Bring Missing Features into GIS
Kenric McCay
City of Oak Ridge
Presentation Overview
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
About Me
Presentation Purpose
Problem Overview
AS400
Excel Process
Geocoding
Export Features to WindMil
WindMilMap / ArcMap Tips
About Me
•  With the City of Oak Ridge (TN) Electric Department
•  WindMil Map user for ~2 years
•  B.A., M.S. from the University of Tennessee
•  Attended first WindMil Conference in 2015 and went to
the WindMil Map / WindMil classes
Presentation Purpose
•  Show our missing consumer problem and how to correct
it using Excel and GIS.
•  Show how to import features into GIS then to WindMil.
•  Show how to geocode.
•  Show how to create a .std file.
Problem Overview
•  WindMil links to our billing database, which has all consumer
information.
•  Found that we had 3,074 consumers missing in our WindMil
model but are in the billing database (AS400).
•  How to quickly associate them with their address and
account number to bring into GIS?
•  How to find where these consumers should be
geographically located within our model?
AS400 Overview
•  We receive monthly
Excel reports
containing the
account number,
street name and
street number.
•  (We are currently
working on
purchasing a new
up-to-date system.)
AS400 Excel File Output
•  Example of how we see our overall consumers with their
account number and address.
Step 1 – What Elements are Missing?
•  After we ran our Circuit Analysis, we noticed there were missing
consumers.
•  Now we know exactly which consumers are not in the model from the
Element Name.
•  Save this file.
Step 1 – Example Data
•  This is the same data from the
previous slide with only the Element
Names.
•  This is useful in our next steps.
Step 2 – Prepare the Excel Data
•  Start with the original Excel file containing all consumer
data (AS400 output file).
•  AS400 contains 10 digit account number, but we only use
8 digits for WindMil.
–  The last two digits are reserved for each new consumer at the
residence. We only want to know if there is a consumer at the
location rather than who.
–  Erase the last two digits within Excel =LEFT(A1,LEN(A1)-­‐2) Step 2 – Continued – Excel Concatenate
•  What is concatenate?
–  Join data from other columns together
•  In your table, add the following code to column A. (This
code will be different in most situations)
– 
=CONCATENATE(B1,";",C1,";",D1,";",E1,";",F1,";",G1,";",H1,";",I1,
";",J1,";",K1)
Step 2 – Continued – Excel VLOOKUP
• 
What is VLOOKUP?
–  Looks at a value in one column, and finds its corresponding value on the same row in
another column
• 
Copy the table of your missing features into “Sheet 2” within your spreadsheet.
• 
In “Sheet 2”, use this code to look up data from the previous “Sheet 1”.
–  This will look at the concatenated values from all consumers. If a consumer’s account
number is in “Sheet 2”, it will populate with the data from “Sheet 1”.
–  =VLOOKUP(A1,Sheet1!A$1:A$15679,1,TRUE)
Step 2 - Results
•  I now have an address associated with the disconnected
consumers.
–  Originally these did not contain an address.
•  But how to bring these consumers into GIS?
Step 3 - Geocoding
•  What is geocoding?
–  Assigning points to locations
•  Now I know the address for
each missing consumer.
–  Save the list as an Excel file.
–  For now, only need the
addresses.
Step 3 – Create Address Locator
•  You can create your own, or use one provided by
someone else (ESRI for example).
•  If you create your own, your data needs to be accurate.
•  Open the Address Locator Manager.
Step 3 – Setup Existing Address Locator
•  Choose Add
•  Navigate to “GIS Servers”
•  Add the server URL
–  h0p://geocode.arcgis.com/arcgis/
services •  Input your ArcGIS Online login
information
•  There are many Address Locator
styles to choose from.
Step 3 – Geocode Process
•  When you are ready to
geocode, navigate to the
geocode tool (Geocode
Addresses).
•  Input your Excel file
containing only
addresses.
