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What's next for our GIS support in PCSWMM

by Rob James on Aug 28, 2009

In the near future, we will be rolling out a significant expansion of our GIS engine. To provide some perspective to those new to PCSWMM 2009, let me first outline the extremely comprehensive GIS support provided by the PCSWMM spatial engine. By comprehensive GIS support, I mean you can easily:

  • edit geometry and/or attributes of any supported layer,
  • convert layers from one file format to the other (for any write supported layer),
  • quickly and accurately reproject map layers from any projection to any other,
  • import and export SWMM inputs/results to and from any supported layer format,
  • edit attributes of multiple entities (with full SQL query support),
  • perform topological operations (area-weighting, split, join, intersect, etc.),
  • transfer (copy and paste) entities/attributes between layers (regardless of layer format),
  • thematically render any vector layer based on simple or complex SQL statements,
  • dynamically render layers (animation),
  • instantly re-project any layer (or layer collection) into Google Earth for 3D visualization/animation, 
  • and much more...

Here is a list of the layer formats already supported in PCSWMM 2009 (as of this posting) in alphabetical order (vector layers first, followed by raster/grid layers):

  • CSV (Comma separated values)
  • DGN (Microstation)
  • DLG (Digital Line Graphs) 
  • DXF-ASCII (AutoCad Export format)
  • DXF-BINARY (AutoCad Export format)
  • E00-ASCII (ArcInfo Export Format)
  • E00-BINARY (ArcInfo Export Format)
  • GDF 3.0
  • Geomedia Access Warehouse
  • Geomedia SQL SQL Server
  • GML 3.1.1 (Geographic Markup Language)
  • GPX (GPS Exchange Format)
  • KML (Google Earth Keyhole Markup Language)
  • MIF (MapInfo Import Format)
  • OpenGIS BLOB SQL
  • OpenGIS Normalized SQL
  • SDTS-TCP (TVP-Topological Vector Profile)
  • SHP (ArcView Shape Format)
  • TAB/MAP (Map Info Vector format)
  • TIGER 2000 (Line)
  • VPF 3.0
  • ADF (ArcInfo Integer Grid)
  • BIL/SPOT
  • BMP
  • BT (Binary Terrain Grid)
  • CADRG
  • DEM (USGS Digital Elevation Models)
  • DT0 (Digital Terrain Elevation Data level 0)
  • DT1 (Digital Terrain Elevation Data level 1)
  • T2 (Digital Terrain Elevation Data level 2)
  • ECW (file based)
  • ECWP (server based)
  • FLT (ArcInfo Float Binary Grid)
  • GIF
  • GRD (Arcinfo ASCII Grid)
  • GRD (Surfer ASCII Grid)
  • IMG (ERDAS IMAGINE)
  • JPEG
  • JPEG2000
  • MrSID
  • PNG
  • SDTS-RPE (Raster Profile and Extensions)
  • TIFF (packbits, group4, etc.)
  • TIFF (uncompressed, LZW)

Wow, that’s a big list. We’ve come a long way from PCSWMM 2006. And here is a sneak peak of where we are going in the next 2 quarters with GIS and CAD support.

PCSWMM 2010 Standard

The additional capabilities in our 2010 version will include simpler setup of map coordinate systems, with 2,900 predefined coordinate systems (including all state-plane coordinate systems), and automatic layer coordinate system recognition. Also improving the map are antialised output for improved rendering quality, raster layer rotation support, and support for many additional layers, including:

  • FME
  • GDL/OGR
  • GSHHS
  • JSON
  • OpenStreetMap
  • S-57
  • WFS (OpenGIS Web Feature Service Layer)
  • GRD (Surfer Binary Grid)
  • WMS (OpenGIS Web Mapping Service Layer)

PCSWMM 2010 Professional

Things are even more exciting for PCSWMM 2010 Professional, with direct support for these CAD formats:

  • DWG 2000
  • LandXML

Also coming is direct support for enterprise level spatial databases, including:

  • ESRI ArcSDE
  • MapInfo SpatialWare
  • MSSQL Spatial Server (Katmai)
  • OpenGIS PostGIS spatial
  • Oracle Spatial/Locator
  • ESRI SDE Raster
  • Oracle GeoRaster

Further to the large expansion in layer format support, PCSWMM 2010 Professional will continue to expand on its advanced GIS capabilities, including new support for 3D editing (M & Z values), Voronoi and Delaunay charts, and triangulation.  

Of course, there will be many more non-GIS tools and features for improving your efficiency and productivity in large and small stormwater, wastewater and watershed modeling projects – but I’ll save those details for a later blog.

And finally, in keeping with the CHI philosophy of making cutting edge tools simple to use and widely accessible, I am happy to report that PCSWMM 2010 pricing will remain the same as 2009 (an order of magnitude less expensive than equivalent software).

When you add it all up, It’s no wonder that all of the large engineering firms (AECON, AMEC, ARCADIS, CH2M Hill, EGIS, SNC Lavalin, Stantec, SWECO, Tetra Tech, URS Corporation, etc., etc.) and literally thousands of smaller firms are benefiting from the scalability, power and value of PCSWMM in both large and small projects across offices all around the world.

Please contact me if you would like to know more about how PCSWMM can help your efficiency and capabilities today and in the future.