Calgary Automated Survey Plan Verification and Reporting ... · Calgary Automated Survey Plan Evaluation and Reporting tool (CASPER)1 – Single Process System 2. Executive Administrator’s

City of Calgary URISA's ESIG™ Award Application

© 2015 The City of Calgary Page 1 of 14 April 29, 2015

URISA's ESIG™ Award Application

Calgary Automated Survey Plan Verification and Reporting

(CASPER)

Prepared by: Arne Svedahl, with contributions from Rick Ciezki & John Lethaby

Version: 1.0

Date: April 29, 2015



Table of Contents

Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... 2

List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ 4

A. System ............................................................................................................................................. 5

1. Name of System and ESIG™ Category ........................................................................................... 5

2. Executive Administrator’s Authorization Letter ............................................................................ 5

3. Summary of System’s Accomplishments and Why it is Exemplary ................................................ 5

4. User Testimonials ........................................................................................................................ 5

B. Jurisdiction ...................................................................................................................................... 6

1. Name of Jurisdiction .................................................................................................................... 6

2. Population Served by the Organization ........................................................................................ 6

3. Total Annual Budget for Jurisdiction ............................................................................................. 6

4. Chief Elected Official Information ................................................................................................. 6

5. System Contact Information......................................................................................................... 6

C. System Design ................................................................................................................................. 7

1. Motivation for System Development ............................................................................................ 7

2. Service(s) Intended to be Improved by System ............................................................................. 7

3. Unexpected Benefits .................................................................................................................... 7

4. System Design Problems Encountered ......................................................................................... 8

5. System’s Differentiation from Similar Systems ............................................................................. 8

D. Implementation ............................................................................................................................. 11

1. Phases of the System’s Development ......................................................................................... 11

2. Modifications to Original System Design .................................................................................... 11

E. Organizational Impact .................................................................................................................... 11

1. User Community Served by System ............................................................................................ 13



2. Decisions/Operations/Services Affected..................................................................................... 13

3. Quantitative and Qualitative Impacts of System ......................................................................... 14

Quantitative Benefits ..................................................................................................................... 14

Qualitative Benefits ....................................................................................................................... 14

4. Effect of System on Productivity................................................................................................. 15

5. Other Impacts ............................................................................................................................ 15

6. Changes to Business and/or Service Delivery .............................................................................. 15

F. System Resources .......................................................................................................................... 16

1. System’s Primary Hardware Components................................................................................... 16

2. System’s Primary Software Components .................................................................................... 16

3. Data the System Works With ..................................................................................................... 17

4. Staff Resources to Implement System ........................................................................................ 17

5. Unusual Resourcing Facets of System’s Development ................................................................ 17

Appendix 1: Executive Administrator’s Approval Letter......................................................................... 18

Appendix 2: User Testimonials .............................................................................................................. 20

Appendix 3: CASPER Architecture and Data Models .............................................................................. 24

Appendix 4: Digital Plan Submission Guidelines for ePlans .................................................................... 27



List of Abbreviations

ALSA Alberta Land Surveyors Association

AIM Asset Information and Mapping

CADD Computer Aided Design and Drafting

CAAF City Web-Application Framework

CASPER Calgary Automated Survey Plan Evaluation and Reporting tool

CoC The City of Calgary

GBS Geospatial Business Solutions

GIS Geographic Information System

IIS Infrastructure & Information Services

IT Information Technology

LSF Legal Survey Fabric

LTO Land Titles Office

POSSE Public One Stop SErvice

ROI Return on Investment

SDE Spatial Data Engine

UAT User Acceptance Testing

VISTA View Information Specific To your Application



A. System

1. Name of System and ESIG™ Category

Calgary Automated Survey Plan Evaluation and Reporting tool (CASPER)1 – Single Process System

2. Executive Administrator’s Authorization Letter

See Appendix 1: Executive Administrator’s Approval Letter

3. Summary of System’s Accomplishments and Why it is Exemplary

As the primary public stewards of approximately 850 square km of land supporting a population of

1,195,194 people, The City of Calgary (CoC) has increasingly relied on cadastre information and mapping

to manage land, infrastructure, and other vital services such as transit, and emergency response.

