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- Protecting OpenCities Map Design File data in a MicroStation session

Beginning with the Bentley Map V8i (SELECTseries 3) release (now OpenCities Map), the referential integrity of XFM feature instances (graphic and non-graphic elements) is protected when design files are opened in a pure MicroStation session. This additional level of data protection was implemented after careful consideration of several technical support incidents where customers edited their Bentley Map produced data in other products (e.g. MicroStation) without Bentley Map present, resulting in unexpected data corruption.

Example of reported design file editing workflows and resulting data problems included:

  • Copying a XFM element was creating two XFM feature instances with the same UUID.
  • Copy an element fetched from a database was creating a ghost element linked to the database.
  • Any tool that cut an element into two parts was also generating two XFM fragments with the same UUID.
  • The “stroke” tool could change the element type (Ex: from shape to line) thus creating an incompatible XFM fragment attached to an element.

As a result, if OpenCities Map is not used to edit the design file, XFM feature instances cannot be manipulated to:

  • Ensure the referential integrity of the graphic and non-graphic data is preserved.
  • Ensure that each XFM feature instance has its own UUID (Universal Unique Identifier).
  • Ensure that when linked to a database, the unique link between an element and the database could be preserved.

The OpenCities Map product team is working to gather functional requirements from Users who have existing workflows that require "limited" editing or manipulation of OpenCities Map data in scenarios where OpenCities Map is not present. The objective of this effort is to expand what type of editing or manipulation can be done of data when OpenCities Map is not present, while at the same time preserving the data integrity.

If your project requires MicroStation Users to edit the data, use the Export to MicroStation Elements(with Item Types), or the Save as... XFM options to remove the OpenCities Map-specific properties.  See the OpenCities Map Help for details.

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