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Is it possible to import geometry collection for pipes?

Hi!

Could you confirm if it is possible or not to import pipe geometry collections using model builder? Data source would be an Oracle database.

Best regards,

Attila Bibok

  • Hello Attila,

    It is possible to import pipe geometry. Spatial data would need to be included in the information. Shapefiles and DXF files are good examples of ModelBuilder source file types that include spatial data. If your Oracle database includes spatial information, it can be used. Otherwise, a shapefile might be your best option.

    Regards,

    Scott

  • Hi Scott,

    Thank you for your answer! I think i wasn't specific enough. I would like to import the vertices from a spreadsheet or csv or for my example, a database view.

    Shape and dxf files are unfortunately not an option for me, because it would require even more manual data processing to transform our network geometry and nodal demand allocation.

    It is basically an ordered list of coordinates, just like in an EPANET .INP file. My current workaround is:

    1. importing the junctions and pipes from my .database view
    2. Export them to an .INP file (missing all the additional data, that standard EPANET INPs do not support eg. material, installation year, zones etc.)
    3. Copy paste the results of my other database query - which is an ordered list of vertices - right into the [VERTICES] section
    4. import the INP file into WaterGEMS
    5. run model builder again to add the data that was purged during the export (at 2. step)

    As you can see it is still a bunch of manual processing. It woudl be great to have an option in the table type list as pipe geometry collection, just like Demand collections:

    regards,

    Attila Bibok

  • Hello Attila, 

    We can create an enhancement to include Pipe Geometry option in  Table Type > Collection fields in Modelbuilder. 

    However we would need to understand your requirement and workflow here, reason for importing pipe geometry separately etc. 

    Regards,

    Sushma Choure

    Bentley Technical Suppport

  • Is this an Oracle Spatial database? If so, ModelBuilder should be able to read the geometry (pipe bends/vertices) automatically, similar to the esri Shapefile format.


    Regards,

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

  • Yes, it is. The problem we face is that pipes are split at every lateral connection and isolation valve. Which is an overkill considering that we have hundreds of thousands of connections and valves. 

    We concatenate the geometry based on some conditions and generate the endpoints as junctions (to which we query the demand weights (this is a must-have thing for us) based on billed consumption so we need a <junction><pipe><junction> relation instead of generating junctions at endpoints). We have a calculated user-defined length of course because we have no vertices at import.

    Because the aforementioned constraints in our data preprocessing and database joins (eg.: we store technical data and attributes, like failure history, materials, installation year, etc.  in a separate database) our best shot was to generate the nodal and link data in tables instead of importing the raw geometry.

    Attila Bibok

    Technical Development Engineer

    Budapest Waterworks

    Email: attila.bibok@vizmuvek.hu

    Web: www.vizmuvek.hu