Presented by Henry Sun, City of Calgary See more FME World Tour 2014 presentations at www.safe.com/recap2014

1. CONNECT. TRANSFORM. AUTOMATE.
Mapping ParkPlus Zones with FME
Henry Sun
Traffic Engineering Technician
The City of Calgary

2. Background of ParkPlus
 Introduced to Calgary in 2007
 Managed and operated by the Calgary Parking Authority (CPA)
 ParkPlus signage designed, installed and maintained
by The City of Calgary

3. The problem we have
 We (Traffic Engineering) do not have a ParkPlus Zone map
 ParkPlus Zone numbers are stored in a free-text field in the geodatabase
 ParkPlus was introduced after our geodatabase for managing traffic signs
was designed and implemented

4. My workflow in a nutshell
Sign Structure
Feature Class
(Points)
Sign Blade
Table
1:m
Extract ParkPlus
zone numbers
Feature Merge
Connect points with
the same zone
number
ParkPlus Zones
(Lines)

5. My FME workflow
 Workspace 1
 Workspace 2
Extract ParkPlus zone numbers
Merge X, Y coordinates to each
ParkPlus zone number
Separate signs based on the side (left or right)
of a road they are on

6. Transformers used in extracting
ParkPlus zone numbers
 Tester
 TestFilter
 CaseChanger
 StringReplacer (Regular Expression rocks!)
 AttributeTrimmer
 SubstringExtractor

7. Transformers used in mapping
ParkPlus zones
 CoordinateExtractor
 FeatureMerger
 AttributeCreator
 Sorter (more details on next slide)
 2DPointReplacer
 NeighborFinder
 PointConnector

8. Sorting ParkPlus zone numbers
1. Separate one-way roads and two-way roads
2. Separate avenues (horizontal), streets (vertical) and other roads
3. For one-way roads
1) Separate the roads by travelling directions
(eastbound, westbound, northbound, southbound)
2) Separate the signs on the left hand side and the ones on the right hand side
4. For two-way roads
 All signs facing you are on the right hand side of travelling direction
 Determine which side (E, W, N, S) of a road the signs are on
5. Consider the order of ParkPlus zone numbers

9. Sorting ParkPlus zone numbers
6. Sort signs by the combination of:
1) Zone number
2) X or Y coordinate depending on which side of a road the signs are on
7. Group signs on left hand side and on right hand side separately

10. Sorting ParkPlus zone numbers
8. Take arrow directions into consideration
 Separate zones with the same zone number but divided by a driveway (This is
the only step not done in FME)
Zone Number Arrow Direction Zone and Arrow Code Zone Number Code
1260 AL 1260AL 1 1260.0001
1260 AR 1260AR 1 1260.0001
1260 AL 1260AL 2 1260.0002
1260 AR 1260AR 2 1260.0002
1261 AL 1261AL 3 1261.0003
1261 AR 1261AR 3 1261.0003
1408 AL 1408AL 4 1408.0004
1408 AR 1408AR 4 1408.0004
1408 AL 1408AL 5 1408.0005
1408 AR 1408AR 5 1408.0005
1491 AL 1491AL 6 1491.0006
1491 AR 1491AR 6 1491.0006
1491 AL 1491AL 7 1491.0007
1491 AR 1491AR 7 1491.0007

11. ParkPlus zone map - overview

12. ParkPlus zone map – a closer look

13. What benefits did FME bring to us?
 FME turned hard-to-use tabular data into a ready-to-use map
 All was done in a few weeks using my spare time at work
 Saved a huge amount of time and money
 Helped us identify errors easily
 The FME Workspace can be run on a regular basis to keep the map up to
date
 Once the geodatabase is ready to accommodate the ParkPlus Zone
information, the FME Workspace can be easily altered to write data directly
into the new field(s)
 Potential projects are already lining up

14. My tips to share with new FME users
 Get FME installed if your organization has it
 Take the free FME training
 Follow and watch the FME webinars
 Spend a few hours to read through all the transformers
 Start practising and prepare to be amazed by FME and yourself!

15. Thank You!
 Questions?
 For more information:
 Henry.Sun@calgary.ca