•  Choose your Address
Locator.
•  Choose output location.
Step 3 – Geocode Process
•  I used ArcGIS Online since our
address network still needs work.
•  It will cost you credits, but your
organization may have unused
ones.
•  You have now geocoded your
points into GIS.
•  You can add your new shapefile
to your GIS.
Step 3 – Calculate Longitude and Latitude
•  You will need to calculate
these for when you import into
WindMil.
–  After you geocode, these
should already be calculated
for you.
•  Open the Attribute Table
•  Add two new fields – “XCoord”
and “YCoord”
•  Right click the header and
choose “Calculate Geometry”
•  Choose appropriate settings
Step 3 - Geocode – Cannot Find Address
•  There may be instances
when the Address Locator,
or the data’s address, is
incorrect.
•  If so, it may stack the
features on-top of each
other.
•  You will need to manually
move them or fix your
address data.
Step 4 – Bring Features into WindMil
•  Now that we have our missing consumers within GIS, we
also need to bring this into WindMil.
Step 4 – Create a .STD File Overview
•  The .std file is an option to choose.
–  .gps is also available
•  Prepare your data within Excel and save as a .csv file.
•  You will need to look at the WindMil help documents to
see how to setup your file.
Step 4 - .STD File Information
•  This document is located in the
Help Menu.
–  You can type .std to narrow the
search.
•  In our case, we needed the
element name, type, phase, and
x / y coordinates.
•  Element name is our consumer
account number, and element
type (13) are consumers.
Step 4 – Convert .CSV to .STD
•  Go to your Control Panel.
–  Appearance and
Personalization
–  Folder Options
–  In the View tab, uncheck
“Hide Extensions for
known files”
–  Rename the file
XXXXXX.csv to
XXXXXX.std
Step 4 – Import the .STD File
•  The .std file contains information
about circuit elements.
•  Choose File – Import within WindMil.
•  Choose appropriate import options.
Step 4 – Import Results
•  Now all the missing consumers
are at their corresponding
addresses.
•  Each feature is a consumer with
the same original phasing
assigned in the .std file.
–  Once the consumer is connected to a
transformer, its phasing will change.
What to do After the Import?
•  We were able to bring features into GIS with only an
account number.
•  We were then able to import these into WindMil.
•  Overall, we were able to save time by not having to input
consumer data in one-by-one and not moving each
consumer to the appropriate location.
•  Lastly, we need to connect each consumer to the
appropriate transformer.
Quick Tip – Label Expression
•  Stack labels on your
features.
•  Open the Properties of a
layer.
– 
– 
– 
– 
Navigate to Labels
Click “Expressions”
Add the Field of your choice
Use the code “& vBcr &” to
stack labels
–  Example - [wmPhaseOrder] &
vBcr & [wmNeutralConductor]
Quick Tip – Hover Over Elements
•  Similar to the Label Expression.
•  Navigate to the “Display” tab within a layer’s properties.
–  Click “Expression…” within the Display Expression.
–  Input your desired display.
–  Check the “Show Map Tips using the display expression” box.
Quick Tip – Display Disconnected Features
•  You can set any
element to display as
disconnected within
ArcGIS.
–  Set the Symbology to “Is
Dead”.
–  Values will either be
“false” or “true”.
–  Symbolize it as you wish.
–  You can also just check
this value from within the
Attribute Table.
References
•  Concatenate –
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/CONCATENATE-function-8f8ae884-2ca8-4f7ab093-75d702bea31d
•  VLOOKUP –
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/VLOOKUPfunction-0bbc8083-26fe-4963-8ab8-93a18ad188a1
•  Geocode –
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/What_is_geocoding/
002500000001000000/
•  Add World Geocode Service –
http://support.esri.com/EM/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/40802
•  Be sure to look at video tutorials too.
Thank You!!!
•  You can contact me at [email protected]
•  Feel free to talk with me anytime.
•  Any Questions?