Implementing Geodatabase

TechnologyKay Anderson &

Kendis Scharenbroich

Cass, County, ND & Pro-West & Associates

What Is A Geodatabase?

• A container for spatial and attribute data– Shapefiles, coverages, raster, CAD

– Personal Geodatabase• 2G size limit• Stored in an Access database

– SDE Geodatabase• Stored in a RDBMS (Oracle, SQL, etc)• Connect through a SDE Server or Direct Connect

Benefits of A Geodatabase

• Intelligent Behavior– Spatial & attribute data integrity

• Centralized Data Storage

• Advanced analysis capabilities– Flow analysis

• Multi-user editing environment

Terminology

Feature Dataset

Feature Class

What Is SDE?• Software that allows a user to manage

spatial & tabular data housed within DB2, Informix, SQL Server or Oracle databases.

GIS SQLSDE

StorageInterpreterView/Analyze

SQL

SDEArcIMS

MapObjects

ArcInfoArcView

ArcExplorer

Geodatabase Highlights

SDE Geodatabase• Multi-user editing• Data Integrity

– Subtypes, domains, rules, etc

• Stores Raster Data• Need ArcEditor or

ArcInfo to edit• Disconnected Editing

– Check-in/out process

Personal Geodatabase• Single user editing• Data Integrity

• Domains(AV), rules (AI)

• Stores Raster Data• Edit in ArcView

Multi-user Editing

DefaultDatabase

PlanningVersion

EditVersion

Plan 1Version

Plan 2Version

Versioning

•Snapshot of default database

•Stores edits only•Not a database replication

•Multiple users can access a single version

Domains/Subtypes

Subtype:

•Distinguish features within a single layer

•Water Main

Force, Gravity, Temp

Domain:

Identify attribute values

Disconnected Editing• Mobile Mapping Applications

– PDA Units, Tablet Computers, Offsite Editing

Design 101

•Organize•Use Feature Datasets only when you need to

•Topology or Geometric Networks•Several feature datasets with a limited number of feature classes is better for performance

•Choose Spatial Reference carefully•Start with a personal geodatabase•Set rules•TEST TEST TEST!

Is SDE Right for You?

• Do you have the need for multiple people editing the same piece of data?

• Is mobile mapping in your future?

• Do you have more than 2G of data to transfer into a geodatabase?

• Do you want a better way to maintain your data?

ESRI Data Models• Make implementation to the geodatabase

environment easier

• Create consistency between organizations

• Support existing FGDC standards

• Designed with both Users and ESRI

TIP

You do not need to use the entire model

Why should Cass County make the switch to Geodatabases?

• Volume of data to be managed keeps increasing

• Shared updates & maintenance of datasets with The City of Fargo

• Increasingly unable to represent reality e.g. apartments, mobile home & multi-units

• Complex data access needs from multiple users on two networks

Geodatabase Benefits• Cass County will have the ability to

maintain data more efficiently through Topology, subtypes and domains

• All available data sets will be accessible in a uniform repository

• Multi-user editing

Planning• Consultations started in May with Pro-

West & City of Fargo

• 2005 Budget numbers needed for hardware & software

• Recognized needs for intranet based GIS application & more interactive IMS site

Challenges• Existing GIS data server almost past sell by

date!

• 150gb of 1ft color Orthophotos arriving the next 2 months need a home!

• Cass & Fargo need to access and edit the same data across two networks divided by a robust firewall

Firewall

The Nuts & Bolts! • Which spatial domain is appropriate?• Cass data & imagery in State Plane North

Dakota South, Fargo has highly accurate customized projection – who compromises?!

• Where will the editable version reside?• Who will have editing rights?• How to replicate the data?

Possible Solutions• One GDB with separate Feature Datasets

for Cass & Fargo allows different coordinates to be set

• How will this data behave when pulled in to IMS & intranet browser…need to test the scenarios

What have we done?• 2005 budget finalized

• Multiple Storage Array Network installed with 1 TB free space for GIS

• Experimenting with Cass data in Personal GDB

• Test different combinations of feature data sets, relationships, subtypes, domains etc.

• Education – review white papers, best practices, data models, text books

2005 Plans• Install SDE & SQL

• Set up permissions and import data

• Test & refine processes

• Establish requirements for intranet based GIS application & IMS site

• Migrate users to new version later in the year

Questions?Kay Anderson: andersonk@co.cass.nd.us

701-241-5762

Kendis Scharenbroich: kscharen@prowestgis.com

218-547-3374 x106