Issues to Consider When Starting a GIS Project

Andy Schmidt GIS Technician

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Issues To Consider In a GIS Project

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Identify Your Objectives Technical Considerations Who Will Create the GIS? Designing a GIS Data Needs, Design and Capture Analyzing the Data and Presenting the Results Project Life Cycle

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Issue 1: Identify Your Objectives

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Issue 1: Identify Your Objectives

What Is the Problem to Solve With a GIS?

How is it solved now? How would we like it solved? Are there alternate ways of solving by using a GIS?

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Issue 1: Identify Your Objectives

What Is the Need for a GIS?

How can GIS technology be implemented effectively to streamline existing functions? How can it change the way a particular goal is achieved?

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Issue 1: Identify Your Objectives

What Are the Final Products of a GIS?

Presentation of quality maps and map books Working maps Internet maps Reports and charts A system that ties multiple facets into an easy to use application that allows all users to access the data they want and need from a central location

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Issue 1: Identify Your Objectives

Who Is the Intended Audience?

Decision Makers/Management Technicians Planners Engineers System Operators Customers Public

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Issue 1: Identify Your Objectives

What Is the Primary Use of the Data?

Facility Locating Customer Locating System Inventory Analysis of Your System

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Issue 1: Identify Your Objectives

Will the Data Be Used for Other Purposes?

Modeling the System Phase Tracing Outage Management Staking Sheet Generation Driving Directions

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Issue 1: Identify Your Objectives

What are the Requirements of These Other Purposes?

Additional Software Quality Updated Data Good Data Management Customization

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Issue 1: Identify Your Objectives

What Are the Goals of the Project?

Short (0-2 years)
Getting essential data into the GIS Fix holes in data Fix incorrect data

Medium (1-5 years)

Modeling Adding additional data Link to other software

Long (5+ years)

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Advanced analysis of the system Integration of GIS to many other systems

Issue 1: Identify your Objectives

Do You Plan to Start Small Then Expand?

Start with a circuit, substation or predefined area then expand from it Convert whole systems starting with a specific device What is the expansion schedule or timeline? What are the most critical areas?

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Issue 2: Technical Issues

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Issue 2: Technical Issues

What Computing Environment Are You Using?

Windows NT, 2000, XP Unix Workstation Mixed Environment

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Issue 2: Technical Issues

What GIS Software Will You Be Using?

May depend on your computing environment May depend on previous experience with a vendor

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Issue 2: Technical Issues

Stability Leadership in the Industry Integration of Existing Legacy Systems Partnerships or Long Term Alignments Development Flexibility Open Architecture Customizable
Out of the box software should do 75% of what you want it to do
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Key Factors in Choosing a Vendor

Cost and Maintenance Agreements

Issue 2: Technical Issues

Key Factors in Cost

Hardware Software Upgrades Software Maintenance Agreements Conversion Development Ability to Drive Technology Change Organizational Size and Position of Resources Scope Change Revisions
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Issue 2: Technical Issues

Other Technical Issues

How many people are responsible for making changes to the data?
Single editor Multiple editors at one location Multiple editors accessing a server

Who will be accessing the data?

Single user Multiple users at one location Several users at different locations using the internet
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Issue 3: Who Will Create the GIS?

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Issue 3: Who Will Create the GIS

Who Will Create the GIS?

In-House Consultant Combination of In-House employees and Consultants

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Issue 3: Who Will Create the GIS

In-House
Set up a GIS Steering Team
Leaders and managers. Experts in the areas you want to incorporate.

Dedicate the people to do the work Implications

Will the employees only be dedicated to the GIS? Do you have to hire new people to replace those working on the GIS? Will dedicating the employees to GIS hinder the jobs of other employees? Do they really want to work on the GIS? Are there people trained to do GIS work?
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Issue 3: Who Will Create the GIS

Consultant
Set up a GIS Steering Team Dedicate a Contact Person
Key member of the GIS Team Knowledge of all parts of the system Available throughout the process Passionate about the project

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Issue 3: Who Will Create the GIS

Consultant
Choose the Consultant
Has extensive knowledge of GIS and the electric utility Capable of doing what you want them to do Visit with them to see what they have done Ask others about the consultant - references

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Issue 3: Who Will Create the GIS

Consultant
Set up Timeline of Deliverables
Area check copies

Initial conversion completion Updates System integration and takeover

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Issue 3: Who Will Create the GIS

Combination of In-House Employees and Consultants

Set up a GIS Steering Team Determine Who Does What Only Work on What Has Been Agreed Upon Agree on Timelines and Deliverables and Remember the Goals Work Together Not Against Each Other Correspond Frequently
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Issue 4: Designing a GIS

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Plan, Plan and Plan!

