Development of a Prototype Gis Based Utility Management System for the City of Harare

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DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE GIS BASED

UTILITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR THE CITY OF

HARARE.

By

Hilary .T. Mushonga (R062750X)

A final year project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of

the Bachelor of Science Honors degree in Geoinformatics and Surveying

Supervisor: Mr. R. Tsiko

Co – supervisor: Mr. K. Zifodya

Department of Geoinformatics and surveying

Faculty of Engineering

University of Zimbabwe

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisors Mr. Tsiko and Mr. Zifodya for their assistance and

guidance. Furthermore I would like to thank my mother and brother for the support and

assistance they gave me, thank you.

To all the staff members in the Department of Geoinformatics and Surveying, I say

thank you, God bless you all.

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Abstract

Water and sewer utility service providers all over the world face many challenges in

managing their utility networks due to the vast sizes and complexity of utility networks,

thus an integrated utility management system that incorporates Geographical

Information System (GIS) is an essential tool for the capture, storage and analysis of

demographic and spatial changes, and monitoring the state of aging infrastructure. This

study therefore aims to create a low cost and yet effective GIS based water and sewer

utility management system in managing the city of Harare water and sewer utility

networks.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements............................................................................................................. 1

Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 2

Chapter1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 6

1.1 Managing Utilities using GIS ...................................................................................... 6

1.2 Specific aim ................................................................................................................... 6

1.3 Statement of the problem/Justification ...................................................................... 6

1.4 Motivation ..................................................................................................................... 7

1.5 Proposed solution ......................................................................................................... 8

1.6 Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 8

1.7 Structure of report ....................................................................................................... 9

1.8 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 2: Literature Review ......................................................................................... 10

2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 10

2.2 Utility management in the city of Harare ................................................................ 10

2.3 Application of GIS in utility management ............................................................... 10

2.4 Other GIS utility management systems in use ........................................................ 12

2.5 Components of a utility management system .......................................................... 14

2.5.1 MapWindow activeX controls ............................................................................... 14

2.5.2 PostgreSQL and PostGIS ....................................................................................... 14

2.6 Developing an application system based on GIS .................................................... 15

2.6.1 Development of a GIS application system ............................................................ 15

2.6.2 GIS Application programming .............................................................................. 15

2.7 Spatial Database design ............................................................................................. 16

2.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 17

Chapter 3: Methodology .................................................................................................. 18

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3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 18

3.2 Study Area .................................................................................................................. 18

3.3 Data sources ................................................................................................................ 19

3.4 Flow chart of all activities carried out ..................................................................... 20

3.5 Activities carried out .................................................................................................. 21

3.5.1 Analysis of the existing system ............................................................................... 21

3.5.2 User needs analysis ................................................................................................. 21

3.5.3 Data collection ......................................................................................................... 21

3.5.4 Data processing ....................................................................................................... 21

3.5.5 Creation of utility database .................................................................................... 21

3.5.6 Application Development ....................................................................................... 23

3.5.7 User analysis ............................................................................................................ 24

3.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 24

Chapter 4: Results and Analysis ..................................................................................... 25

Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 25

4.2 Results ......................................................................................................................... 25

4.3 Analysis of Results ..................................................................................................... 26

4.3.1 Map production ....................................................................................................... 26

4.3.2 Querying of attribute data ..................................................................................... 28

4.3.3 Data integration....................................................................................................... 29

4.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 30

Chapter 5: Conclusion, Limitations and Recommendations ....................................... 31

5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 31

5.2 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 31

5.3 Limitations .................................................................................................................. 31

5.4 Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 32

References ......................................................................................................................... 33

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Typical layers in a water utility ................................................................. 11

Figure 2: Sri Lanka water utility GIS ........................................................................ 12

Figure 3: Philadelphia water department GIS based sewer design system ........... 13

Figure 4: Map of Harare with Southerton projected out ......................................... 19

Figure 5: Tables in the spatial database .................................................................... 22

Figure 6: Main user interface for the water and sewer utility management system

........................................................................................................................................ 25

Figure 7: System architecture of the Harare water and sewer utility management

system ............................................................................................................................ 26

Figure 8: An illustration of how to produce a map................................................... 27

Figure 9: Illustration of distance measurement ........................................................ 27

Figure 10: Viewing of individual pipe records .......................................................... 28

Figure 11: Illustration of using Query Builder tool. ................................................. 29

