Note:   How to Use Bing Maps in InfoSWMM as a Basemap

 A great feature of Arc GIS 10 is the ability to use background maps from Bing for your model.  A few steps are necessary to set up the coordinates, import the basemap, clip the basemap and set the new extents:

 Step 1.  Set the Current Coordinate System for the intended network.

Step 2.  Add the Aerial Basemap from Bing Maps.

Step 3.  The Base Map has to be clipped and zoomed.

Step 4.  Zoom to your network and clip the rest of the Map out of the Maximum Extents.

Step 5.  Set the Maximum Extents of your Network using the Data Frame Tab in Data Frame Properties.

Step 6.  You can also set the background color for the area outside of the clipped Base Map if you so desire using the Frame Tab.

Step 7.  You now can add nodes and links and view the locale using Google Street View or other using the Tools Prefences.

Connecting Infrastructure To The Internet from the Dish

Engineers can now link a building's rainwater catchment system to weather predictions from the Internet. Alerted city services can then empty water storage basins so that stormwater doesn't flood our sewers:

It may sound like a trivial problem, but the EPA estimates that the U.S. has $13 billion invested in wastewater infrastructure alone. More importantly, the majority of America's largest cities--more than 700 in all--dump millions of gallons of raw sewage into our waterways every time it rains, because their sewer and stormwater systems were designed a century ago. ...

Giving building planners the assurance that they'll always have access to a free water supply means they can actually use it. And putting these on enough buildings could go a long way to solving the problem of combined sewer and stormwater systems being overwhelmed when it rains.

(Photo: Residents try to unblock a sewage grate to free floodwater on Coney Island after Hurricane Irene hit New York, August 28, 2011. By Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/12/connecting-infrastructure-to-the-internet.html

Subject:  Sensitivity Analysis in InfoSWMM and H2OMAP SWMM

It is easy to perform sensitivity analysis in InfoSWMM and H2oMAP SWMM using the Scenario Manager, Dataset manager, Block Edit in the Database Editor, Batch Simulation and the Report Manager.  For example, we will do a sensitivity analysis for the Subcatchment Width (one the physical parameters in the Subcatchment analysis of SWMM 5 – see Figure 1).  The width is normally the area divided by the overland path length but there are many common means of calculating the width.   

Figure 1.  Physical Data used in the Calculation of Surface Runoff using the Non Linear Reservoir Routing method in SWMM 5.

Figure 2.  The base scenario for our sensitivity analysis.

There are seven main steps in the sensitivity analysis of the width:

Step 1.   Use the Scenario Explorer to make Child Scenarios from the Base Scenario.  For ease of understanding we will name each of the Child Scenario’s the percent change in the width parameter.  Thus, W-50, will be the Base Width Plus 50 percent.

Step 2.   Use the Dataset Manager to create different Subcatchment Sets that will be used for each of the Scenario’s.  Again for ease of understanding we will use the name S_W+50 etc for the Sets to match the change in the Width Parameter.

Step 3.   Use the Scenario Manger to choose the right Subcatchment Set for Each Scenario.

Step 4.   Use the Database Editor to Edit and modify the Width of Each Subcatchment Set.

Step 5.   Use the Block Edit tool to multiply the Base Width Value by the needed value, 1.25, 1.50, 0.75, 0.50

 Step 6.   Use the Batch Simulation Command to run all of the Scenario’s.                                

Step 7.   Use Report Manager and the tool Compare Graphs to graph the results of Each Scenario together.

Step 8.   In Report Manager you can produce a table that shows the runoff for each of the different scenarios.

Note:  The Colorado Urban Hydrograph Procedure (CHUP) 2010 version generates a SWMM 5 Inflows Files containing a time series of flow inflows for 1 to many nodes (Figure 4 and Figure 5).    The created Inflows file (Figure 2) can be imported into InfoSWMM and H2MAP SWMM without any alteration by using the Files command in Run Manager (Figure 1) and graphed using the Output Manager of InfoSWMM and  H2OMAP SWMM (Figure 3).

Figure 1.  Location of Files Command in Run Manager

The inflows will be read  from the Inflows file, which has this format:

Figure 2.  Header format of the CUHP Exported Hydrograph File

InfoSWMM and H2oMAP SWMM will match the Node Names in the Inflows file to the network node names and import and interpolate the inflows based on the Inflows time step and your hydraulic time step to generate Lateral  Inflow Hydrographs

Figure 3.  InfoSWMM and H2OMAP SWMM Lateral  Inflow Hydrographs

Figure 4.  CHUP Inflows File Descrpiption in the CUHP manual.

Figure 5. Cover of CUHP 2005 User Manual from 2010

Subject:  How  to Make Contours in InfoSWMM and H2oMAP SWMM

 It is easy to make contours out of node input data or node output data in InfoSWMM and H2oMAP SWMM using the Contour Tool in the Contour Tab of the Attribute Browser.  You can control the resolution and the type of smoothing for the created contour (Figure 1).  If you have InfoSWMM Suite you can use the Contour to DEM command in the Subcatchment Manager to convert the created Contour to an Elevation or DEM file (Figure 2 and Figure 3).   The Layer properties for the created elevation can be altered in Arc GIS to make a better visual depiction of the elevation (Figure 4).

Figure 1.  Contour Tool in the Contour Tab of the Attribute Browser.

Figure 2.  Contour to DEM command in the InfoSWMM Subcatchment Manager will convert the created Contour to an Elevation or DEM file.

Figure 3.  Convert the Value Field and  NOT the level Field of the contour.

Figure 4.  The Arc GIS Layer properties can be used to alter the default color ramp and the number of classes used in the color ramp.