To accommodate different business purposes of an electric utility, many types of map products at different map scales are required. Two predominant mapping scales are the 1:100' ~ 1:500' (called large scale) and 1:1000' ~ 1':3000 (called small scale). The large scale maps are used to represent the most detailed circuit information thus they can be considered as base maps. Almost all the distribution circuit facilities, such as feeders, primaries, secondaries, transformers, service lines, poles, down guys, etc., are shown on these types of maps. These maps are used in the utility's daily business as a primary reference.
On the other hand, the small scale maps only contain the certain circuit facilities relevant to specific utility operations such as outage management or engineering analysis. The resolution of these types of maps are typically derived from the analytical purpose. For example, the small scale maps may only contain the feeders and primary laterals which can be used as an operator's quick reference. Because of the equal importance of the two kinds of maps, utility companies tend to make separate conversions to convert both types of maps even though conceptually the small scale maps can be derived from the large scale maps. This paper will discuss how to utilize the GIS technology to automatically generate the small scale maps from the large scale maps.
Xinguo Wei
Tellus
P.O. Box 97034
OBC-05S
Bellevue, WA 98009-9734
Telephone: 206-454-6363 ext 5319
Fax: 206-462-3436
Email: weix@puget.com
Jim Wright
Zarko Sumic