Figure 12: Illustration of use of the georeferencing tool .......................................... 29

Figure 13: DXF to Shapefile converter ...................................................................... 30

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Managing Utilities using GIS

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are software packages that accommodate the

capture analysis, manipulation and presentation of georeferenced data (de By,

2004). According to Zeilier (1999) the purpose of a GIS is to provide a spatial

framework to support decisions for the intelligent use of the earth’s resources and to

manage the manmade environment. GIS technology is being used in almost every facet

of business today, including the utility market. Utilities can use GIS to not only have an

accurate representation of their system infrastructure but can also use it to integrate all

their information with a geographic component into one, manageable system.

Anderson et al. (2001) reported that although approximately 15 percent of water

utilities currently use GIS in their modeling, almost 80 percent plan to use GIS in

future. GIS technology integrates common database operations such as query and

statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits

offered by maps (ESRI 2001), thus GIS would be an indispensable tool in a utility

information management system.

1.2 Specific aim

To develop a GIS based prototype utility management system to enable efficient

storage, manipulation and retrieval of data on water and sewer pipes for the city of

Harare.

1.3 Statement of the problem/Justification

The city of Harare department of works faces several challenges in managing water and

sewer networks. Currently most maps are available as paper maps and very few maps

are available in digital form as computer aided design (CAD) maps. The greatest draw

back of these two formats is that attribute data and system information is maintained

separately from system drawings.

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Because of the large size of the water and sewer networks, managing utilities would be

difficult under the current set up because of the huge volume of documentation that one

would have to go through in order to inquire even the smallest piece of detail about any

of the utilities.

When land developments are done the city council is required to assess the feasibility

of providing utility services and in such a case it is difficult to do this because of the

huge number of maps they would have to go through in order to do such an assessment.

There is also the risk of damage or lose of the utility maps by negligent handling, fire or

other natural disasters. Using the current utility information system it is difficult to

perform analysis of the utility networks for decision making, location of new facilities

and maintenance and expansion of existing network.

Better management of the Harare water and sewer utility networks would result in

timely repair of burst and damaged pipes and infrastructure, it would also result in

timely replacement of pipes that have reached their design age. This would then prevent

reoccurrences of disasters like the cholera outbreak in Harare that claimed more than

two thousand lives.

There are plenty of benefits, which can be recognized from implementing a utility

management system. Generally these benefits are as follows:

Improved urban planning as adequate maps and data on utilities will be

available as well as possibility for systematic numerical analyses in planning. .

Improved operation and maintenance of utility systems.

Improved environmental conditions through better management of hazardous

situations

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1.4 Motivation

A project by Govereh T (1993) on the feasibility of developing a utility information

system for the city of Harare highlighted the need for training of personnel in order to

operate and maintain the system, thus as one of the objectives of this project the

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development of a user friendly user interface has been included, this will reduce the

amount of training required. Another issue raised by the feasibility study is the large

cost of implementing such a system thus it is the aim of this project to develop a cost

effective system buy utilizing open source software (i.e. postGIS, postgreSQL and

mapWindow activeX controls).

1.5 Proposed solution

The prototype utility management system should have the following properties

1. The system should be able to query the attribute and spatial data of the utilities

based on location, specified attributes as well as distance from other objects

2. The system must facilitate editing of the attribute data.

3. The system must be able to undertake network analysis (e.g. identifying all

households impacted by a water pipe blockage, or leak)

4. Visualization of network plans graphically.

5. Overlay of water and sewage network plans with Schematics of other utilities

(i.e. telecommunication wires, fiber optic cable and power lines) should be

possible.

1.6 Objectives

To analyze the existing utility information system in use at the city of Harare

department of works.

To design a conceptual utility management system model.

To develop the prototype that should comprise of the following:

1. A Geodatabase developed using postgreSQL that is able to capture

utility data.

2. An application program developed using VB.net to query and update

the Geodatabase.

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1.7 Structure of report

This report shall comprise of five chapters and the contents of each chapter are as

follows:

Introduction: this chapter outlines the problem that this study attempts to solve together

with objectives of the study as well as the desired outcome.

Literature review: This chapter provides a background to the application of GIS in

utility management and includes descriptions of other utility management systems that

have been developed.

Methodology: This chapter gives a detailed breakdown of all the activities carried out

in the development of water and sewer utility management system

Results and analysis: This chapter gives a review of the results of this study and an

analysis of the resulting design.