In 2013, the Dynamic Geospatial Asset Information and Mapping program undertook a project to develop

a web based tool that Alberta land surveyors could use to self check their legal survey plans to ensure

they adhere to CoC Legal Survey Fabric (LSF) Plan Submission Guidelines (see Appendix 4). This tool is

named Calgary Automated Survey Plan Evaluation and Reporting tool (CASPER).

CASPER is an exemplary system because it allows but does not force the Legal Survey community to use

the tool to self check their Legal Survey plans BEFORE starting the submission process to the CoC.

CASPER has been a technology ground breaker. It leverages web intake forms compliant with the CoC

web architecture, interfaces with the CoC Enterprise GIS environment and delivers reports through email

distribution that can be used to improve the quality of the resulting Legal Survey Plan submissions. These

Legal Plans make up a substantial part of the subdivision approval process within the CoC.

CASPER is also innovative from a stakeholder engagement perspective. CoC engaged three focus group

members from the Alberta Land Surveyors Association (ALSA) to help define the requirements of the

system. In addition to being innovative, the tools have been delivered to help streamline the submission

process but not as a mandatory tool, which fosters a collaborative relationship with the Legal Survey

community. This collaborative relationship has been recognized with the “Transforming Government”

designation at the CoC.2

Plan submitters that use the CASPER tool are 70% more likely to have plans accepted for compliance with

the LSF Submission Guidelines.

4. User Testimonials

See Appendix 2: User Testimonials

1 http://www.calgary.ca/CS/IIS/Pages/Services/CASPER.aspx

2 http://www.transforminggov.ca/



B. Jurisdiction

1. Name of Jurisdiction

City of Calgary (CoC)

2. Population Served by the Organization

1,195,194

3. Total Annual Budget for Jurisdiction

$5.5 billion P0F

3

4. Chief Elected Official Information

Mayor Naheed Nenshi

Office of the Mayor

City of Calgary

800 Macleod Trail. S.E.

P.O. Box 2100, Station M

Calgary, AB, T2P 2M5

5. System Contact Information

Arne Svedahl, Leader – Land

Asset Information & Mapping

Infrastructure & Information Services

Corporate Services

City of Calgary

Floor 2, Calgary Municipal Building

2-C3-3, 800 Macleod Trail S.E.

P.O. Box 2100, Station M

Calgary, AB, T2P 2M5

Phone: 403-268-2171

Fax: 403-268-3638

email: [email protected]

3 City of Calgary ($22 Billion over 4 years including Capital Projects)

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.calgary.ca/CA/fs/Pages/Action-Plan/Default.aspx



C. System Design

1. Motivation for System Development

The Asset Information and Mapping (AIM) division of Infrastructure & Information Services (IIS) identified

an opportunity to improve the plan submission process. Within this process a significant number of

submitted plans were being rejected, resulting in sub-optimal use of AIM staff time and significant delays

in the plan approval process. It was recognized that an enhanced service could be provided by

incorporating recently implemented survey plan submission validation functionality into an external

partner accessible web service. In doing this AIM would be able to reduce plan turn around cycle times

and perceived “red tape”, and develop stronger relationships with the Developer / Surveyor community.

2. Service(s) Intended to be Improved by System

UDevelopment & Building Approvals

DBA uses spatial data and the POSSE database as a foundation for a number services and business

processes devoted to:

the use and development of land

the safety, health, occupancy, and use of buildings

the licensing of businesses and business activities

the provision of accurate and timely data to support the land and building process

DBA’s business processes, and associated updates to its POSSE database, result in the need to update

CoC’s base maps (LSF and OPF layers), maintained by IIS staff. As a major user of and contributor to CoC’s

base map data DBA services benefit from CASPER in number of ways including:

reduced errors in the initial submission from the survey community

less frustration from the development community due to reduction in the number of multiple

submissions.

