Introduction
The City of Loveland
has worked closely with ESRI* to create a
Local Government
Template. This page
depicts how the Local Government template
has been put into use in Loveland's GIS,
known as the LOGIC System. The
template has been expanded upon to meet the
specific needs of Loveland and to add
"feature-level metadata." The data
model presented here went into to live
production mode in November, 2007.
Questions and comments on Loveland's
implementation of ESRI's Local Government
template can be directed to
Steve Holmes, GIS Manager, at the City
of Loveland.
The objectives in
moving to this new model were:
-
to
accommodate newer enterprise solutions
utilizing the geodatabase;
-
to re-align
existing shapefile field structures into
a common attribute schema;
-
to
consolidate common layers into fewer
feature classes;
-
to have a
simple, standardized model to meet the
needs of a variety of users;
-
to use a
model based on a nationally recognized
format, and
-
to have an
expandable model with templates for
future layers already in place.
Key Components of the Model
Feature datasets
based on "Maintenance Obligation":
The LOGIC System model
uses the concept of "Maintenance Obligation"
to establish feature datasets (FDS) for
holding feature classes. In the past,
this was a practice discouraged by ESRI due
to performance limitations, but with changes
in the geodatabase since version 9.0 this is
no longer a concern. So, in Loveland
you will find FDSs with names such as
DevelopmentServicesData and
ParksAndRecreationData to denote feature
datasets with maintenance done by specific
departments. There is also a BaseData
FDS maintained by the GIS Division that
contains feature classes used commonly
throughout the organization.
Data from other sources are kept in the
ReferenceData FDS to help distinguish
between it and the data for which Loveland
is the authoritative source.
Shapefile-style
field names:
To better accomodate the transfer of data
back into shapefiles as an exchange format,
shapefile-style field names were adopted
within each feature class.
Feature-level metadata:
The Loveland
implementation of ESRI's Local Government
template includes the addition of
feature-level metadata including
fields for:
a general feature description; the data
originator; data security status; the
distribution policy; and the last
modified/creation date for each feature.
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General
Overview Diagram of Loveland's Model:
Click
here to view a diagram showing a
general overview of Loveland's data model
(PDF format).
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View GDB Xray
Output of Loveland's Model
Click
here to view the HTML output of
Loveland's data model created with
ESRI's GDB Xray
tool. GDB XRay
contains a set of Xml and Xslt-based tools
that generate documentation from Geodatabase
Xml Workspace files and ArcMap documents.
This tool is a very handy way to review and
make changes to geodatabases.
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Data
Maintenance Procedures:
Loveland's
data maintenance procedure manual is
presented here as a general guide for other
agencies who may wish to implement ESRI's
Local Government template. In viewing
the manual, it is understood that it is
specific only to Loveland's practices and
should be modified to meet the needs of
others who may choose to use it. In no
case does Loveland assume liability for the
use of this manual by other parties.
Click here to acknowledge the disclaimer
above and view the manual.
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Download City of
Loveland GIS data using this model:
Data
available for download using this model can
be found by
clicking here. Please note, not all of
the feature classes in this model are
available for download as they originate
from outside sources. Some feature classes
in the downloadable versions have been
modified to remove features or attributes
that are sensitive in nature.
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*
ESRI and the ESRI Logo are licensed
trademarks of Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.
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