Conclusion and recommendations: this chapter concludes on whether the objectives of

the study have been met and gives details of area where improvements in the design

could be made.

1.8 Conclusion

This chapter highlights the challenges that the Harare city council faces in managing its

water and sewer utility networks. It also highlights the results of previous feasibility

studies into implementing a utility management system for the city of Harare together

with the benefits that GIS offers to utility management. This chapter also includes the

aim and objectives of this study together with the expected outcome of the study.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the relevant literature on the development of water and sewer

utility management systems. The application of GIS in utility management systems is

also discussed in detailed and the relevant case studies used as examples. The chapter

concludes by outlining the different components (both hardware and software) that can

be utilized in the design of a utility management system.

2.2 Utility management in the city of Harare

The city of Harare currently does not have an automated utility management system

and maintains information concerning its utilities on hardcopy paper maps. Due to the

size of utility networks in Harare the number of maps has increase and thus have

become difficult maintain and often get lost as they are used by several departments

within the city council. This system thus has no strengths but has numerous weaknesses

and is thus in need of replacement.

2.3 Application of GIS in utility management

According to Shamsi (2002), the major applications of GIS in water and sewer utility

are as follows:

GIS provides the ideal means of describing water and sewer infrastructure

facilities, identifying problems and recommending solutions, scheduling and

recording maintenance activities and supporting technical issues associated with

facilities. For example, GIS can be used for mapping the water mains and

identifying water main breaks in terms of location, pressure, soil type, pipe size,

pipe material or pipe age

Various spatial data layers can be combined and manipulated in a GIS to

address planning operation and management issues, for example water and

sewer line information can be combined with statistics and ground elevation

data to assess the adequacy of water and sewer utilities

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GIS topology provides information about how the network elements are

connected with each other and what is the direction of flow. This capability

makes GIS ideally suitable for identifying customers of a utility network

affected by service interruption such as water main leak or break.

GIS can be used to design efficient water reading routes. This can be

accomplished by linking the customer account database to the street GIS layer.

GIS can be used to develop hydrological and hydraulic (H&H) computer

models for water and sewer systems which are used in modeling the flow of

water with respect to the slope of the terrain.

GIS can be integrated with automated mapping/facilities management (AM/FM)

systems to automate inspection, maintenance and monitoring of water and sewer

systems.

GIS technology combines mapping software with database management tools to collect

organize and share many types of information, (ESRI, 2007). Data is stored as thematic

layers and utilities typically combine utility layers with parcel, street, land use and

administrative area layers. As an example, the diagram below shows the layers that can

be included in a water utility system.

Figure1: typical layers in a water utility

Source: ESRI (2007), GIS technology for water, wastewater, and storm water utilities.

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2.4 Other GIS utility management systems in use

1. National water supply and drainage board (NWSDB) of Sri Lanka water utility GIS

for the greater Colombo (GC) area.

AutoCAD map was used as the GIS software. A user interface was developed using

AutoCAD map visual basic for applications (VBA) which is connected to the database

via postgreSQL open database connectivity (OBDC) driver. The user interface basically

handles data uploads from AutoCAD map data to the database and downloads from the

database to AutoCAD map. An intranet web map browser was developed to browse

data, Minnesota mapserver software was installed in the server to browse the data

stored in the database. The map browser fetches data online from the database and

displays it in map form. The system architecture is as shown below.

Figure 2: Sri Lanka water utility GIS

Source: Attygalla et al. (2006)

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2. The Stege sanitary district

The Stege sanitary district near San Francisco bay in the United States had the goal of

“no overflows” from the sanitary sewer system. To meet this goal a new maintenance

model was implemented for sanitary sewers that used AutoCAD map GIS and

Microsoft Access database software to identify system conditions causing overflows.

3. Philadelphia water department GIS based sewer design system

In this system ArcInfo GIS software is combined together with a set of external

programs developed in C programming language which are used to determine the

appropriate layout, to site pump stations and to determine the force main path. The

resulting system provides an efficient means of designing and estimating cost of

systems for particular areas. The system layout is as shown below.