Improved turnaround time for the evaluation and acceptance of legal survey plans meaning that

their plans are less likely to be rejected by the CoC.

Improved accuracy of information that is being entered by the plan submission due to consistent.

3. Unexpected Benefits

UUnanticipated Utilization and Integration

The benefits associated with implementing CASPER are many and will be realized on several fronts. As

more and more CoC business units begin to require digital submission for design and as-built

infrastructure drawings it will be important for those submissions to adhere to soon to be developed e-

submission guidelines. The architecture used for CASPER is flexible to easily support additional business

rules required for future e-plan submissions.

Interest from Education Institutions

The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) will be incorporating the use of this tool into their

curriculum. The benefits will be three fold:



1. Students get an understanding of how to draft plans that conform to CoC LSF submission

guidelines.

2. Legal Survey community are able to hire graduates that require little additional training to

support development projects within the CoC.

3. The City receives high quality submissions for land development.

4. System Design Problems Encountered

Use of a third party tool for temporarily loading AutoCAD DWG files into an Oracle database prevented

the loading of files approaching the originally designed 5MB file size limitation. Instead the file sizes were

restricted to 3.6MB which 95% of the time is sufficient. To assist the survey community in reducing their

file sizes to meet this constraint CoC listed this limitation in the error messages during the selection of the

DWG file, and provided tips on how unwanted information can be purged from AutoCAD DWG files.

5. System’s Differentiation from Similar Systems

The next two sections discuss features of CASPER that are unique:

Ease of Use

Minimal information is requested from the Legal Surveyor to put their plans through the checking tool:

CADD drawing (AutoCAD DWG)

Type of Plan

Email address for report delivery

Emailed Report with errors/warning highlighted for later investigation

The surveyor is provided a report as to how the plan adheres to the LSF submission Guidelines. This

report is emailed in PDF format and DWG format. This allows the surveyor to access this information in

both an easy viewing format as well as a more detailed report that can be referenced into their CADD tool

for corrections to be made.



PDF Report



DWG Report

DWG t

Information Useful for Final Submission

The stakeholder/focus group identified the following key information that would be beneficial to receive

in their verification report to improve the efficiency of their final submission to the CoC:

Existing addresses Impacted by the Legal Survey Plan.

Legal Description of the existing parcels impacted by the Legal Survey Plan.

Land Use of the existing parcels impacted by the Legal Survey Plan.



D. Implementation

1. Phases of the System’s Development

The system was developed as part of a two year project that incorporated initiation through to warranty

components. Significant time and effort were spent early in the project in scoping and confirming the

project objectives. Once the initial requirements were defined, the project employed a highly iterative

methodology through to implementation to ensure that the new system would support the corporate

needs and that the evolving technology would support the system. Throughout all phases of the project

the external stakeholder/focus group was engaged in system requirements and refinement.

The following list identifies the project life cycle:

Analysis* Business Analysis (Requirements, Change Management, Benefits Realization) Technical Analysis (Requirements, Alternative Evaluation, Recommend Solution) Design* Business Design (Process Maps, On-line Help, Use Cases, Acceptance Criteria) Technical Design (Database, Architecture, Security, Internal Access, Validation Service) Development* Business Development (On-line Help, Change Management, Benefits Realization)

Technical Development (Database, Architecture, Security, Internal Access, Validation Service, Test System for Focus Group Access/UAT)

Implementation Business Implementation (On-line Help, Change Management, Benefits Realization) Technical Development and Production (Database, Architecture, Security, Internal Access, Validation Service, Test System for Focus Group Access/UAT) Warranty Sponsor Signoff * Denotes iterative steps with the Stakeholder/Focus Group

2. Modifications to Original System Design

File size limitations to the Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) file that would be submitted

Due to external library dependencies we need to restrict AutoCAD dwg file size to be 3.6MB vs the original

requirement which was 5MB.

Providing Information to the Land Surveys required for final submission requirements

The stakeholder/focus group identified the following key information that would be beneficial to receive

in their verification report to improve the efficiency of their final submission to the CoC:

Existing addresses Impacted by the Legal Survey Plan.

