Using AutoCAD Map 3D to Solve Real World Issues

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1 Using AutoCAD Map 3D to Solve Real World Issues Written by: Steve Skarbowski, Synergis Engineering Design Solutions Geospatial Solutions Engineer Let us imagine that we have a tank farm located in a highly populated area, containing 12 tanks of various liquids. A severe thunderstorm comes along and a lightning bolt strikes one the tanks and it catches on fire. The tank contains hazardous gasoline materials, starts leaking, and an evacuation is ordered. The smoke is very dense and is starting to affect a major highway. Firefighters don t really know what chemicals they can use to extinguish the flames. This is a real world scenario faced by many of our first responders in emergency situations. Luckily the owners of this tank farm facility are equipped with AutoCAD Map 3D. The ability to store and disseminate information quickly and accurately is crucial to the safety of citizens in the surrounding vicinity. In the above illustration, our area of interest has 12 tanks, a gas line with valves, an interstate highway and adjoining parcel information and a picture a the tank. Pictures can be added to AutoCAD Map 3D through a process called Hyperlinks which can give a visual representation of the features. Hyperlinks can include pdfs, dwfs, or tif images. All the above features have data associated with them. This data is stored in tables and contains attributes that are related to each data item. The tables can come from various sources, such as Oracle, SQL, dbf, or Access databases. The following is an example of the data table for the storage tanks. In the table, we can see the following information: tank identification number, type of material and potential quantity (gallons) of material stored within each tank. Tables

2 The information provided can be invaluable for the emergency response personnel that respond to this incident. By knowing the potential quantity and contents of each tank, they can respond faster and equipped as to which type of chemical retardant must be utilized to extinguish the fire. An additional data table is available for the gas line and valves can be useful for the gas company to come in and immediately locate where the shut off valve is. Information such as gas line size and type can be contained in the table, along with valve information such as left or right turn valves. Contours Contours can be added by a tool provided by AutoCAD Map 3D. A digital elevation model (DEM) can be used to generate contours and represent the topography of the site. Contours are equal lines of elevations. These contours can help hazardous waste teams determine where the probable flow of the chemicals will flow. By knowing this in advance, emergency crews can contain the flow of materials before it reaches any environmentally friendly areas. In this example, the yellow path has been extracted from a DEM file to graphically show the potential flow of the chemicals. This information is useful in the protection of stream that is bordering the site.

3 Let us take the scenario one step further. Buffer Tool The tank is leaking toxic fumes and an evacuation is needed. AutoCAD Map 3D provides a tool called Buffer, which can calculate a distance from a point or lines to find information contained in this area. In this example, parcel owners and/or emergency response personnel can be notified quickly to evacuate, thus saving time and potentially lives. In this example we will construct a 1000 foot buffer, represented by the circle, from the feature source which is our red tank. The result shows us which parcels need to be notified.

4 To make things a little clearer, we can query from a feature source and filter the data to show which parcels that are affected by the emergency. Feature Source Query Tools AutoCAD Map 3D 2008 can perform a query based upon different properties. In this example, we will use the location definition and a crossing polygon as the boundary to select the affected areas. This is known as a spatial filter.

5 The query generated a circular polygon and shades only the parcels that fall within the buffer boundary. The ability to sort through large amounts of data quickly and accurately is essential to the response teams efforts. The other feature that is contained within the buffer zone is a major highway. The buffer tool can also identify what portions of the road need to be closed. By having the ability to print out maps, police departments are able to visually see where the best routes are for detouring traffic around the emergency.

6 Now from this query we can get a tabular list for the parcels affected. The information stored in this table can include owner name, address and parcel number. Join Tools

7 A join is a command used to link two tables with a common field. For example, we may have a parcel table that only includes owner name and parcel number. We may have another table that contains other information such as parcel number, owner name, phone number. Since there is a common field between tables, (Parcel Number), we can join the tables thus having the ability now to see the phone number and call the appropriate home owners affected. Design Review Another useful tool is Autodesk Design Review. Design Review lets you take a snapshot (DWF)A DWF can contain areas of the map that needs to be changed back in the office. Crews can use design review to mark up maps in the field, then bring them back to the office and fix existing maps or create exhibits to explain the emergency and impact it has. In conclusion, we have seen some of the power of AutoCAD Map 3D and Design Review. From identifying the attributes associated with each feature to the use of spatial tools such as Buffer, Query, and Join, a major disaster can be avoided. In this scenario, we had the ability to show the locations of our storage tanks and features affected. We were able to perform multiple queries about the data to help find solutions for the many types of scenarios that can play out in this type of an emergency. After working with ESRI GIS products for over 15 years, I am now a Geospatial Solutions Engineer using the Autodesk Geospatial products, Map 3D, MapGuide, Raster Design and Design Review. I find the products very comparable with ESRI suite of GIS products because AutoCAD Map 3D can do the same functionality as Arcview and is easier to use.