Understanding Object Types

Owned by Steve Peregrine
Last updated: Dec 05, 2020
4 min read
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Introduction

It is important in WinCan VX to have a firm understanding of Object Types, and how they are related.  This is because there are several different types of object at different levels, where one level is required by WinCan VX to operate correctly, and the other level is part of the definitions for HADDMS data, and both of these types of object must always be handled together, as matching pairs.

WinCan Object Types

Internally, WinCan objects are divided into:

  • Sections

    • Sections – below ground continuous items in HADDMS data.

    • Laterals – below ground continuous items that have a HADDMS Connector Node at the downstream end.

    • Surface Linear Assets – above ground continuous items.

  • Nodes

    • Drainage Assets – point assets that you can inspect in HADDMS data.

    • Modelling Nodes – point items that cannot be physically inspected.

    • Region Items – polygon items that have an enclosed space.

In WinCan VX, sections and laterals are divided into two separate tabs in the user interface, and Surface Linear Assets are included in the Section grid view.  If you open the header of any object in the section or lateral grid view, you will see a field very near the top of the left-hand side called ‘Asset Style’.  This is the field that defines this attribute, and it is not a HADDMS data field.  This is mandatory field required by WinCan.

In the Nodes area, all three ‘Asset Style’ options are included in the same view, and they can also be identified by a similar field to continuous items in the node header.

Info – if you need to move a continuous between the section and lateral tabs in WinCan VX, simply change the value in the drop-down list in this field, and that’s it done.

DDMS Object Types

Now that we understand WinCan Object Types, we can delve deeper into HADDMS Object Types.  As we have seen already, HADDMS asset data is divided into three types – point, continuous and region, and in WinCan, continuous items are sections and laterals, and point or region items are all nodes.

Table 2.13 of CD 535 Drainage Asset Data and Risk Management (formerly HD 43/03) describes in more detail which asset types fall into which groups:

Asset Group

Geometry

Asset Types

Chambers

Point

Manhole, catchpit, inspection chamber, rodding eye, bifurcation or storm overflow, lamphole, soakaway chamber, soakaway borehole, gully, instrumented gully or other special chamber.

Inlets and Outlets

Point

Outfall, inlet, outlet, or grip inlet.

Pipes

Continuous

Pipework, gravity drain, rising main, culvert, syphon or land drainage.

Filter Drains

Continuous

Counterfort drain, combined surface and sub-surface filter drain, filter drain, narrow filter drain, fin drain or soakaway trench.

Ditches and Channels

Continuous

Ditch, grip, grassed surface water channel or swale, surface water channel, drainage channel block, edge channel, combined kerb and drainage channel, combined pipe and channel drain, linear drainage channel or "over the edge" drainage.

Ponds

Region

Detention basin, retention pond, sedimentation pond, infiltration basin, pollution containment pond or tank, wetlands, reed bed treatment system or pond (undifferentiated).

Ancillaries

Point

Stand-alone flow control device, interceptor, oil separator, pumping station or vortex separator.

Continuous

Linear cellular storage system.

Region

Reservoir pavement.

Network Modelling Items

Point

Ghost node, phantom node, region node or connector node.

Continuous

Phantom connector or region connector.

 DDMS defined groupings for object types.

In the WinCan VX headers of all types, there is a field called ‘Type of Asset’ which contains the asset types listed in the 3rd column in the table above, and they are split between the section/lateral headers and the node header, so no item appears in both lists.

So, the HADDMS object types and the WinCan object types have to be paired together with great care and unfortunately there is not automatic system for achieving this, although there are validation rules which will report data type mismatches.

Sections & Laterals

 HADDMS Object Types

Section

Pipework, gravity drain, rising main, culvert, syphon, land drainage, combined surface and sub-surface filter drain or combined pipe and channel drain.

Lateral

Any continuous item that has a Connector Node at the downstream end.

Surface Linear Asset

Ditch, grip, grassed surface water channel or swale, surface water channel, drainage channel block, edge channel, combined kerb and drainage channel, combined pipe and channel drain, linear drainage channel, "over the edge" drainage, linear cellular storage system, phantom connector or region connector.

Nodes

 

Drainage Asset

Manhole, catchpit, inspection chamber, rodding eye, bifurcation or storm overflow, lamphole, soakaway chamber, soakaway borehole, gully, other special chamber, outfall, inlet, outlet, grip inlet, stand-alone flow control device, interceptor, oil separator, pumping station or vortex separator.

Connector Node

Ghost node, phantom node, region node or connector node.

Region Item

Detention basin, retention pond, sedimentation pond, infiltration basin, pollution containment pond or tank, wetlands, reed bed treatment system, pond (undifferentiated) or reservoir pavement.

Relationships between WinCan and HADDMS object types.

In simple terminology, the VX object types refer to:

  • A section or a lateral is any continuous item that you would normally inspect with a CCTV camera.

  • A surface linear asset would not usually be inspected with a CCTV camera and would most likely be inspected visually and plotted by the GIS team.

  • A node drainage asset is a point item that you can see at the ground surface, open and inspect.

  • A connector node is a point item that you cannot see at the ground surface.

  • A region item is a large drainage item on the ground surface or below.

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