Legal Description of the existing parcels impacted by the Legal Survey Plan.

Land Use of the existing parcels impacted by the Legal Survey Plan.

This was provided as shown in the following screenshot.





E. Organizational Impact

1. User Community Served by System

A. Members of the Alberta Land Surveyors Association authorized to do work in Calgary

B. AIM-Land – currently we are porting the tool so that internal resources can utilize the same version of

the tool to ensure consistency.

2. Decisions/Operations/Services Affected

VISTA

During login to the VISTA system the Land Surveyor is now provided access to the CASPER tool as outlined

below. VISTA is used specifically to authenticate the user. Only users who are approved to submit

subdivision plans are provided access to CASPER.



3. Quantitative and Qualitative Impacts of System

As part of the implementation of CASPER, a benefit analysis was completed. This analysis identified both

quantitative and qualitative benefits of CASPER which are summarized in the next two sections. Since

CASPER has been in production for just over 1 year, CoC will require several years to collect the data

needed and analyze the true impact of CASPER’s implementation.

Quantitative Benefits

The impacts of the system are many and are realized on several fronts. Beneficiaries include the

downstream businesses (both CoC and external) that depend on reliable cadastral mapping data being

available, and both the Infrastructure & Information Services (cadastral mapping data maintainers) and

Information Technology business units. The following lists summarize the benefits of the Cadastral

Mapping System.

The benefits associated with CASPER’s implementation are many and will be realized on several fronts

including:

Reduced turnaround time for land development applications as the quality of the initial

submissions will be improved and less likely to be rejected. Each time a revision to submissions is

received the review clock of seven days starts over. In the past there have been instances where

7 revisions had been rejected before an acceptable plan was submitted.

Less time spent of AIM-Land staff in reviewing and rejecting plans that do not meet our LSF

Submission Guideline criteria.

Qualitative Benefits

As mentioned, the expected benefits of CASPER are fairly focused but will be realized and truly quantified

several years after implementation. They are mostly based on cost avoidance and savings associated with

more effective use of staff time and enhancements to the services they provide. Although these benefits

may translate into tangible cost reductions and increased revenue streams, more significant gains will be

made through more effective use of the current staff by increasing their capacity and allowing them to

focus on higher value work, thereby enabling City businesses to address the staffing challenges associated

with supporting a growing city. This section identifies the qualitative benefits associated with this project.

UAccommodation of Growth

CASPER accommodates Calgary’s growth and increases the CoC’s capacity to meet future service levels,

including new services by:

Introducing more efficient business processes and technology, CoC will be well positioned to

maintain service levels with existing staff as workloads increase due to a growing city

Providing tighter integration and interoperability among all City geospatial systems and client

applications will enable CoC to provide new maintenance and consulting services for corporate

clients



Recruitment and training of new staff will be easier by emphasizing the use of industry leading

GIS technology and recent graduates of the SAIT drafting programs will understand the LSF

submission guidelines.

UImprovement of Service Levels

CASPER improves existing service delivery:

The use of new technology and enhanced business processes will help eliminate time spent

checking poor quality submissions.

The use of City standard GIS technology will reduce data translation efforts resulting in more

timely data access for business clients

UPartnerships for Success

CASPER explores partnering with other sources to accommodate both current/future service delivery:

The use of corporate e-plan submissions standards combined with the technology developed in

CASPER will enhance the corporate geospatial data maintenance environment by:

o providing tighter integration and interoperability among all City geospatial systems and client applications/data.

o enabling downstream clients to update corporate data based on e-plan submissions

4. Effect of System on Productivity

Implementing the new system has enabled productivity increases in the overall acceptance of Legal plans

from the development community. This has been accomplished as a result of more effective use of time

reviewing and accepting legal plans. Less rejections result in less revisions, resulting in less time that CoC

staff need to review the plans submitted for approval.

From the surveyors perspective it is also more efficient and timely as they are able to deal with common

drafting issues before making a submission to the city. This improves the overall turnaround time when

submitting plans to the CoC.

