Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions about the Water Outage template are listed below for reference.

If you have a question that you think may come up for other users, click the feedback link on the bottom of this page to submit it as a candidate.

General

Getting started

Utility Isolation Trace

General

How do I provide feedback on the Water Outage template?

The Water Outage template is curated by Esri with input from the global water user community. To provide feedback, contact Esri Technical Support to log an enhancement, or share your feedback through GeoNet.

What if I don't have the newest ArcGIS Collector? Can I use this template?

The newest ArcGIS Collector was released in 2018 and currently only supports iPhone and iPad operating systems. You can still use this template with previous versions of ArcGIS Collector with limitations. You will not be able to display custom Arcade expressions in pop-ups, and there may be performance impacts when working with the map.

Where can I go for help?

If you need support configuring the Water Outage template at your organization, contact Esri Technical Support. Alternatively, to get help from other water utility community members, post your question in the Water Utility community on GeoNet.

Getting started

What is an assembly and how can I use one?

An assembly is optional and allows you to create a simplified representation of a collection of components. An example is hydrants. A hydrant assembly consists of a tee, a lateral (usually a valve), and the hydrant. Although an assembly cannot contain features, such as in the utility network, it is helpful cartographically because it allows you to represent a collection of components with a single point. When you migrate to the utility network, assemblies can be updated to contain detailed components.

How can I optimize the Public Outages and Alerts map?

Consider removing the Public Outages and Alerts hosted view layer and replacing it with a feature collection based on active outages. Using a feature collection will reduce the impact on high-demand maps and apps. To create a feature collection from the Water Outage Manager app, add the Select widget with the Allow to export select features option checked. Then use the Save to My Content from the Selection Action drop-down menu to save a feature collection to your contents. This new feature collection can be added to your Public Outages and Alerts map and configured as desired. Additionally, consider using the Feature Collection Updater widget in Web AppBuilder Developer Edition. Using this widget, you can update a feature collection in your Public Outages and Alerts map by configuring the widget in the Water Outage Manager app to update an existing feature collection without having to reconfigure or manually add it to the map.

Utility Isolation Trace

How do I align the data from the Water Distribution System Foundation to the schema for the isolation trace?

To align the data from the Water Distribution System Foundation schema for the Utility Isolation Trace you must use the Merge tool to combine related feature layers into three single layers. Create the Assembly, Service, and Main layers by merging the following feature classes:

  • Assembly—AirVacuumAirReleaseAssembly, BackflowAssembly, BlowOffAssembly, and HydrantAssembly
  • Service—AirVacuumService, BlowOffService, CommercialService, HydrantService, IndustrialService, IrrigationService, ResidentialService, and SamplingService
  • Main—DistributionMain and TransmissionMain

Why can't I place this template in the ArcGIS Server folder or any folder registered with ArcGIS Server?

The Python toolbox used to trace the network uses relative paths to the logic, symbology, and other required files. When packaging this content to publish the geoprocessing service, it needs to copy the package to the ArcGIS Server folder. If the contents are in the ArcGIS Server folder or any folder registered with ArcGIS Server, the package ignores this content and does not include it. This requires that the script be manually modified to point to this shared resource and makes publishing difficult. To fix an Isolation Trace Toolbox created in one of these folder locations, follow the steps below:

  1. Delete the old IsolationTrace.pyt file.
  2. Rerun the Generate Web Isolation Trace Toolbox and verify the output folder is not set to an ArcGIS Server folder or any folder registered with ArcGIS Server.
  3. Using the new IsolationTrace.pyt file, follow the steps for the Publish isolation trace service section.

I had the Utility Isolation Trace, but I see the solution is now in mature support; do I have to install the entire water outage to upgrade my old setup?

Yes, you will deploy the water outage solution, but you are not required to set up and configure all the components. The solution has been merged into the Water Outage template to simplify the flow of information and enhance the off-the-shelf capabilities of ArcGIS. If you want to leverage the enhanced tracing logic and widget for an existing solution, you are free to do so.

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