HLS 5101 DF3 Comments Assignment: The Level of Organization

Comment on these two post as if you were me with a 100 words each, DO NOT COMPARE THE POSTS, and put 3 references for each post, and please seperate the references with the post it was made for.
Daniel Divincenzo
The first priority would be to update the current information available. The Department of works {DPW} will have documented updates they have made over the years on the sewer system,and land such as roads,and above ground drainage. There should be records of these jobs since it has to be submitted to the town council for annual allotted funds. Also contacting national grid for any electrical,drain,gas,and road work performed over the years will be crucial information.
I would then break up the city into 3 different areas based on land mass, to make it easier to read for people who are not familiar with gis mapping ex- city mayor or councilman. The first data layers that would be put on the map would the drain system. I would color code and vary the symbols depending on what was being markered. outfalls,pipes,and culverts would be represented on the map by lines,and each specific one would be a certain color to help differentiate. Manholes,detention basins,and drainage areas will markered by points,each with its own specific color.
The next data layers would be the landbase section. I would have forested areas,and water bodies represented by polygonal shapes with different colors to specify them ex-{green-land, water-blue}. Roads would represented by lines,and a different color from what was used in the drain system,so it will be able to tell them apart when all the layers are overlapped. I would have parking lots, and buildings in the shapes of squares. buildings would just be blank inside,while parking lots would be shaded gray.
It will also be important to capture the the land elevation,and gradient for the map,in order to determine future projects,rainfall,temp. value and so on. This can be obtained by using free 3d images from satellite imaging,or lidar mapping systems. once all this data is collected youll be able to put certain data layers you want to see at a time. For example there is a high amount of flooding in a part of town so you would activate data layers from the drain system being inlets,culverts, and drainage areas. The other data layers from the the land base would be bodies of water,and gradient. These different data layers could help you better determine what would be the best way to approach and fix the problem.
Respectfully Submitted,
Daniel Divincenzo
Ari Winograd
Drain System
Manholes: Points, Vector, this feature has specific x,y coordinates which are easily mapped through points.
Outfalls: Raster because outfalls, while points in theory, actually affect a drainage area as you can read about on MassPort’s page on outfalls (https://www(dot)massport(dot)com/environment/environmental-reporting/water-quality/outfalls/). This would assist the Public Works Department to not only identify the location of an outfall, but the area affected by the outfall water. This area does not necessarily have fixed boundaries which would make a raster data set more useful.
Pipes: Network, Vector pipes are likely to be most easily mapped for the Public Works Department through the use of a series of points connected by lines which are linked to other points and lines, creating a network. This way they may easily identify specific sections of pipes and where they intersect with other pipes.
Culverts: Points, Vector as these are fixed locations.
Inlets/catch basins: Lines, Vector to map out the point where water enters and the general path taken to the closest body of water.
Detention Basins (these are small above-ground "ponds" that store stormwater runoff): Area, Vector to outline the polygon of the basin especially because these features should have a set boundary.
Drainage Areas (these are areas defined by topography that contribute runoff to water bodies): Line, Vector to demonstrate the extent of the drainage area and what water sources it connects to. This is especially important when considering how much road salt to put down in what parts of town to mitigate salt seeping into drinking water and farm land.


Landbase Features:
Parking Lots: Area, Vector as this will provide Public Works Department workers with exact boundaries of the parking lot.
Roads: Raster because as the Public Works Department workers may need to have more information available to them regarding road contours and elevations to assist with ongoing road work or areas which are at greater risk for damage from snow and ice.
Street Centerlines: Raster so Public Works Department employees can visualize how the centerlines are painted and what patterns are used in specific intersections.
Driveways: Points, Vector as these are relatively short and may have less importance for the Public Works Department beyond their physical location and length.
Forested Areas: Raster data because a raster in this case will be able to assist the Public Works Department not only mark out the general boundaries of the forested areas, but be able to identify areas where certain trees are dried out and vulnerable to fire, damaged, or diseased. Raster data cells can be configured to provide these intricate details.
Buildings: Points, Raster as the Public Works Department will likely be interested in knowing the zoning information for the town. With Raster data in this case we can assign different values to the cells to tell where there are industrial zones or residential.
Water Bodies: Area, Vector as this will allow Public Works Department employees to accurately map the contours and boundaries of water bodies.
Topography: Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN), Vector which will provide an accurate model of complex terrain and provide a representation of elevation and spatial contours.



I believe it will be best for these features to be in separate databases. This allows for greater flexibility and data sharing capabilities, availability, and redundancy. Having a distributed database system ensures that if one database fails or is inaccessible in any way, the other is still able to be accessed. This will leave the Public Works Department with some level of GIS capability in the event of a database failure.