5. Other Impacts

Use of the CASPER tool is iterative in nature and higher priority issues are identified in the start of the

report. As the surveyors deal with higher priority issues they understand how that issue can result in

further issues presented later in the report. This process educates all drafting personnel with a better

understanding of the submission guidelines.

6. Changes to Business and/or Service Delivery

There is currently no impact to business and/or service delivery, beyond the efficiencies discussed above.

There has, however been some discussions to encourage the use of CASPER for Surveyors currently not

using the CASPER tool.



F. System Resources

1. System’s Primary Hardware Components

Refer to Appendix 3 for a model of CAPSER’s architecture. The following summarizes CASPER’s

hardware components:

CAAF web application framework Sandbox, Development, Test and Production environments

virtualized running in a Windows Server 2003 environment.

Oracle SDE Sandbox, Development, Test, and Production environments virtualized running in a

LINUX environment

Oracle SDE production physical running in a virtualized LINUX environment

ArcGIS tiled mapping services running in a virtualized LINUX environment.

ArcGIS batch processes running in a virtualized 64-bit Windows Server 2008 environment

2. System’s Primary Software Components

Refer to Appendix 3 for a model of CAPSER’s architecture. The following summarizes CASPER’s

software components:

Tool/Technology Version Additional Information

CAAF 3.1 City Web-Application Framework

Visual Studio 2010 Developer Development Environment

Team Foundation Server 2010 Standard CoC code management toolset

C#.Net and ASP.Net Visual Studio 2010 Development Language

Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 Underlying Framework

Active Reports .Net 6 (6.2.3681) Reporting Tool

Oracle Database 11g 10.2.0.3.0 Data storage

CryptoConn Current version Standard CoC encryption toolset

ArcSDE 10.0 (SP5) Standard GIS database extension



3. Data the System Works With

Refer to Appendix 3 for detailed CASPER data models. The following summarizes the data sources

CASPER works with which include, but are not limited to:

Authentication to the tool happens against the POSSE/Outrider Customer database.

Addressing, Land Use, Community, Corporate Limit and existing Parcel information stored in a

published ArcSDE geodatabase.

Tiled Mapping ArcGIS WebService.

AutoCAD DWG drawings that adhere to data standards and guidelines from the Land Titles Office

(LTO). Refer to Appendix 4 for more information related to LTO’s standards/LSF Submission

Guildeines..

4. Staff Resources to Implement System

Resources involved in implementation include:

3 –4 project team members responsible for development and testing of the system.

4 ALSA members that made up the industry focus group. Time commitment was restricted to

requirements definition and UAT.

1 part-time IIS-GBS personnel responsible for GIS architecture, GIS direction, Corporate tool

deployment, etc

1 part-time database administrator responsible for configuring the CASPER data model on

development/test/production servers.

1 part-time application support personnel responsible for integration with VISTA authentication

and security review of the CASPER tool.

5. Unusual Resourcing Facets of System’s Development

Solicited willing volunteers of the ALSA to help in the requirements and UAT.


Appendix 1:

Executive Administrator’s Approval Letter


Calgary Automated Survey Plan and Evaluation tool

(CASPER)



Appendix 2:

User Testimonials


Calgary Automated Survey Plan and Evaluation tool

(CASPER)



Svedahl, Arne E.

From: Sent: To: Subject:

Woychuk, Mark [[email protected]] Wednesday, April 29, 2015 1:16 PM Svedahl, Arne E. CASPER - user testimonial

Use of the CASPER application to check the layering and information contained in our drawings

submitted to The City of Calgary has markedly decreased the delays we used to encounter. By

having the ability to use the application prior to making a formal submission, we are able to use

the report and drawing file generated to detect potential issues and resolve them beforehand.

The ease of use meant our staff were able to start using the program in minutes, without the

need for extensive training. Since the implementation of the CASPER application we have seen

a significant decrease in submission delays benefitting both us and our clients.

