GIS consulting for local government, utilities and engineering firmsinfo@infraspatialsolutions.comServing clients across the United States
Back to all projects
Utility Network · Data QA/QC

Water Utility Network Migration

A municipal water utility’s distribution data, built up over years in an ArcMap geometric network, assessed, cleaned and staged for the ArcGIS Utility Network before the geometric network reaches end of life.

ClientMunicipal water utility
PlatformArcGIS Enterprise · ArcGIS Pro · SQL Server
ScopeReadiness, cleanup, field mapping, staged loading
StatusIn progress, phased
The situation

A geometric network with nowhere to go

Esri’s geometric network retires with ArcMap. ArcGIS Pro does not support it, so the utility’s water distribution data, and every workflow built on it, had to move to the Utility Network. At the same time, inspection and maintenance workflows were moving to a new asset management system.

The data itself carried years of edits: features without global IDs, pipes broken at vertical bends, valves and hydrants with missing attributes, and connectivity problems that only showed up when a trace failed.

Readiness findings

  • Global IDs missing on several feature classes
  • Service lines that would not trace to the main
  • Pipes split at vertical bends and bypass valves
  • Domain values missing for manufacturers and materials
  • Meter locations to be integrated from a GPS collection project
The approach

A staged migration with a QA gate before every load

Data only moves forward when it passes the gate behind it. Each stage follows Esri’s Utility Network migration pattern, with the utility’s own field mapping workbook and a scripted legacy geodatabase builder doing the repetitive work.

01

Data model

Confirm source data has global IDs, download the Utility Network foundation, adjust the asset package spatial reference, extend the data model where the utility needs it.

02

Conversion

Build the data loading workspace, populate it from the legacy geodatabase with a scripted builder, run the QA gate, execute the load.

03

Deployment

Stage the Utility Network in the enterprise geodatabase, apply the asset package, enable topology and review errors.

04

Topology and subnetworks

Resolve dirty areas and connectivity errors, define subnetwork controllers from towers through transmission to distribution, update and validate subnetworks.

05

Services and workflows

Publish by subtype, rebuild editing workflows in ArcGIS Pro, test isolation traces and integrate with billing and asset management.

Before and after

Legacy geometric network with errors on the right; cleaned, colour-coded Utility Network subnetworks on the left. Shown on a real street grid, animated.

The QA gate

DatasetCheckResult
wMainGeometry validityPass
wMainProjection matches targetPass
wValveDomain values14 warnings
wHydrantRequired attributes212 failures
wServiceLineConnectivity to main7 warnings
ParcelsSchema match, 41 of 41 fieldsPass
Representative QA gate output. Nothing loads until every failure is resolved or formally accepted.
Where it stands

Clean data, documented decisions, a clear path

Zero topology errors before load

The cleanup phase ended with the network error list empty and subnetworks defined from source to service.

A workbook the utility owns

Field mapping, attribute decisions and domain changes are recorded where the next person can find them.

Workflows ready for ArcGIS Pro

Editing, tracing and publishing are rebuilt for the Utility Network, not patched around the old one.

Ready to talk about your GIS?

Tell us what you are working on. We reply with questions first, then a written scope and a price.