Consolidation Tools
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Introduction
As a part of the development process to create and round trip HADDMS data in WinCan VX, Mott MacDonald requested some user features that enable data cleanup and consolidation in WinCan Map similar to the tools found in the HADDMS online system.
From WinCan VX v10.0 and onwards, these can be found in WinCan Map in a new ribbon bar called ‘DDMS’ which is only available to users who have the HADDMS license slot active.
These tools are for working directly on HADDMS shapefiles and do not require any WinCan VX project to be loaded or connected to WinCan Map, so WinCan Map must be launched in ‘stand alone’ mode without WinCan VX, or disconnected from WinCan VX if it is running.
Creating a Stand Alone Launcher for WinCan Map
The WinCan Map application can be run in its own right by locating the application file and launching it directly from the programs folder. Users may also wish to create shortcuts in their start menu, task bar or desktop etc so that they can launch WinCan Map on demand at any time.
To do this with a regular WinCan installation, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\CDLAB\WinCanMapVX and locate the file WincanMapVX.exe
From this file you can:
Double click it to launch WinCan map.
Right click on it to access Windows features like ‘Send to Desktop’ and ‘Pin to Start Menu’ etc to make access to WinCan Map more convenient in the future.
Disconnecting WinCan VX from WinCan Map
When you launch WinCan Map directly from WinCan VX using the quick launcher in the lower left corner of WinCan VX or from the ribbon bar, then WinCan Map is automatically connected to the current VX project on load:
WinCan VX connected to WinCan Map.
In the WinCan Map ‘Tools’ ribbon, the ‘Connect WinCan VX’ button at the top is highlighted orange - means that the connection is made between the GIS application and the project database in WinCan VX.
In the layers list, we see all of the ‘WinCan’ layers and also any other shapefile layers that you might have loaded, and in the work area, we see all data.
To disconnect WinCan Map from WinCan VX, click on the ‘Connect WinCan VX’ button and now you will see:
WinCan VX disconnected to WinCan Map.
The ‘Connect WinCan VX’ button is no longer highlighted orange.
In the layers list, the ‘WinCan’ layers are missing and we only see the shapefile layers that are loaded in the work area and in the layers list.
Now, WinCan Map is working fully stand-alone and is not connected to WinCan VX. You can reconnect at any time using the button in the ribbon bar (the same button can also be found in the ‘Layers’ panel) or you can simply close WinCan VX if you prefer.
WinCan Map is a fully editable GIS application in its own right with many useful typical GIS functions, and is all that is needed for dealing with all shapefile data for drainage investigations.
The DDMS Ribbon
The DDMS ribbon bar in WinCan Map.
The DDMS ribbon bar has some button features that will be described here which are used for data consolidation. At the time of writing this, there are 6 buttons in a ribbon group called ‘Cleanup Tool’, but from WinCan VX v11.0 onwards, the group will be called ‘Consolidation Tools’.
In WinCan VX v11.0 and higher, this ribbon will look more like this:
Improved DDMS ribbon in WinCan Map.
In this page, we will focus only on the buttons inside the Cleanup/Consolidation group.
HE Layer Button
This button toggles on and off a shapefile provided by Mott MacDonald that shows all of the catchment areas for the English road network.
The National Highways catchment layer.
At first glance, this looks like a map of the trunk roads across England, but this is not what it is. If you zoom in to an area of your choice, you will see that these are individual polygon shapes that show outlines of the catchments used in HADDMS:
A closer look at the catchments.
Important
These catchment boundaries are not set in stone. They are offered as a guide only and have been created automatically from a GIS system using elevations where each catchment is theoretical and goes from a high point to the next high point with a low point in the middle.
Users should use these for guidance only and use their best engineering judgement when making data decisions about how assets should be split into catchments.
Split Scheme Button
This button allows a user to split assets at nodes and creates a new ghost node in the background as required to maintain data integrity.
Select the tool in the ribbon bar.
Click on a point item where you would like to make a split and the node will be highlighted with a red ring around it.
Notice the advisory text in the top left of the work area to help you out.
See that the continuous items connected to this point item are now highlighted blue.
Click on the continuous item which you would like to be connected to the new ghost node. This is the final step in the process. The new Auto ghost node will be created and all continuous items under the selection point will now be connected to this new ghost node, which means that the original node is connected to the other continuous items around the original node.
Transfer Documents Button
This tool is used to transfer priority register and values and attached documents from one asset to another, and in most cases also transfer the asset from an incorrect location to the correct location.
Click on the tool button in the ribbon.
Review and accept the warning pop up.
Select and load the LINKDATA file for your loaded shapefiles.
Notice the advisory text in the top left of the work area to help you out.
Hover the mouse pointer over objects and you will see a description pop up on the screen shoring you the priority register status and the number of attached documents.
Click on an asset that you want to transfer ‘from’.
In the advisory text, you will see what data has been selected for transfer.
Click on the ass that you want to transfer ‘to’.
There are some internal HADDMS rules regarding how these values can be transferred between assets types, and these rules are observed by the application, so if you try to transfer documents to an inappropriate asset type (see the list below), then there will be a pop up warning informing you that this transfer is not valid.
If the transfer is valid then you will be asked if you wish to delete the original asset. Answer Yes or No.
If you select yes, then the original asset will be deleted and the references for the original asset will also be transferred to the target asset, so in effect, we are transferring the object with its documents rather than the actual documents themselves.
If you select no, then the original source asset will remain and only the documents and/or priority register value will be transferred.
The transfer is now complete.
The list of item type codes for valid transfer of priority register values is:
Culverts:
CU to CU
Outfalls:
OU to OU
OF to OF
OU to OF
OF to OU
Soakaways – point assets
SO to SO
SO to SK
SO to SB
SB to SO
SB to SB
SB to SK
SK to SO
SK to SB
SK to SK
Soakaways – linear assets
ST to ST
Soakaways – region assets
IB to IB
Validate Data Button
This button triggers the same behaviour as the ‘Export Data’ button, but without the export part of the process, so purely the data validator.
Export Data Button
The Export Data button is used to export the current set of HADDMS shapefiles after edits. The first thing that happens when the button is clicked is the HADDMS Data validator will start to run. This may take some time to run depending on the size of the data set, but after the validation checks are complete, you will be presented with a panel listing all errors found in the data.
The errors are split into two categories which reflect the validation rule categories in WinCan VX:
Error - these are equivalent to ‘critical’ errors on HADDMS.
Warning - these match with ‘non-critical’ errors on HADDMS.
Delete Button
This button simply deletes an object or objects. First, the user must select an object or some objects on the layer using any of the regular selection tools available in WinCan Map and then simply hit the 'Delete' button to remove them from the shapefile.
Undo Button
The ‘Undo’ button just reverses the last action or actions in the same way that you would expect from other software applications.
Other Buttons
All other buttons on this ribbon are standard WinCan Map buttons that are copied from other ribbons to help with data manipulation and to avoid as much as possible the need to jump between ribbons while using these consolidation tools.