, choose B.
    5. Close the Manage Templates pane.

    

Create features¶

• With the default attribute values set, you can create features without the need to update attributes afterward.
• You'll add several new connection points and medium voltage lines to model a new development east of the existing network.

1. In the Create Features pane, under Electric Distribution Junction, click the Connection Point template.

   1. On the Connection Point template, click the Open the active template pane arrow to view the attributes set for this template.

   

   2. The Phases Built, Phases Normal, Phases Current, and phasesenergized values should all be set to B.

   

2. At the top of the pane, click the Point button to choose the method of construction.

   

3. On the map, click to place four connection points in a line along the north side of Ogletree Rd.

   

   1. Zoom in to one of the points until a hatched rectangle appears around the point.
      1. The rectangle is a dirty area.
      2. The utility network creates polygon features called dirty areas to track all the edits and errors in the dataset.

   

4. In the Contents pane, expand the Auburn Utility Network layer.

   1. The Dirty Areas sublayer contains five kinds of dirty areas.
   2. In this tutorial, you'll only encounter the second type: Dirty,
      1. which indicates that an edit has occurred that is not yet reflected in the network topology.
   3. Every utility network has a network topology. It maintains the connectivity of features to ensure that the commodity (in this case electricity) can flow correctly through the utility network.

   

5. You'll validate the network topology to include your new features. This will remove the dirty area.

   1. On the ribbon, click the Utility Network tab. In the Network Topology group, click the lower half of the Validate button and choose Entire extent.

   

   2. After validation has completed, the dirty areas around each of the new connection point features disappear.

   

6. Next, you'll add a medium voltage line to connect each connection point.

   1. before you create the line features, you'll check the rules of the utility network to determine if you are allowed to connect medium voltage lines to connection points.
   2. If you are not allowed, Error dirty areas will appear when you create the features.
   3. In the Contents pane, right-click Auburn Utility Network and click Properties.
   4. In the Layer Properties window, click the Network Properties tab. Expand the Rules section.
      1. Network rules dictate which network features can connect or associate in the utility network.
      2. All rules are evaluated when the network topology is validated. You're interested in connecting line features to point features, so you'll review the junction-edge rules.

   

7. Expand the Junction-Edge Connectivity section. Scroll through the table until you find rule 482.

   1. This rule allows Electric Distribution Junction features with an Asset Group value of Connection Point and an Asset Type value of Connection Point to connect to Electric Distribution Line features with an Asset Group value of Medium Voltage and an Asset Type value of Single Phase Overhead.
   2. Close the Layer Properties window.

   

8. At the top of the Create Features pane, click the Back button. In the search bar, type medium voltage.

   1. Under Electric Distribution Line, click the Medium Voltage template and choose the Line tool.

   

   2. On the map, point to the first (leftmost and westernmost) connection point. When the snapping ToolTip says Electric Distribution Junction : Point, click to begin drawing a line connected to the point. Snap to the next point and double-click to end the line segment.
      1. A dirty area rectangle appears around the new line segment.
      2. Draw two more individual line segments to connect the rest of the points

   

9. Next, you'll validate the network topology to clean the dirty areas.

   1. On the ribbon, on the Utility Network tab, in the Network Topology group, click the top half of the Validate button.
   2. By default, the Validate command only validates dirty areas within the current map extent.
   3. The dirty areas disappear.

   

10. Next, you'll clear the selection and save your edits.

    1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Selection group, click the Clear button.

    

    2. In the Manage Edits group, click the Save button.

    

    3. In the Save Edits window, click Yes.

Add a fuse and transformer¶

Next, you'll create fuse and transformer features, using the Point At End of Line construction tool.

1. On the map, zoom to the last (rightmost and easternmost) connection point along Ogletree Rd.

   

   1. In the Create Features pane, clear the search bar. Under Electric Distribution Device click the Fuse template and choose the Point At End of Line tool.

   

2. Next, you'll create a fuse using an offset from the selected connection point.

   1. Snap to the last connection point. Right-click the map to view more editing options and click Distance.

   

   2. In the Distance window, ensure that the unit of measurement is set to ft and type 3.
      1. Press Enter to apply the distance constraint.
      2. On the map, a construction line constrained to 3 feet extends from the connection point.
      3. Double-click the map to add a new fuse southeast of the selected connection point.

   

3. In the Create Features pane, under Electric Distribution Device, click the Transformer template and choose the Point At End of Line tool.

   

   1. On the map, click the fuse point. Right-click the map and click Distance.

   

   2. Enter a distance of 3 ft and press Enter.
   3. Double-click the map to add a new transformer to the southeast of the fuse feature.

   

4. Next, you'll clear the selection, validate the topology, and save the edits.

   1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Selection group, click the Clear button.
   2. On the Utility Network tab, click the Validate button.
   3. On the Edit tab, click the Save button, and click Yes to confirm saving the edits.

Run a connected trace¶

• Next, you’ll run a connected trace to verify that the new features are connected as expected.
• A trace spans out from a starting point along all paths of connected features and objects until it reaches either a barrier or the end of a path.

1. On the ribbon, click the Map tab. In the Navigate group, click Bookmarks, and click Service drop.

   1. On the ribbon, click the Utility Network tab. In the Tools group, click the lower half of the Trace button and choose Starting Points.

