The Esri training video, “ArcGIS Network Management: Utility Network Overview,” introduces the capabilities of Esri’s utility network solution. This video was presented in a technical workshop at the 2021 Esri user conferences. The video demonstrates the current features and functionality of this solution which is designed to meet the challenges of utility network information management. It also presents a roadmap for planned future enhancements to the solution. In 2021, the solution was based on ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1.

Application Domains

This solution can be utilized to manage any type of utility network. Typical use cases for this product include utility network information management within the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication utility industries. Thus, this solution may be applied in different application domains such as electric, gas, water, and telecommunication networks.

Network Tiers

Within each specific application domain, utility networks may be organized into specific tiers. For example, an electric utility network may include generation, transmission, and distribution tiers; a gas utility network may include gathering, pressure, and isolation zones as different tiers; a telco network might contain wireless, fiber and cable tiers; a water network may have storage, district network, and service pipe tiers.

Schema Objects

Within these application domains specific database schema objects and business rules are defined for each tier. In addition, the solution contains a structural domain which is common across all application domains. The structural domain consists of features that represent junctions, lines (edges), and boundaries. For example, junctions may be used to model poles or manholes. Lines may be used to model ducts, trenches, or mechanical cables. Boundaries can be used to model pump houses, substations, maintenance areas, and facilities. The structural domain can also model specific feature layers including devices, assemblies, subnetworks, asset groups, asset types, and non-spatial objects.

Properties

Details of these schema objects may be accessed via the properties page which presents metadata about the network and the specific schema for each application domain. These schemas consist of feature classes and tables.

The properties page provides general information about the configuration of the network, its topology, domain network definitions, rules, network attributes, terminal configurations, and network categories.

All the property pages appear visually similar; essentially, they are grids of cells which represent the attributes of objects in the geodatabase. The demonstration did not show how to search for elements in the network. I assume that for a large network it would not be adequate to just scroll through long lists in property pages to find a specific item.

There are other ways to look at these objects including, via arcpy, describe objects, and looking directly at the database.

Subnetwork Management

The next section of the presentation covered subnetwork management, tracing, and diagrams. Subnetworks can be configured as either radial or mesh. Networks can be traced either upstream or downstream. In addition, connected, shortest-path, isolation, loops, subnetwork, and barrier traces can be performed. Barriers may be configured to control the scope of a network tracing operation on an ad hoc basis. When a trace operation traverses a network, it will not proceed past a barrier. Thus, barriers can be used to isolate certain features or sections of a network. In this way barriers may be temporarily added to the network to facilitate specific tracing operations, support what-if scenarios, and react to emergent field conditions. Customers who use the trace network feature include electrical utilities.

Roadmap

The final section of the presentation covered the roadmap for near term and mid-to-long term improvements to the solution. It outlined planned improvements to functionality, quality, and performance. One of the most notable mid-to-long term additions will be support for field maps.