Implementing Geodatabase Technology Kay Anderson & Kendis Scharenbroich Cass, County, ND & Pro-West & Associates

What Is A Geodatabase? A container for spatial and attribute data Shapefiles, coverages, raster, CAD Personal Geodatabase 2G size limit Stored in an Access database SDE Geodatabase Stored in a RDBMS (Oracle, SQL, etc) Connect through a SDE Server or Direct Connect Scalable based on solution: personal vs. sde Connect using a database connection

Benefits of A Geodatabase Intelligent Behavior Spatial & attribute data integrity Centralized Data Storage Advanced analysis capabilities Flow analysis Multi-user editing environment

Terminology Feature Dataset Feature Class Data goes from being stored in separate folders/files to being managed in a single database. Easy to access and easy to publish to the web.

What Is SDE? Software that allows a user to manage spatial & tabular data housed within DB2, Informix, SQL Server or Oracle databases. GIS SQL SDE Storage Interpreter View/Analyze Server-side processing, so performance is faster. SDE is optimized for performance

SDE SQL ArcIMS MapObjects ArcInfo ArcView ArcExplorer Use with numerous applications. No matter what you are using now, this format can be used. Centralized for distribution locally and to the web. ArcIMS can read personal with the arcmap server, but it’s slow SQL

Geodatabase Highlights SDE Geodatabase Multi-user editing Data Integrity Subtypes, domains, rules, etc Stores Raster Data Need ArcEditor or ArcInfo to edit Disconnected Editing Check-in/out process Personal Geodatabase Single user editing Data Integrity Domains(AV), rules (AI) Stores Raster Data Edit in ArcView Versioning: multiple representations of the same database without making copies of the data, number of versions does not slow down performance Integrity: easier to set up rules to ensure spatial/att integrity is maintained. connectivity/topology rules only set and edited in ArcInfo, AV can handle domains Topology: parcels are not allowed to overlap Connectivity: Hydrants can only snap to hydrant laterals when editing, a service line can be added to a mainline without splitting the line.

Multi-user Editing Versioning Default Database Planning Version Edit Snapshot of default database Stores edits only Not a database replication Multiple users can access a single version

Domains/Subtypes Subtype: Distinguish features within a single layer Water Main Force, Gravity, Temp Domain: Identify attribute values Subtypes: may have different default values, such as pipe diameters or material, must be a long or short integer field Created by right clicking a feature class in arccatalog

Disconnected Editing Mobile Mapping Applications PDA Units, Tablet Computers, Offsite Editing Check out from ArcMap Check in from ArcMap or ArcCatalog Extract: no check in functionality, can do in personal geodatabases Can extract shapefiles for Arcpad use using the arcpad toolbar in ArcMap

Design 101 Organize Use Feature Datasets only when you need to Topology or Geometric Networks Several feature datasets with a limited number of feature classes is better for performance Choose Spatial Reference carefully Start with a personal geodatabase Set rules TEST TEST TEST! Versioning: multiple representations of the same database without making copies of the data Integrity: easier to set up rules to ensure spatial/att integrity is maintained. Personal: only can extract data and only supports domains

Is SDE Right for You? Do you have the need for multiple people editing the same piece of data? Is mobile mapping in your future? Do you have more than 2G of data to transfer into a geodatabase? Do you want a better way to maintain your data? Answering yes, puts you into position to strongly consider SDE. Modeling our world is a good reference.

ESRI Data Models Make implementation to the geodatabase environment easier Create consistency between organizations Support existing FGDC standards Designed with both Users and ESRI TIP You do not need to use the entire model

Why should Cass County make the switch to Geodatabases? Volume of data to be managed keeps increasing Shared updates & maintenance of datasets with The City of Fargo Increasingly unable to represent reality e.g. apartments, mobile home & multi-units Complex data access needs from multiple users on two networks

Geodatabase Benefits Cass County will have the ability to maintain data more efficiently through Topology, subtypes and domains All available data sets will be accessible in a uniform repository Multi-user editing

Planning Consultations started in May with Pro-West & City of Fargo 2005 Budget numbers needed for hardware & software Recognized needs for intranet based GIS application & more interactive IMS site

Challenges Existing GIS data server almost past sell by date! 150gb of 1ft color Orthophotos arriving the next 2 months need a home! Cass & Fargo need to access and edit the same data across two networks divided by a robust firewall

The Nuts & Bolts! Which spatial domain is appropriate? Cass data & imagery in State Plane North Dakota South, Fargo has highly accurate customized projection – who compromises?! Where will the editable version reside? Who will have editing rights? How to replicate the data?

Possible Solutions One GDB with separate Feature Datasets for Cass & Fargo allows different coordinates to be set How will this data behave when pulled in to IMS & intranet browser…need to test the scenarios

What have we done? 2005 budget finalized Multiple Storage Array Network installed with 1 TB free space for GIS Experimenting with Cass data in Personal GDB Test different combinations of feature data sets, relationships, subtypes, domains etc. Education – review white papers, best practices, data models, text books

2005 Plans Install SDE & SQL Set up permissions and import data Test & refine processes Establish requirements for intranet based GIS application & IMS site Migrate users to new version later in the year

Questions? Kay Anderson: andersonk@co.cass.nd.us 701-241-5762 Kendis Scharenbroich: kscharen@prowestgis.com 218-547-3374 x106