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Issue 4: Designing a GIS

Objectives of Design
Results in a Well-Constructed Operational Database That:
Satisfies objectives and supports organizational requirements Contains all necessary data but no redundant data Organizes data so that different users can access the same data Accommodates different views of the data Distinguishes which applications maintain the data from which applications access the data Appropriately represents, codes and organizes graphical features

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Issue 4: Designing a GIS

Benefits From Good Design

Although Time Consuming
Increased flexibility of data retrieval and analysis Increased likelihood of users developing applications Decrease time in attributing data Data that supports different users and uses A system that readily accommodates future functionality Minimized data redundancy

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Issue 4: Designing a GIS

Design Guidelines

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Involve users Educate users in what a GIS can do Take it one step at a time Build a team Be creative Create deliverables Keep goals and objectives in focus Do not add detail prematurely Document carefully Be flexible Plan from your model

Issue 4: Designing a GIS

Data Modeling
Model the Users View of Data
Identify organizational functions Determine data needed to support functions Organize data into local groups

Define Objects and Relationships

Identify and describe objects Specify relationships between objects Document model in diagram
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Issue 4: Designing a GIS

Data Modeling
Select Geographic Representation
Represent data with discreet features
Points, Lines and Polygons

Characterize continuous phenomena with rasters

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Issue 4: Designing a GIS

Data Modeling
Match Data to Spatial Elements
Determine geometry type of discrete features Specify relationships between features Implement attribute types for objects

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Issue 4: Designing a GIS

Data Modeling
Organize Database Structure
Organize system of features Define topological associations Assign coordinate systems Define relationships, rules and domains

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Issue 5: Data Design, Needs and Capture

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Design
Identify the Spatial Data Needed
Land-base Facility

Determine the Required Feature Layers

Roads, Municipals, Water features, Parcels Conductor, Transformer, Consumer, Poles

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Design
How Current Must the Data Be?
For planning, the most current data may be required For general mapping, data may be a few years old

What Data Do I Have?

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Digital Paper records Is it in a usable format? Can it be converted?

Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Acquiring
Where can I Get Missing Data From?
Government entities (DOT, DNR, LMIC, County, and Municipal) Other utilities Other consultants GPS Aerial photos DRG's (digital raster graphics)

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Acquiring
How Much Are We Willing to Pay for Data?
Most entities charge for data Most entities request data sharing agreements

When Do You Need the Data?

Off-the-shelf" data sets can be acquired in one to two business days Custom sets may take weeks to prepare

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Acquiring
Will You Need Periodic Data Updates and How Frequently?
Complete replacements Transactional updates (changes only) It is best to negotiate a maintenance schedule with the initial data license

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Specifics
Determine the Level of Detail Needed
More detail or a large scale like 1:24,000 Less detail or small scale like 1:1,000,000

Select the Map Area Boundary

Company service area County/Township/Municipal region Buffered region incase of expansion

Determine The Level of Geography You Want To Examine

Service area Township Section Quarter section Miscellaneous detail areas

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Choose the Coordinate System and Units

Coordinate Systems
UTM State plain County coordinates Custom

Units
Meters Feet Decimal degrees
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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture Continued

Choosing the Attributes

Choose the Attributes Each Feature Needs.
Identifiers of Cooperative or Company Identifiers of substation Identifiers of circuit Identifiers of device (Must have a UNIQUE ID such as Device # or Account #)

Very Important. Make sure there is a nonduplicate unique ID for every device in order to tie to other software or data
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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Representation
Numbering System
Pole to Pole

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Representation
Grid System
Joe Smith is located at: T 101 R 32 Section 01 Grid 8 Sub grid 6 ID = 10132010806

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Representation
Real World Coordinates
XY or Latitude Longitude
Each feature has it own real-world coordinate

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Data Representation
Choose the Way You Want to Represent The Data Color Symbology g h j k w r Annotation or Labels Name Name NAME Offsets of Features
Name

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Automation of Data
Converting existing data from other systems and formats into the same format Digitizing data from paper Adding GPS data Data entry of attributes Creating topology and connectivity

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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Automation of Data
Putting additional spatial data into real world coordinates Join adjacent data sets Updating data sets Verifying data with GPS Perform QA/QC
Correct locations Correct attributes Connectivity
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Issue 5: Data Design Needs and Capture

Conversion Issues
Keep project goals in mind Do not add additional requirements until initial requirements are met What you put in is what you get out of a GIS Stick with one software or vendor until conversion is completed

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Issue 6: Analyzing the Data and Presenting the Results

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Issue 6: Analyzing the Data and Present the Results

Analyzing Data
Referred to as Spatial Modeling A Model is a Representation of Reality To:
Simulate a process Predict an outcome Analyze a problem

Models in a GIS

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Connectivity Tracing up stream and down Proximity calculations Common ancestor finding

Issue 6: Analyzing the Data and Present the Results

Presenting Results
Project should effectively communicate your findings to your audience Create paper map books Create digital map books Internet mapping Wall maps Create charts and reports Give demonstrations

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Issue 6: Analyzing the Data and Present the Results

Training Users
In-House Software Vendors Consultants Conferences Internet Classes Local Colleges and Vocational Schools
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Issue 7: Project Life Cycle Issues

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Issue 7: Project Life Cycle Issues

Problems That Might Cause a GIS to Fail

GIS perceived as only a automated mapping tool to replace manual mapping People do not want to change Inadequate quality control Cannot access system or data Poor project implementation Unrealistic expectations Poor training Failure to plan on how to maintain the GIS data and operations Project cost overrun
Scope change, adding premature detail
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Conclusions
When Starting a GIS
Identify your objectives for the project Examine software, hardware and vendors Determine who will create the GIS Determine the design Determine data needs & how to acquire Train users Stay focused on the goals
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These steps and Planning as a Team to meet the Goals will help insure a GIS that will be Useful to all users as well as Cost Effective to the company.

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Questions?

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