Figure 3: Philadelphia water department GIS based sewer design system

Source: Shamsi (2002), pp. 302

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2.5 Components of a utility management system

2.5.1 MapWindow activeX controls

MapWindow GIS was founded in 1993 by members of the Utah water research lab at

Utah state university. the initial objective was to develop a”GIS kernel” that provides

often needed GIS functionality for development of customized GIS applications (Ames

et al. 2007). MapWindow GIS activeX control was written in Microsoft Visual C to

deliver functionality for display, query and manipulation of spatial data.

2.5.2 PostgreSQL and PostGIS

PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS)

developed at the university of Berkeley computer science department. It supports a

large part of SQL standard and offers many modern features including:

Complex queries

Foreign keys

Triggers

Views

Transaction integrity

Multiversion concurrency control

PostGIS is an open source and fairly open GIS consortium (OGC) compliant spatial

database extender for postgreSQL database management system. PostGIS is very

similar to the more popular ESRI ArcSDE and oracle spatial.

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2.6 Developing an application system based on GIS

2.6.1 Development of a GIS application system

Typically the development of a GIS application system involves the following stages

1) user needs analysis where typical questions to be addressed include:

What are the user’s wishes?

What functions or operations need to be improved?

Do these functions need GIS?

Can GIS improve these functions?

2) conceptual design where the following factors are considered

system design alternatives

database requirements

priority applications

3) Design where the following procedures are undertaken

Database design

Application design

System configuration

4) implementation where the following is done

installation

data conversion

applications design

5) Operations and maintenance which includes training and software

maintenance.

2.6.2 GIS Application programming

According to de By et al. (2004), a GIS application is a software specifically developed

to support the study of geographic phenomena in some application domain in a specific

project. Application programming involves writing computer programs for GIS.

According to Shamsi (2005), application programming can either be done by the GIS

based approach or the Application based approach.

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GIS based approach: This involves extending the capabilities of GIS software

by incorporating application functions into it. This method provides more GIS

capability than application based approach.

Application based programming: In this method functions are incorporated into

existing applications. The GIS functions are either developed in or are called

from an existing application. This approach offers less GIS and complete

application functions

2.7 Spatial Database design

Spatial databases which are sometimes called Geodatabases are defined as databases

that amongst other things can store georeferenced data, (de By et al., 2004). Design is

the process in which goals are identified, analyzed and evaluated, and an

implementation plan is decided upon, (Zeiler 1999). Spatial databases can store

representations of real world geographic phenomena for use in a GIS. According to

Zeiler (1999), Geodatabase design should take the following steps,

1. Model the user’s view of data – in this step organizational functions are

identified and the data needed to support these functions is identified. The data

is then organized into logical groupings.

2. Define objects and relationships – in this step objects are identified and

relationships between objects are defined. The model is then documented in a

diagram.

3. Select geographic representation – features are represented with points, lines

and areas and continuous phenomena are represented as rasters. Surfaces can be

modeled with triangulated irregular networks (TIN) or rasters.

4. Match to geodatabase elements – The geometry type of discrete features are

determined and relationships between features are specified

5. Organize geodatabase structure – in this step topological associations are

defined and coordinate systems assigned. Relationships and rules are also

defined.

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The first two steps develop the conceptual model classifying features based on an

understanding of the data required to support the organizational functions and deciding

on the representation as points, lines, areas, image, surface or non geographic. The last

two steps develop the logical model.

2.8 Conclusion

This chapter included the various applications of GIS in water and sewer utility

management together with examples of systems used in utility management that utilize

the tools provided by GIS. It also includes the various approaches to GIS application

development and geo database design. This chapter also includes descriptions of the

various components that can be incorporated within the methodology to be used in

developing this project’s proposed system.

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Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Introduction

This chapter gives a detailed description of all activities carried out during the design of

the Harare water and sewer utility management system, including justifications of each

decision made in each activity.

3.2 Study Area

The Southerton area located in the south west of Harare was chosen to be the study area

because of its diversified land use. Southerton consists of a residential and industrial

area and also includes one of Zimbabwe’s largest referral hospitals, the Harare hospital.

A map showing the position of Southerton within Harare is shown in Figure 4.

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Figure 4: Map of Harare with Southerton projected out

3.3 Data sources

Schematics of scale 1:2500 for both water and sewer net work for the Southerton area

were obtained from the city of Harare technical services department and general plans

of all cadastral boundaries within the study area were obtained from the city of Harare

survey department. All data was obtained as paper maps and were subsequently

scanned and digitized to enable their integration into the GIS system. Additional data

on the networks was obtained from the technical services department.

