Connectivity and associations

Assets in a network are connected to provide pathways for resources to travel.

Some network assets that are used to transport a commodity or resource are supported by structural equipment.

There are two ways to connect features in a utility network:

• Geometric coincident based connectivity.
• Connectivity associations.

Geometric coincident based connectivity:

Geometric coincidence is established when features obtain the same x, y, and z location.

You can use geometric coincident-based connectivity to connect the following:

o?? A point and a line (junction-edge).

o?? A line to a terminal on a device (junction-edge).

o?? A line, a point, and another line (edge-junction-edge).

Junction-edge connectivity:

Used to connect a line and a point. You can also use it to connect the endpoint of a line with a specific terminal on a device.

Edge-junction-edge connectivity:

Used to connect lines using an intermediate point

• J1 can connect to E1
• J1 can connect to E2
• J2 can connect to E2

example using a water network, J1 and J2 junctions represent a reducer and valve, respectively.

• Reducer: is located between two edge features and must be included in an edge-junction-edge rule.
• Valve: is an example of a junction feature that must be included in a junction-edge rule.

Connectivity associations:

• allow you to model relationships between features that are not necessarily geometrically coincident.
• This includes modeling connectivity between features, structures and their attachment features, and container features that include other features as content.
• This also includes modeling of connectivity between nonspatial objects.

types of associations:

o??? Connectivity associations.

o??? Containment associations.

o??? Structural attachment associations.

Connectivity associations:

• Connectivity associations allow you to model the connectivity between two features that are not coincident.
• They can also be used to create connectivity between spatial features and nonspatial junction and edge objects.
• Connectivity associations use network rules to ensure data quality by restricting the types of features that can be associated.

Connectivity association types:

• Junction-junction connectivity associations are used to establish a relationship between two point features or junction objects.
• Junction-edge connectivity associations are used to establish a relationship between a point feature or junction object and an edge object.

o??? Junction-edge from connectivity.

o??? Junction-edge midspan connectivity.

o?? Junction-edge to connectivity.

Structural attachment associations:

• Allows the modeling of supporting structures and attachments in a network
• Structures are not part of the network for purposes of tracing the resource, but there is a need to quickly identify and list structures that have network features attached to them.

For example, a pole can serve as the structure, with a transformer as the attachment.

A few examples of structural attachments are the following:

• A transformer (device) and riser (junction) attached on a pole (structure junction).
• A switchgear (assembly) attached on a pad (structure junction).
• A guy wire (structure junction) attached to a pole (structure junction).

Containment associations:

• Containment allows a dense collection of features to be represented by a single feature.
• Content features can be shown or hidden in the map view to improve visibility and reduce map clutter.
• Features that contain other features are known as a container and the features being contained are known as content.

Example, devices, wires, and conductors can be placed inside of features such as substations, switch gears, trenches, and ducts.

The following are examples of container features:

Polygon feature:

• In an electric network, a substation can contain vaults, transformers, switches, and a busbar.
• In a gas network, a regulator station can contain pumps, valves, and pipes.
• In a water network, a pump station can contain pumps, valves, and meters.

Line feature:

• In an electric network, a linear container such as a duct bank can contain multiple underground lines.
• In a water network, an abandoned pipe can contain an in-service pipe.

Point feature:

• In an electric network, a vault can contain many electric devices, junctions, and lines.

?Edge object:

• In a telecommunications network, a cable can contain many fiber strands.

?Junction object:

• In a telecommunications network, a network switch can contain multiple ports.