12/22/17

GIS/CAD Project Workflow for the

Prudent Surveyor
New Jersey Society of Professional
Land Surveyors
SurvCon 2018
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Presented by:
Kevin Zelinsky
and
Andrew Pickford

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Presenters
•  Kevin Zelinsky, GISP, CMS
Kevin Zelinsky is the CADD/Cartography/GIS Department Manager and Associate with Remington & Vernick
Engineers and Affiliates. He oversees the entire mapping operation for the firm's eleven regional offices located
throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Kevin received his GISP certification from URISA in
2004, earned his Certified Mapping Scientist, GIS/LIS certification from ASPRS in 2006, and received his Professional
Certificate in Geomatics from Rutgers University in 2008. He has over thirty years of experience in the civil
engineering and cartographic industry, and his municipal maps have been honored with a variety of awards for
excellence. Kevin is an accredited teacher of GIS fundamentals to municipal employees in the State of New Jersey and
is also a member of the GIS Certification Institute (GISCI) Outreach Committee, which encourages GIS students and
professionals to attain the level of education and experience needed for GISP certification.

•  Andrew Pickford, GISP, CP

Andrew Pickford is a Business Development Manager with BAE Systems. He is an ASPRS Certified Photogrammetrist
(CP) and a GIS Professional (GISP). He has over (23) years experience at BAE Systems working in the areas of
photogrammetric mapping, remote sensing and GIS services. He is a member of many geospatial organizations. His
duties include business development, project design & estimation, contract administration & scheduling, project
management, marketing, technical direction, proposal writing, and client liaison.

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Outline
•  Define- Elements and concepts of GIS and CAD
•  Field Base Mapping- Demonstrate implementations of GIS utilizing
available GIS Resources
•  Field Data Acquisition and QA/QC- Demonstrate implementations
of GIS in engineering and land surveying projects
•  Cartographic Display- Demonstrate interoperability between GIS
and CAD systems
•  Delivery to the Client- converting data to Geodatabase format and
updating metadata
•  Things to be cognizant of - Pitfalls, Metadata, free data, temporal
aspect

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Elements of GIS: Definition

•  G - spatial (geographic) data we
use everyday

•  I - database aspect -
incorporating databases
documenting spatial data

•  S - synthesis of spatial data with

attribute information from data
base

•  A Geographic Information System (GIS) integrates hardware,

software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and
displaying all forms of geographically-referenced information.

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Elements of GIS: Capabilites

•  What is GIS?
–  Geographic Information System (GIS) is a digital mapping database
–  Combines geographic data with corresponding tabular data (attributes)
–  Layers of data can be viewed individually or collectively
–  Isolate/highlight specific map features by attributes, such as all school
properties
–  Create buffers of selected features
–  Query attribute data

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Elements of GIS: Fundamentals

•  Data exists as Points, Lines or Polygon
–  Point data example: Fire Hydrant, Utility Pole
–  Line data example: Sewer Main, Interceptor, Streams
–  Polygon data example: Tax Parcel, Lake, Service Area
•  Features are overlaid together and given symbology or labeled to
produce a working map

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Elements of GIS: Data Types

•  Vector Data (Points, Lines, Polygons)
–  Esri shapefile
–  AutoCAD .dwg files
–  Microstation .dgn files
–  TIN (Triangular Irregular Network)
–  Geodatabase
•  Raster Data
–  TIFF
–  JPEG
–  MrSID
–  DEM (Digital Elevation Model)
–  Lidar – “Light Detection and Ranging”
–  WMS – Web Mapping Service

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Vector & Imagery Data

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Map Projections
•  All GIS data layers must be in the same map projection in order to
combine data accurately

•  New Jersey State Plane Coordinate System and North American

Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

•  Common denominator for sharing GIS data

•  Used by the NJDEP and other local agencies

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Elements of GIS: Software

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Selected Commercial GIS Software Packages

•  Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri®)
(ArcGIS)
•  Autodesk (AutoCAD® Map 3D)
•  Bentley Systems (Microstation and Bentley Map)

Selected Free GIS Software Packages

•  Google Earth
•  Esri ArcGIS Explorer
•  Esri ArcGIS Online
•  Quantum GIS
•  MapWindow

