Web GIS Enterprise Solution for Water Supply Network

The effective management of information is the need of every department in government sector. A complete set of information related to resources are often stored in databases, retrieved when required and represented in the form of reports on demand. It helps, but where the resources are exactly allocated, where exactly the problem is, or what is the status of relevant indicators, can only be better visualised by GIS. A map is an index of thousand words. So, interactive demonstration of the physical system and its problems in association with related indicators make departments comfortable in rapid decision making and taking appropriate action on time. The Web GIS enterprise solution for fresh water supply is an attempt to combine the power of GIS and IT together on the web. The generalisation and specialisation principles of cartography lead the water works departments to visualise the assets deployed ranging from a small size socket up to a huge size reservoir on the map. An engineer can get all information related to resource deployed just by clicking on that resource. The view of complete water supply network helps finding out the channels by which water flows from source (reservoir) to destination (parcel). The geo-referenced imagery and basic visualisation tools helps in better understanding of ground situation.

Fig.1: Generalised view of complete water supply network

Some of the potential benefits of GIS enterprise solution to water works departments or agencies are:

Interactive map of resources deployed above and below earth surface with complete geographic and attribute information.
Asset management module with automatic data updating procedures for resource deployment or replacement.
Efficient water flow path finding upon receiving consumer complaint.
Change detection by creating a link between consumer and department through consumer forum.
Visualisation of customised spatial query result on map. Dynamic query generation upon interactive selection of fields related to particular spatial features.
Centralised spatial database to share the data within a department or from remote locations and reduces redundancy of data.
Water sample test evaluation with reference to WHO standards.
Consumer complaint report generation enables the department to keep track of the complaint status. Yearly complaint graph generation helps department to identify the most problematic areas.
Solution generates the overall status report of the target area upon a single click.
Department can find alternate flow path in case of breakage in supply channel.
Cost calculation of the overall deployed physical system is possible on a single click.
Automatic alert mechanism for those assets which needs replacement and identify their exact location below the surface of earth along with related information.
Demand for fresh water can be calculated according to population size. Hence department can make a decision for the installation of new water sources at appropriate time.
The system visualises pre-field visit preview that worth supporting decisions and actions to be taken in the field.

The solution is also beneficial in research work, like:

Socio-economic and demographic data can be viewed for a single parcel of the community as for all parcels in the community in report form. Graphs or charts can be generated upon different field of data to get new knowledge from the existing information available.
Disease registration by the public health centers of the community are recorded in the central database. This information is very useful for identifying those locations of the community for which a particular disease inquiry is required. By analysing the generated pattern, we can reach to the root cause of the disease related to drinking water.
Consumer forum, complaint status graphs and reports are the indicators required by the top management for evaluating the department efficiency. Hence change can be detected for department internally or by the department for community. The demand for water increases each year with changing climatic conditions and with the growth in population. The demand and supply facts generated by the system can help in forecasting the future requirement of water.

The architecture

The Web-based client server architecture facilitates the clients to access spatial and non-spatial data stored in spatial database from remote location. MapGuide Open Source studio comes with rich javascript APIs that enables the developers to customise the application according to functional requirements. The Ajax Viewer provides map display and interaction in almost any browser without having to download a browser plug-in. This viewer ensures that any user on any platform can access designs and maps without requiring a specific browser.

The OGC compliant GeoServer is used as an intermediate between MapGuide server and spatial database. GeoServer is an open source software server written in Java that allows users to share and edit geospatial data and specially designed for interoperability.

The spatial data is retrieved from spatial database by GeoServer using web feature service (WFS). MapGuide Server provides OSGeo FDO provider for WFS for building data connection with GeoServer. Finally, MapGuide Ajax viewer displays spatial data over the client machine in the form of layers for spatial analysis and reporting.

Fig.2: The Architecture

Operational strategy

Spatial queries are generated using SQL upon user interaction with visual interface. JSP and Javascript are the core technologies embedded in HTML for data querying, processing, formatting and representation purpose. On server the result of spatial query applied is stored in GML and returned to the client for subsequent operations. The GML received is then interpreted by javascript and results are displayed on the screen with the help of javascript APIs and HTML. GML is used to resolve the interoperability and performance issues.

The Web graphic libraries are used to display feature selection. The pop-up dialogues in application helping the user to view all information related to feature.

The water flow path analysis

The major advantage of this solution is its simplicity. The shortest water flow route can be identified just by selecting a source point and then a destination point on the map. The application calculates the shortest flow path in an ordered manner; where water flow first in primary feeder, then in secondary feeder and then in distribution main.

Fig.3-a: Click on map to point source and destination. [Unchecked not required layers]

Fig.3-b: Shortest Water Flow Path with colored primary, secondary and distribution mains

The water flow path problem scenario

The water works department can find the alternate water flow path in case a breakage is found somewhere else in the existing flow path. The user can place a hypothetical problem point between source and destination point to get alternate path. As continuation of Fig.3-b, a problem point is placed between the same source and destination points.

Fig.5-a: Hypothetical problem point placed at conduit 490 where as related information is shown in Selection panel

Fig.5-b: The alternate Water Flow Path from source to destination point escaping the problem point path. While showing the record for each pipe segment in the Task Pane along with a link button to highlight a particular pipe segment on the map.

The level of information

A major advantage of the solution to water works department is that the user can see the information related to physical components of the system, below or above the earth surface, ranging from a small size socket up to a large size reservoir. User can see information just by selecting any component instance over the map such as socket, pipe segment, tube-well, parcel, road, reservoir, etc.

Fig.6-a: A pipeline segment is selected on the map. Attribute information displayed in selection panel.

Fig.6-b: A small socket is selected on the map on large scale view.

The pattern by query visualization

The solution helps in abstracting knowledge from the facts and figures available on the ground. For example, most of drinking water related disease appears due to contamination in water through leakage of pipes. Departments can get any disease records from the community health care centers through public interface developed in support of this solution. Upon user query for disease between two dates, the locations of patients carrying a particular disease will be displayed on map. If the patients’ location are found closed enough that they are served by the same supply channel, then this makes the department convenient to inspect that channel for leakage.

Fig.7: Query result showing infected patient location and supply channel

Reports and graphs

Graphs and reports make decision making easy in any organisation. The system visualises various graphs and reports upon ground facts provided. Such as, graph representing the demand Vs supply ratio for the whole area and the graph representing the number of complaints received by the department each month in a year. The system generates report even for a single registered consumer.

Fig.8-a: A Demand Vs Supply ratio graph

Fig.8-b: Reports and graph presenting complaints status

Conclusion Spatial analysis and visualisation of the physical components deployed in the field and their complete record gives water works departments/agencies the advantages of better management of resources, proper planning, quick and effective decision making, researching, cost and time saving, change detecting and getting consumer trust. The open source GIS solution reduces the overall development cost, increases scalability and customisation. The application is aimed to increase the efficiency of water works department in limited budget range.