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3.4 Flow chart of all activities carried out

User requirements analysis

Application development

Analysis of existing system

Data collection

Data processing

Creation of utility database

Disapproves

Approves

Apply necessary

changes

Prototype is ready User analysis

Preliminary model

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3.5 Activities carried out

3.5.1 Analysis of the existing system

An analysis of the system that is currently being used by the city of Harare was

conducted through interviews with some of the city engineers, this was done with the

aim of determining the strengths and shortcomings of the system so as to integrate the

strengths into the new utility management system and to ensure that the new system can

overcome the shortcomings of the old system.

3.5.2 User needs analysis

A user needs assessment was carried out though interviews with the city engineers, this

was done so as to determine what operations they expect the new system to support so

as to aid them in their work. Several questions were asked including

What operations do they require from a utility management system?

What data do they require most often from utility maps?

What kind of queries do they expect the system to support?

3.5.3 Data collection

Utility maps for both water and sewer were collected from the city of Harare technical

services department and further information on the types of material, design life and

maintenance for the pipes was acquired from consultations with the city engineers.

3.5.4 Data processing

All network maps and maps of cadastral boundaries were digitized using ArcGIS

software and attributes for each feature were added. The data was then loaded into the

Postgis database.

3.5.5 Creation of utility database

All shape files were loaded into the Postgis database and relationships between

database tables were loaded into a Postgis database using the postgis shapefile and DBF

loader and additional attribute data added. The database contained a total of five tables,

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Water pipes

Sewer pipes

Cadastral layer

Roads

Land use

The tables will be in the following form:

Figure 5: Tables in the spatial database

Developing a prototype GIS based utility management system for the city of Harare

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3.5.6 Application Development

The application development was done using the GIS based approach where GIS

functions are imported into an application program. In the case of the Harare water and

sewer utility management system this was achieved by using visual basic dot net (vb.net)

to develop the application program and incorporating a map window and legend provided

under the mapWindow activeX controls package. The design process was carried out in

three steps that include

Logical design: where the decisions on which software packages and tools to be used in

the development of the system were made. It was at this stage that the decision to use

mapWindow activeX controls was made because first and foremost it is an open source

software and thus complies with the low cost drive of the design and its ease of use and

the ability to compile the controls into a standalone system that can be used on any

windows operating system. VB.Net was chosen for the development of the application

because of simplicity and ease of use.

Functional design: in this stage the definition of desired functions of the utility

management system was outlined in accordance with the previously stated objectives of

the study. Functions that prominently feature on the list of desired functions include the

ability to query attribute data of each pipe segment and the ability to overlay the

shapefiles with any other data as necessary to enable any form of analysis. The ability to

use data in AutoCAD format (DXF) was also necessary as the utility maps are nowadays

done in AutoCAD, hence a DXF to shape file converter was a necessary part of the

system.

Physical design: In this stage the actual coding and interface building was done in the

visual studio integrated development environment (IDE). Several forms were created and

relevant coding was included. The design was done with simplicity and ease of use of the

system in mind, since this was one of the objectives of the design. The main startup form

was designed to support easy access to the functions and commonly includes icons on

buttons and tool tip texts to explain the functions of each button. A query builder form


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was also included to enable users to construct custom queries of the system as they may

desire. A DXF to shapefile converter was also included in the system.

3.5.7 User analysis

After the physical design of the application and database design was completed the

preliminary model of the system was forwarded to the engineers in the works department

for assessment and all suggestions made were taken into account during refinement of the

system.

3.6 Conclusion

This chapter gave a detailed description of all activities that were carried out during the

development of the Harare water and sewer utility management system. It also gave the

reasons for all decisions that were made in each of the stages of development

.


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Chapter 4: Results and Analysis

4.1 Introduction

This chapter outlines the results of the design process undertaken in this study and gives

an assessment of whether the objectives of the design of the utility management system

have been achieved

4.2 Results

The resulting system is a standalone software package that can be run on any windows

operating system and combines all basic GIS functionality including zooming in and out,

zooming to full extent, panning, zooming to a particular layer or point and overlaying of

layers. The system is fully connected to a database containing shapefiles and all

necessary attribute data. The main interface window with four data layers overlaid on

each other is shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Main user interface for the water and sewer utility management system


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The architecture of the system is shown in figure 7

Figure 7: System architecture of the Harare water and sewer utility management

system

4.3 Analysis

The system has managed to achieve all its design objectives, that is, it is able to query

attributes of pipes and can facilitate the editing of attribute data in the database, it also

facilitates the viewing of network diagrams graphically and the overlaying of various

layers and even those obtained from other software packages such as AutoCAD DXF

files and raster images.