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

GIS Software Products

•  Esri ArcGIS
–  Highly recommended by industry analysts

–  Used by the NJDEP

–  The world’s most popular GIS software

–  Links traditional database sources, graphics and maps

–  Completely integrated analysis system

–  www.esri.com

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

State, County and Regional Data

•  GIS resource data can often be obtained at no cost for municipal GIS
projects
–  Many municipalities are aware of what data is available

–  Municipalities do not always understand the additional work needed to

customize the data to their needs

–  It’s not as ready-made as it seems

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Elements of GIS: Data Sources

•  NJGIN - (New Jersey Geographic Network)
•  NJDEP - (iMap)- (GIS Resource Data)
•  NWI - (National Wetland Inventory)
•  NAIP - (National Agriculture Imagery Program) Imagery
•  FEMA - (Federal Emergency Management Agency/FIRMettes)
•  NGS - (National Geodetic Survey)
•  NRCS - (National Resource Conservation Service)
•  NJACTB - (New Jersey Association of County Tax Boards)
•  PASDA - (Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access)
•  ESRI – (Environmental Systems Research Institute)
–  ArcGIS On Line-(Esri’s free on line mapping tool and resources)

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Sample Map of Avialable GIS data

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Important Guidelines
•  Geography is intrinsic to the work we do, which demonstrates the
value of GIS.
•  “GIS/LIS developers should keep in mind that it is easy to build a less
accurate map on a more accurate base, but virtually impossible to
build a more accurate map on a less accurate base.”
–  Multipurpose Land Information Systems: The Guidebook
•  Federal Geodetic Control Committee

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

What is Metadata?
•  Metadata describes…
–  Content, quality, condition and other characteristics about data
–  Who, what, where, why and how of a data set
•  Metadata includes information you need to…
–  Determine which data exist for a geographic location
–  Determine if a set meets your need
–  Acquire the set you identified
–  Process and use the set
•  Metadata answers questions…
–  Who created and maintains the data?
–  Why were the data created?
–  What is the content and structure of the data?
–  When collected? When published?
–  Where’s the geographic location?
–  How were the data produced?

Elements of GIS: GIS Professionals

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

•  GIS Professionals primarily come from geography background,

a broad discipline.
•  GIS is the technical tool that empowers geographers
•  Many educational opportunities for learning GIS are available
•  GIS Professionals have voluntary certification programs

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GIS Concepts: Differences Between CAD and

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

GIS

Autodesk AutoCAD Map Esri ArcGIS for Desktop

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Field Survey of Utility Infrastructure Features

–  Survey Teams can field collect and/or locate asset data using GPS survey
methods.

Such as:
–  Location/elevation of utility structures
–  Location of existing facilities
–  Location of existing Roadways
–  Property boundaries/corners
–  Wetland boundaries
–  Flood elevations

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Data Collection

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Courthouse Research

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Courthouse Research

This graphic shows an example of a tax map drawing file displayed with a raster
image overlaid for reference in model space preparing to “vectorize” line work
along with coordinate geometry using AutoCAD

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This graphic shows an example of a tax map drawing file displayed in model
space and oriented in the World User Coordinate System and projected in the
New Jersey State Plane, feet units

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Incorporating GIS data to CAD - Commands

•  MAPIMPORT

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Incorporating GIS data to CAD - Commands

•  MAPIMPORT …Continued

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Incorporating GIS data to CAD – Raw GIS data

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Incorporating GIS data to CAD – Commands

•  MAPWSPACE - Right click on data icon

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Important Utility Legislation

•  Water and Stormwater changes
–  The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has developed new
stormwater regulations to address groundwater pollution issues (MS4)
*National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase II
program, requiring the implementation of a storm water management
program for minimizing the impacts from runoff
–  The Bureau of Safe Drinking Water has created new construction standards for
community water systems
–  GIS can assist with compliance and is required

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Field Base Mapping

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Field Data Acquisition and QA/QC

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Storm Sewer System Maps

•  To be based on Local & County data
–  Manholes (rims, inverts and manhole identification numbers)

–  Storm sewer system pipes (size/type, slope, length, flow directions)

–  Catch basins (grate type, materials, size of pipes entering/existing basin)

–  Outfalls (size, materials, invert elevation)

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Safe Drinking Water Standards

New Regulatory Requirements for New Jersey Drinking Water Purveyors
The New Jersey Water Quality Accountability Act will impact both
private and public water utilities. Recent headlines regarding water
utilities failing to maintain, treat and notify the public on water quality
issues have prompted New Jersey to pass legislature to protect the
health and welfare of its residents. The Water Quality Accountability
Act (S2834/A4569) unanimously passed both the Senate and House of
Representatives on June 8, 2017. The Act requires both private and
public water purveyors to conduct certain testing, reporting,
management and infrastructure investment/planning services to be in
compliance with the new State regulations.