   

   2. The Trace pane appears with the Starting Points tab selected.
      1. In the Trace pane, ensure the Add features button is active (highlighted in blue) and the Auto Apply check box is checked.

   

2. On the map, click any one of the connection points to set the start location for the trace.

   1. A green circle appears on the map to mark the starting point.

   

   2. In the Trace Locations pane, an entry is added identifying the starting point feature.

   

3. Next, you'll choose the trace type.

   1. On the ribbon, in the Tools group, click Connected.

   

   2. The Geoprocessing pane appears, open to the Trace tool.
      1. The tool's parameters are configured with the default settings for a connected trace, which will confirm that features are connected as expected.

   

   2. Click Run.
   3. When the trace is completed, seven features are selected on the map: the four points and the three lines you created earlier.

4. In the Contents pane, click the List By Selection tab to verify which features are selected.

   1. The number of selected features appears next to each layer name.

   

5. Click the List By Drawing Order tab to return to the default view of the Contents pane. Do not clear the selection.

   1. On the map, zoom to the fuse and transformer.
   2. These features weren't traced because they are not connected to the others.
   3. Validate the topology and clear the selection.
   4. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Save to save the project.
      1. or use ctrl + s

   

Work with associations¶

• Not all features in the utility network are physically connected in the map. Associations exist to model another way that features are related to one another.
  • Next, you'll create connectivity associations to connect the transformer and fuse to the medium voltage lines.
  • You'll create structural attachment associations to connect these features to a pole
  • And you'll create a containment association to set a circuit breaker as content inside of a subnetwork container.
  • You'll also create low voltage lines extending to nearby houses and modify their terminal connections to ensure they are correctly connected to the terminal.

Create connectivity associations¶

You created the connection point, fuse, and transformer features so they are displayed at a distance of 3 feet from one another.

• In reality, they are all geometrically coincident, but if you drew them all in the same location, the map would be difficult to read.
• Next, you'll model connectivity associations between these three features.
• This will ensure that they are considered connected by the network topology even though the features are not touching on the map.

1. On the ribbon, click the Utility Network tab. In the Associations group, click Modify.

   

   1. In the Modify Associations pane, click Add features.

   

   2. The Add features tool will display a different arrow icon as you move over the map.
      1. Click the connection point feature.

   

   2. In the Modify Associations pane, the Active Item menu is populated with the connection point feature.
   3. You'll create a connectivity association between the connection point and the fuse feature.

   

2. Expand the Junction - Junction section. Next to the Add selected button, click the add features button.

   

3. On the map, click the fuse feature.

   1. The fuse is added to the Junction - Junction section of the pane with a green bar to indicate it is a new association.
   2. In the Modify Associations pane, click Apply.

   

4. Dirty areas appear around the connection point and fuse features.

   

5. Next, you'll create a connectivity association between the fuse and the transformer.

   1. In the Modify Associations pane, in the Junction - Junction section, right-click Electric Distribution Device Fuse and choose Modify Associations.
      1. For me, it looks like they change the focal object from connection points to fuse after choose Modify Associations

   

   2. The Active Item updates to the fuse and the connectivity associations for the fuse are listed.
      1. The fuse has one connectivity association with the connection point. This is the association you created in the previous steps.
      2. In the Junction - Junction section, click the add features button and click the transformer feature on the map.
         1. The transformer is added to the Junction - Junction section.
         2. Next to Electric Distribution Device Transformer, ensure that Terminal is set to High.
         3. Click Apply.

   

6. On the ribbon, in the Associations group, click View to turn View Associations Mode on.

   1. View Associations Mode displays connectivity associations on the map as dashed brown lines.
   2. On the ribbon, in the Associations group, click the View button to turn off View Associations Mode.

   

7. Ensure that all three dirty areas are within view and validate the topology.

   1. Save your edits.

Modify terminal connections¶

Now that the transformer is connected to the medium voltage line via connectivity associations, you'll create service points for the nearby houses.

• You'll connect them to the transformer with low voltage service lines and ensure that they connect via the correct terminal.

1. Zoom to the Service Points bookmark.

2. Reopen the Create Features pane. Under Electric Distribution Device, click the Service Point template and choose the Point tool.

   

3. In the Create Features pane, search for and click Low Voltage template.

   1. Click the Radial tool.
      1. This tool will create line features originating from a common center.

   

   2. On the map, zoom to and click the transformer feature.

   

   3. Build Low Voltage line between service points and transformer

   

4. On the ribbon, click the Utility Network tab. In the Network Topology group, click Terminal Connections.

   

5. The Modify Terminal Connections pane appears.

   1. In the Modify Terminal Connections pane, ensure the Select a line feature button is active (highlighted in blue).

   2. On the map, click one of the low voltage lines.

   3. The low voltage line feature is added to the Modify Terminal Connections pane. One terminal connection is listed, for the transformer device.

      1. High is the default choice, but it is shown in red to indicate it is an invalid choice.

      

      2. In this case, it is invalid because the fuse is already connected to the transformer via the high side terminal.

   4. For Terminal, choose Low.

      

   5. Click Apply.

6. In the same manner, click the remaining lines and set their Terminal attribute to Low.

   1. Validate the topology, clear the selection, and save your edits.