4.3.1 Map production

The system has the capability to create maps of any area as required within the visible

extent thus enabling repair teams to visit sites with relevant maps without necessarily

having potable computers to view the data.

Postgis

(Spatial

database)

Application has Access to

the database via SQL

SQL

Editing of shapefiles is

done in ArcMap

Shapefiles loaded and retrieved

Using postgis loader and dumper

AutoCAD data converted to

Shapefiles using dxf to shapefile

converter


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Figure 8: An illustration of how to produce a map

4.3.2 Distance Measurement

The system also incorporates a distance measurement tool to aid in pipe length

determination, distance are determined by holding the mouse down at the stating point

and dragging it to the end point the distance is then displayed as shown in figure8

Figure 9: illustration of distance measurement


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4.3.3 Querying of attribute data

Records of each individual pipe can be queried from the database by highlighting the pipe

and then displaying the record form from the menu or tool bar. The record can also be

edited if necessary. This is illustrated in Figure 8.

Figure 10: Viewing of individual pipe records

The system can also obtain specific record information through the use of a query

builder, and users can customize their queries and obtain information on pipes that fit a

certain criteria, for example, obtaining the pipes that are made of a certain material or

those of a certain design age, this tool is illustrated in Figure 10.


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Figure 11: Illustration of using Query Builder tool.

4.3.4 Data integration

Integration of raster images into the system can be done through the use of

georeferencing tool so that will enable the image to be used together with other data in

the system as illustrated in Figure 11

Figure 12: Illustration of use of the georeferencing tool


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As an example, integration of data from AutoCAD can be done through the use of a DXF

to shapefile converter, to convert the data into the ESRI shapefile format so that it can be

added as a layer into the Harare water and sewer utility management system. The DXF to

shapefile conversion tool is shown in Figure 12.

Figure 13: DXF to Shapefile converter

4.4 Conclusion

This chapter has illustrated the resulting functionality that the Harare water and sewer

utility management system now possesses and compares this to the properties of the

system that was proposed in the beginning of the report.


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Chapter 5: Conclusion, Limitations and Recommendations

5.1 Introduction

This chapter includes the final remarks concerning the study as well as highlighting areas

where improvements could be made in the design of the Harare water and sewer utility

management system.

5.2 Conclusion

The designed system fulfills its design requirements, since it enables querying of

attributes, can integrate data from a number of sources into one system and enables all

common GIS functions like overlaying data layers, zooming and panning. Additionally

the system enables the printing of maps that can be used when attending to pipe bursts

and breakages. The system also enables the visual display of damage reports and thus

aids in the speedy repair or pipes. The system enables querying of pipe attribute data

which in turn simplifies the process of designing maintenance and replacement schedules

to prevent disasters due to failing aged infrastructure. The database can be accessed over

a network and thus can be centrally maintained and still be accessible to all council

district offices hence making database administration easier. The quality of visualization

of the schematics is greatly enhanced as the scale and colors and content can be varied

according to user needs.

5.3 Limitations

The design process of the Harare water and sewer utility systems was affected by the

following limiting factors:

Data on repair work obtained from the city of Harare works was limited to the last

half of 2009 to the present day as the records were said to have been lost.

One of the schematic diagrams for a portion of the Southerton industrial area was

also missing.

These limitations reinforce the need for system such as the one developed in this

study to prevent the loss and damage to utility maps.


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5.4 Recommendations

Recommended additions to the Harare water and sewer utility management system

include:

More editing capability should be incorporated into the system to aid the speedy

update of the network diagrams if any changes to the network have been made.

Integrating the system with a web page where the public can report pipe leaks or

bursts over the internet would help in preventing health disasters and the loss of

clean drinking water.

Incorporating web pages to help people undertaking excavation work determine

the position of pipes underground would also prevent damage to pipes.

Adding a routing capability would help personnel to come up with work

schedules that are cost effective.

Adding network analysis capability would help in determining the number of

households affected by a pipe blockage or burst.


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Documents

Development of a Prototype Gis Based Utility Management System for the City of Harare