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

GIS Mapping Required

•  Any qualifying permit must include GIS mapping

–  A map identifying the existing and proposed water system

–  Water sources, treatment, distribution and storage facilities

–  Water service area boundary shall be clearly delineated

–  Must be in GIS format at a scale of 1:12,000

–  GIS submittal must include valves in addition to hydrants, mains, etc.

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Sanitary Sewer Maps

•  The following facilities will be included based on available data
–  Manholes (rims, inverts and manhole identification numbers)

–  Sanitary sewer system pipes (size/type, slope, length, flow directions)

–  Laterals (station location and house number)

–  Pump stations

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

NJAW Haddonfield Sanitary Sewer Infrastructure

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

NJAW Haddonfield Sanitary Sewer Infrastructure

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

NJAW Haddonfield Sanitary Sewer Infrastructure

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

GIS Resources in New Jersey

•  Using available GIS resource data can conserve costs

–  The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection offers aerial

photography and GIS datasets

–  The data is available at no cost

–  GIS data can also be obtained at the County level

–  Large base mapping data available, such as aerial imagery and LiDAR

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Other GIS Data Layers

•  Based on available New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection, Local & County data
–  Wetlands
–  Floodprone (FEMA) areas
–  Aerial photography
–  Land use/land cover
–  Soil classifications
–  Road Network
–  Topography

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

LiDAR
•  Based on available New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection (NJGIN) data sets

–  Large datasets, can be tera-bytes of data

–  Raw data must be processed into compatible format for GIS or

AutoCAD

- Digital Elevation Model (DEM) output

▪  Raster image of varying resolution

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Digital Elevation Model (1M resolution)

▪  30 sq. mi township

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Raster Processing
Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

•  Contour Generation at set Intervals

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

USGS 30M DEM Lidar 10ft DEM

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Advanced Analytics
Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

•  Watershed Analysis
- Drainage Basin Calculation for Discharge Points

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

FEMA

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

FEMA

WMS –
Web Mapping
Service

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Delivery to the Client

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Conclusions

•  GIS data are becoming more prevalent, accessible, accurate and

integral to all aspects of civil engineering

•  GIS data can be imported to CAD (and vice-versa) depending on your

needs

•  If you understand the quality and source of your GIS data you can
make better decisions in utilizing these data in your projects

Thank You!

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Surveyor’s Report
J. Peter Borbas, PLS, PP
Borbas Surveying and Mapping, LLC
402 Main Street, Boonton, NJ 07005
Office 973-316-8743
Fax 973-402-6627
Mobile 201-400-3892
Peter.Borbas@Borbas.com
Please come see us at www.Borbas.com

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Where do we go
from here? By Dawn McCall, GISP and Andy Pickford

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

So when you submit all of that data in GIS format, what does
the client do with it?

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Example Project – City of Tamarac, Florida

•  GIS Utility Conversion, Planimetric Update, Application Development and Digital Orthophotography
•  The City now has a fully functioning GIS implementation using the latest GIS data models for planimetric and utility
data sets. The utility data includes water, sewer and storm water systems
•  Project was over three separate years and a full suite of planimetric mapping at a design scale of 1” = 40’ with a
horizontal accuracy of +/- 6”. There are a total of 27 planimetric data layers
•  Duel delivery of AutoCAD and ESRI geodatabase formats
•  Natural color digital orthophotography (.25’)
•  Original GIS pilot used an ESRI coverage data model, the full City conversion project specification was for the
geodatabase. A gap analysis was used to align the standard ESRI water, sewer and storm water object data models
with the City specific database requirements.
•  A completely new geodatabase data model was developed from the planimetric data

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Example Project – City of Tamarac, FL (cont.)