Mark Woychuk, ALS, P.Eng. Associate Stantec 200 - 325 25th Street SE Calgary AB T2A 7H8 Phone: (403)

716-7970 Fax: (403) 716-8099 [email protected]

The content of this email is the confidential property of Stantec and should not be copied, modified, retransmitted, or used for any

purpose except with Stantec's written authorization. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete all copies and notify us

immediately. Please consider the environment before printing this email.



Appendix 3:

CASPER Architecture and Data Models


Calgary Automated Survey Plan Evaluation and Reporting tool

(CASPER)


CASPER Data Model



Appendix 4:

Digital Plan Submission Guidelines for ePlans


Calgary Automated Survey Plan Evaluation and Reporting tool

(CASPER)


LTO LAYER/LEVEL SPECIFICATION (City of Calgary Adjusted)

LTO LAYER/LEVEL SPECIFICATION DESCRIPTION Level

Type Of Survey, Condominium Drawing Title(Floor Plan or Cross Section) and Location (Section, Township, Range, Meridian) 1

Scale Bar And Scale Text 2

Legend and North Arrow 3

ALS Affidavit, Surveyors name and Registration Number, (John Smith A.L.S. Registration Number 1234) and Owners Name 4

Map Sheet Border, Company Name And File Number 5

Linework and Text for Local Authority Approvals, LTO Approvals and Condominium Corporation Address 6

Subdivision/RW Plan Area (Area To be Registered) 7

Outline / Inline Area To Be Registered 8

Property And RW Linework Outside Area To Be Registered 9

Text For Linework Outside Area To Be Registered (bearings, distances, lot and block numbers, etc.) 10

Phantomized Linework For Superceded Plans and Phantomized Lot, Block and Plan Numbers 11

MASCOT Number and Symbol and ASCM tie linework and text; lines may be broken for plot purpose, not to scale 12

Symbols (IP Planted, IP Fd., Drill Holes, Etc.) and associated text 13

Dimension Arrows and Lines 14

Street Name, Lane, Road Allowance and WalkWay Text 15

Condominium Unit Factors Table, Individual Lot and Parcel Areas, Certificate of Title Number in Lot/Parcel 16

Section, Block Lines, Unbroken Within Area To be Registered 17

Section,Lot,Block Lines up to Survey Post Within Area to be registered (trimmed linework) 18

Lot/Condo Unit Numbers Within Area To Be Registered 19

Block Numbers Within Area To Be Registered 20

Registered Plan Number, (generally blank, number added after registration) 21

Line Bearings, Distances, Lot Dimensions, Arc, Radius, Chord Info B and E of Curve, Delta (Text) within area to be Reg. and associated lead lines,

arrowheads and dimension linework 22


Street And Lane Widths Within Area To Be Registered 23

Lot Lines Unbroken Within Area To Be Registered; including Bareland Condominium Unit Boundary 24

ASCM Symbols and text identifier at true coordinates or to scale 25

Right-Of-Way Plan - Dimensions And Distances include assoc. lead lines, arrowheads and dimension linework within area to be Reg. 26

Right-Of-Way Dashed Line, (generally used on Subdivision plans) for new R/W plans 27

Right Of Way Linework, intersecting/unbroken At IP Symbols for new R/W plans 28

Right Of Way Descriptor (e.g. Utility R/W) 29

Lot Line And Text In Hydrology - Within Hydrology 30

Section,Block Line In Hydrology, Block Nos., Dimension Within Hydrology 31

Hydrographic Features Linework and Feature Names 32

Location/Place Name (City, Town, County, Municipal District) 33

Misc. Information 34

Geo-Reference Point (RP) Symbol and Text 35

**Outline / Inline unbroken lines of Area To Be Registered (unbroken layer 8) 48

Coding of all other graphic data and text is left to the discretion of the surveyor.

** - Additional Layer required for submission to the City of Calgary

Documents

Calgary Automated Survey Plan Verification and Reporting ... · Calgary Automated Survey Plan Evaluation and Reporting tool (CASPER)1 – Single Process System 2. Executive Administrator’s