Abstract

Using a Utility Geodatabase to Display and Edit Drainage Plats
Track: Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater
Author(s): Larry Szarek

Although the Philadelphia Water Department has been incorporating GIS into its applications and business processes, it still relies heavily on hand drawn paper drainage plat maps for most of its sewer-related maintenance activities. These maps have a certain look and feel that water department personnel are comfortable with and accustomed to. This paper will walk through the process of converting these maps to a GIS based solution that will take advantage of the significant investment the department has put into data conversion. Using the latest cartographic functionality of ArcGIS 9.2 and the geodatabase, it will be possible to reproduce these maps as well as easily maintain them. Other advantages of reproducing these maps in a GIS include the ability to overlay them with countless other layers, serving them through a browser, and eliminating the redundant process of updating the GIS layers as well as the paper maps.

Larry Szarek
Philadelphia Water Department
523 Greenhill Lane
Philadelphia , Pennsylvania 19128
United States
Phone: 215 685 6333
E-mail: larry.szarek@phila.gov