•  A web based GIS platform was developed to support multiple departments within the
City’s management office
•  Worked closely with the City’s planning, public works and IT departments to deploy an
integrated GIS platform
•  The City was able to leverage the ArcGIS suite to deploy over 25 unique web
applications providing the planning, utilities and water management offices with access
to the geospatial data of the city.
•  This was a very successful original CAD to GIS project for the City

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Example Project – Charles County, Maryland

•  Developed a seamless planimetric county-wide ArcGIS database and AutoCAD (.dwg) deliverables
•  Utilizing the County’s existing aerotriangulated frame photography and AutoCAD files @ 1” = 100’
•  The AutoCAD files were converted to ArcGIS and then updated in a Socet Set/ArcGIS
photogrammetric 3D workstation environment
•  460 square miles and the data is being used in conjunction with the County’s GIS Applications
•  The final GIS and AutoCAD datasets included the following features: hydrography features (polygon
& line), cultural features (polygon, line & point) (impervious surface)

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Example Project – Mobile LiDAR for PennDOT

•  Mobile LiDAR scanning survey of a corridor project approximately seven miles long with a total
band width of 100’ for a State Route in eastern Pennsylvania.
•  Each lane was scanned with multiple passes for maximum scan point cloud coverage and density.
•  As close to traditional planimetric mapping deliverables as possible and a 1’ contour product. 1’ =
50’.
•  Still need very accurate ground control surveys of known targets and QA/QC check points

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Mobile LiDAR for PennDOT (continued)

•  All ground control was tied to NAD83 and NAVD88 datums to validate the LiDAR accuracy and
integrity for follow on data extraction
•  The project goal horizontal accuracy of the point clouds were 4 cm RMSE and vertical accuracy of
the point clouds were 3 cm RMSE. (more accurate)
•  All features in field of view were captured to a minimum extent of 50’ outside of curbline. Where
buildings present, the data was captured to the maxiumum extent.
•  Captures infrastructure, under bridges, wires, etc.
•  Excellent definition of building facades and features found in an urban environment.
•  Various software used: quick terrain modeler, Geocue (Terrasolid suite), BAE Systems Socet Set

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Mobile liDAR for PennDOT (continued)

Project Deliverables

•  Calibrated point cloud in LAS 1.1 format, tied to PA State Plane South, NAD83 and NAVD88.
•  Mass Points in .LAS format
•  Video –collection of video and provide the processed video in AVI format, along with associated still
frame jpegs.
•  Microstation .DGN files with the planimetric mapping from the LiDAR intensity images
(LiDARgrammetry) and DTM surface model delivered in InRoads format

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

Mobile LiDAR for PennDOT

•  Project Purposes

•  Some tree canopy areas along the project route that were better suited to utilize Mobile LiDAR
technology

•  Additional turning lanes to be added and vertical data was critical for runoff and potential flooding
areas

•  Perform storm water flow analysis and supporting storm water construction plans

•  Widening of lanes in certain areas

•  Overall comparison between Mobile LiDAR and traditional photogrammetry as this was the 1st
Mobile LiDAR Project for the Department

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

PAMAP Ortho & LiDAR Program

•  1’ pixel color orthos of the entire Commonwealth
•  Meets requirements for detailed terrain data
– Flooding, geologic mapping, slope analysis, etc.
•  LiDAR terrain data will provided higher definition & accuracy
•  Wider range of topographic data products can be developed

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Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

PAMAP Ortho & LiDAR Program (cont.)

•  Cost & schedule advantages as compared to traditional collection
techniques
•  PAMAP LiDAR facts:
– Mission collection parameters designed to generally meet FEMA LiDAR
Guideline & Specifications and PAMAP Standards
– 18.5 cm vertical RMSE for bare earth elevation surface
– Contours: 2-foot interval

Remington & Vernick Engineers and Affiliates Continuous Improvement Committee Seminar

PAMAP Ortho & LiDAR Program (cont.)

•  2006: 21 counties, 4929 tiles (~15K square miles)
•  2007: 20 counties, 4745 tiles (~17K square miles)
•  2008: 24 counties, 4278 tiles (~15K square miles)

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