Integrating GIS and Oracle for traffic analysis
Laura Haley
GIS Coordinator, City of Bloomington, Engineering Department
PO Box 100, Bloomington, IN 47402 USA
Abstract
The City of Bloomington initiated the development of an AM/FM/GIS system in 1989. A
completed base map of land based features and water, wastewater, and storm water systems has
been in place since early 1994. The City’s initial focus was on maintaining its base map,
expanding map features related to planning, public works, and utilities, and developing end-user
applications for basic viewing, outputting, and querying map information. The City views GIS as
part of a larger Information Management System and is now working towards integrating GIS
with other data systems to serve end-user needs across departmental boundaries. With this goal
in mind, the City is developing applications to integrate Oracle Relational Database Software
data tables with its GenaMap GIS Software. One of the first applications projects involved
creating a traffic analysis application for traffic engineers and transportation planners. Data
tables were designed for traffic accident report, traffic count, and thoroughfare data and linked to
the GIS road centerline network. Staff also entered intersection condition diagrams into the GIS.
End-users can display, manipulate, and output graphic and ancillary information through a
custom Graphical User Interface (GUI) created with GenaMap’s GENIUS II GUI builder.
Introduction
The City of Bloomington is located 50 miles south of Indianapolis in Monroe County, Indiana.
A GIS system developed from a joint effort between the City and its Water and Wastewater
Utility. From the beginning, the project’s leaders desired a multi-participant initiative. The City
invited representatives from county offices and Indiana University’s Bloomington campus to join
in discussions for a comprehensive solution. A data conversion project based on aerial photos
and paper source maps produced over 60 layers relating to land based features (roads, buildings,
topography, hydrology), planning jurisdiction, and water, wastewater, and storm water systems.
Currently there are over 100 GIS layers. GIS data resides on a central server and is distributed
over a wide area network to over 50 users in 16 departments. Most users assess GIS through a
custom GIS Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Evolution of GIS and Information Integration
The City of Bloomington has made a strong commitment to GIS technology. Considerable time
and effort was spent in defining goals, evaluating various products, and quality assurance. Figure
1 outlines the progression of the Bloomington GIS project. There are now four full time staff
positions located in the Engineering Departments of the City and City Utilities that are dedicated
to GIS. In addition, 2 half-time interns and other technical staff provide assistance in
maintaining GIS data. A primary focus of the GIS staff since implementation has been
maintaining the quality of the base map. Attribute tables concerning water, sanitary sewer, storm
sewer, and road network features were designed and created as part of the conversion process.
GIS staff developed maintenance routines to update base map vector and ancillary data. The
Utilities and Public Works departments played major roles in developing the GIS project and
many of the initial applications focused on assets managed by these departments.
- Needs Assessment [1989]
- Project Specifications & Vendor Search [1990-1991]
- Project Organization, Data Structure, & Staff Training [1992]
- Data Conversion & Implementation [1992-1993]
- Maintenance & Expansion of Map Layers [1994-Present]
- Developing Utilities, Public Works, and Planning Applications [1994-Present]
- Extending End-User Accessibility [1995-Present]
- Needs Assessment Revision [1996]
- Data Development & Integration [1996-Present]
Figure 1: Development of the Bloomington GIS Project
The Bloomington GIS recently entered a new phase in its development. As the GIS system
evolved and became assessable to more users, there has been a corresponding increase in demand
for GIS based applications. Many of these applications require developing ancillary data in
conjunction with new or existing vector data. Like many other organizations, Bloomington is
looking to information technology for improvements in service delivery without increases in
staff. More users want to efficiently share all types of information between departments and with
other public entities as well as improve productivity within their own department. Whenever
possible the City wished to use or include GIS as a common tool for accessing information
having a geographic component.
Database Considerations
Bloomington’s GIS software, GenaMap from Genasys II, Inc. (Ft. Collins, CO) contains an
internal system for assigning attributes to map features. Single primary attributes -- feature tags --
or multiple attribute databases utilizing the tag as the primary key may be the hooked to a map.
The multiple attribute table’s flat row column structure presents some limitations in functionality
and maintenance efficiency. As GIS established itself in the City’s day to day work flow,
requirements grew for maintaining and accessing large amounts of ancillary data that can be
linked to GIS features. More recent versions of GenaMap include a functional group of
commands that connect map features with more powerful external relational database
management systems (RDBMS). These RDBMS commands allow users to select map features
based on data fields, label or report on features with data attributes, query a feature for a list of
data attributes, transfer feature information to a RDBMS, and execute SQL commands from
GenaMap.
