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Importing Customer Meter Info into WaterGEM for ArcGIS - How to import data with Property ID?

This is a Water Distribution Model  for a city of 1,800 population.  I'm in the process of building a new model for the City.  

We decided to use Customer Meter Info to allocated demands.  Instead of X, Y-coordinates for each customer, the data provided contains Property ID (PID) for each customer so that each customer demand can be allocated to a parcel in the map.  

What is the best way to marge this data into the model?

I am not familiar with ArcGIS, so I searched if there is a way to convert PID into x, y coordinates - I have not found anything yet.

Do I need to import the data into ArcGIS and somehow find the x, y coordinates first before importing the customer meter info into WaterGEM? Or, is there an easier way around? The PID consists of thirteen numbers such as 2511722220007.

I'd appreciate your comments and advice on this. Thank you.

Yoko

Parents
  • The process to import data for customers requires knowledge of the x-y coordinates. You can use process called georeferencing to get this information.

    If this is too challenging, there are other methods to allocate demands. What information in contained in the PID? Is it just a number or does it refer to a census tract, pressure zone, etc.?
  • Each parcel in ArcGIS map has PID that is consist of 13 numbers. The data are in Excel format and each customer's address is also shown in other column (no zip code). There is only one pressure zone and the number does not refer to pressure zone.
  • Yoko,

    Based on this information and the information from your first post it sounds like what you might have to use a process in ArcMap called geocoding, so that you can create a point for each customer address and then perhaps add a column to that point shapefile that contains the demands for each customer. There should be plenty of information on the web for how to geocode your address data into a point shapefile.

    In this case what I think might help is to think about what you need to do with the customer meter element. Inputting the demands are probably the easy part of that because I'm guessing that each customer meter has the exact demand associated with it. The more difficult part is probably going to be figuring out how you are going to link the customer meter elements to the nodes in your system and which nodes you should link them to. I believe determining that can vary with how you created your network and how your junctions and/or hydrants are laid out. Are the customer meter elements going to linked on a one to one basis with your junctions and/or hydrants or are they going to be linked on many to one basis (i.e. one customer meter element is linked to it's own junction or many customer meter elements are going to be linked to one junction). Once you figure that out you can enter another field into your point shapefile for the customer meter elements called something like "CAD_Label", which will be the label name for the element the customer meter is going to be associated to in WaterCAD. With that information you can then use modelbuilder to add the customer meter elements to your model and use the field mapping step (step 5) to match the CAD_Label field to the customer meter elements property called "Associated element" to automate the entire process of linking the customer meter elements to the proper junctions. I know that might be a little confusing, so if you have any more questions please feel free to ask.

    If you're not familiar with how to use modelbuilder you can have a look at this wiki entry:

    https://communities.bentley.com/Products/Hydraulics___Hydrology/w/Hydraulics_and_Hydrology__Wiki/building-a-model-using-model-builder

    Regards,
    Mark

    Mark

    Answer Verified By: Sushma Choure 

  • Mark,

    Thank you so much for providing step-by-step info to follow. I've just finished adding x and y coordinates using geocode in ArcGIS.
    I will try importing the data using Model Builder. I'm sure I'll have more questions. I wanted to thank you first.

    Regards,
    Yoko
  • Regarding assigning of the customer elements to junctions - there's also a new option in Loadbuilder (Tools > Loadbuilder) for assigning them based on spatial proximity. This is done after the customer meter nodes are imported into the model.

    You can allocate based on nearest node, nearest pipe, or aggregate based on service area polygons (which you can generate using the Thiessen Polygon tool):

    If you haven't done so already, I recommend watching this free webinar on Customer Element workflow.


    Regards,

    Jesse Dringoli
    Technical Support Manager, OpenFlows
    Bentley Communities Site Administrator
    Bentley Systems, Inc.

Reply
  • Regarding assigning of the customer elements to junctions - there's also a new option in Loadbuilder (Tools > Loadbuilder) for assigning them based on spatial proximity. This is done after the customer meter nodes are imported into the model.

    You can allocate based on nearest node, nearest pipe, or aggregate based on service area polygons (which you can generate using the Thiessen Polygon tool):

    If you haven't done so already, I recommend watching this free webinar on Customer Element workflow.


    Regards,

    Jesse Dringoli
    Technical Support Manager, OpenFlows
    Bentley Communities Site Administrator
    Bentley Systems, Inc.

Children
  • Jesse,

    Thank you for letting me know about the Load Builder. Even after I read these info on customer meter, I was a little confused, so I truly appreciate you and everyone's heads-up.

    OK,

    I imported the shape file that contain customer ID, gpm information, and x,y-coordinates using the Model Builder. Then, using the Load Builder, I tried to assign the demands to nearest node.

    Q. 1 When I import the shape file using the Model Builder, I don't see anything in the map. Am I importing correctly? When will I see the house icons?

    Q.2 For Load Builder, I clicked Customer Meter load data and 'Nearest Node" option. I chose Junction as Node Layer, then I chose the shape file I used with the Model Builder as the Customer Meter Layer. Problem: Customer Meter ID Field do not show all the field. Ideally what should I use? Can I use Billing ID as a Customer Meter ID? To do so, is there a step I should take when I import the shape file using the Model Builder?

    Thanks in advance for your advice!

    Yoko
  • Sounds like the customer meter data isn't importing correctly - you should see the house symbols on the map after you run ModelBuilder. Perhaps they imported at the wrong location? Try Zoom > Extents to see if you can find them. You'll need to get this sorted out before using LoadBuilder.

    Then in LoadBuilder > Customer Meter Load Data > Nearest Node, you don't need to pick the Shapefile again (since the data was already imported into your model) - just select Customer Meter > All Elements. This way you don't have to worry about setting the Customer Meter ID field,because LoadBuilder knows to use the element ID of the Customer Meter elements in your model.

    P.S. Not sure if you saw the webinar that Jesse linked to in his last post, but the demo in that webinar does show most of the steps you should follow and should be helpful.

    Regards,

    Mal

          

  •  Mal,

    Thank you for your reply.

    I did watch the webinar a few weeks ago and that is why we decided to go with the customer meter.  It seems that it has good information after successfully importing the customer meter data using Model Builder.  But, I'm still stuck at the data importing process using the Model Builder.  Here is the warming I got today when I was trying to import the customer meter data again.  

    Could someone look at the customer meter data file together  with the model to see what is wrong with the importing procedure? I cannot share the data file here since it is highly confidential.  Thanks again for your continuous support.

    Yoko

  • Hello Yoko,

    You can upload the file to our Sharefile site, which is a secure location to put the models. You can follow the instructions in the link below to send it to us via Bentley Sharefile. Files uploaded to Sharefile can only be viewed by Bentley.

    http://communities.bentley.com/content/bentleysecurefilesupload.aspx

    We will need the .wtg and .wtg.sqlite files, as well as the customer meter data shapefiles (and supporting files). Once you have uploaded the files, please post here so we know that it is available.

    Regards,
    Scott
  • Scott and everyone,

    Thank you. I've just uploaded the files. I also uploaded the ArcGIS file because to import the customer meter file, I think it has to be from the WaterGEM for ArcGIS. From stand alone WaterGEM, I could not choose the customer meter shape file that exported using the ArcGIS.

    Thank you in advance for reviewing the files and the model.

    Yoko