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Ecology Home > Core Services > GIS Home > GIS Data > GIS Standards > History

This webpage shows the development history for Ecology's GIS Standards. It has been superseded by our GIS Standards page.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Technical Standards

Washington State Department of Ecology

Information Services Council

GIS Work Group

October 30, 1995

Revised: November 18, 1997

Table of Contents

Background

Software Standards

GIS Software

GIS Operating System

GIS X-Terminal Emulation

RDBMS Operating System

RDBMS Software

Desktop Database

TCP/IP Network Connectivity

Desktop Mapping

Hardware Standards

RDBMS Platform

GIS X-Terminals

Peripherals

Application Development Standards

GIS Application Development Environments

GIS Application Development Approach

Programming Components/Coding Strategy

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

GIS Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC)

Data and Database Administration Standards

Spatial Data Management Strategy

Spatial Metadata Documentation

Data Coverage Naming Convention

Attribute Naming Conventions -- Logical

Attribute Naming Conventions -- Physical

INFO RDBMS Item Naming

Spatial Database Administration Standard Formats

Background:

The GIS Work Group was asked to document GIS standards needed in support of Ecology’s Information Integration Project (IIP). The IIP’s first business area design project, Facility Site, required a working set a comprehensive standards to ensure successful completion of the project.

The bullets listed under each specific standard include both:

• standard features and/or
• actual standards requirements

Acknowledgments:

The GIS Standards Work Group was responsible for the development of the following GIS standards for the Department of Ecology. Participants included:

Chairperson:
• Joy Paulus
• Participants/Reviewers:
  • John Tooley
  • Dan Saul
  • Mike Woodall
  • Anna Trombley
  • Anita Stohr
  • Scott Breidenbach
  • Steve Butkus
  • Laurie Morgan
  • Tom Schuettke
  • Martin Payne
  • Kim RattingTail

GIS Software Standards

GIS Software Standard

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) ArcInfo

• ArcInfo is supported on UNIX and NT platforms
• Adopted as agency standard by IS Council in 1993
• Revised by GIS Work Group on 11/1997

GIS Operating System

• Solaris 2.x or greater on the SPARC processor
• Windows NT Workstation 4.x or greater on the Intel processor
• HP/UX 10.x or greater on a PA/RISC processor

GIS X-Terminal Emulation Software

Hummingbird eXceed

• Agency has site license for eXceed software
• Has Class 1 support from ESRI
• Is the leading X-Terminal software on the market

RDBMS Operating System HP/UX

• As per agency standard - see Information Services documentation for details

Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS)

Sybase

• As per agency standard - see Information Services documentation for details

GIS Desktop Database Access

• As per agency standard - see Information Services documentation for details

TCP/IP Network Connectivity

Win 95/Win NT Native TCP/IP Stack

• As per agency standard - see Information Services documentation for details

GIS Desktop Mapping Software

ArcView 2.x or greater

• Directly reads ArcInfo geodata sets
• Supports shape files for data input/editing
• Has customizable interface
• Can communicate with other Windows applications via Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) and Applications Program Interface (API)
• Can communicate with other UNIX applications via Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)
• Currently supports Windows, UNIX, and power Mac versions
• Desktop interfaces must support the ARC data sets in the native format

GIS Hardware Standards

RDBMS Hardware Platform

Hewlett Packard

• As per agency standard - see Information Services documentation for details

GIS X-Terminals

Tektronix X-Terminal

• Only versions capable of supporting NFS mounting will be supported
• Use of other X-Terminals should be formally reviewed by the GIS Work Group

GIS Hardware Peripherals

Plotters/Digitizers/Printers

• Plotters - ESRI Class 1 (highest level) supported products. Plotters need to be able to directly attach to the network
• Digitizers - ESRI Class 1 (highest level) supported products
• Printers - ESRI Class 1 (highest level) supported products. Printers need to be able to directly attach to the network

GIS Application Development Standards

GIS Application Development Environments

AML, Avenue and MapObjects

• The ArcTools standards published by ESRI will be followed for menu interfaces, program modularity, and code documentation (AML only)
• Arc Macro Language (AML) is the standard application development language for GIS applications
• Avenue is the standard application development language for ArcView 2.x
• MapObjects is the standard object model for custom Windows GIS applications development
• Agency standard development tools will be utilized i.e. Visual Basic and/or PowerBuilder
• The agency application development standards will be followed when applicable - see Information Services documentation for details

GIS Applications Development Approach

• Large Agency Critical Spatial Data Development
  • Conceptual and logical data design will follow the Information Engineering (IE) approach. As per agency standard - see Information Services documentation for details
  • Physical spatial database implementation is overseen by the GIS Database Administrator. Logical data design and modeling will be overseen by the GIS Data Administration when established
• Project Specific Spatial Data Development
  • The tools and methodology used will be at the discretion of the individual(s) responsible for the project

Standard Programming Components/Coding Strategy

ArcTools Design & Coding Standard

• ESRI's ArcTools consists of a set of AML-based tools. Tools interface the full ArcInfo product line. Clearly designed and documented standards are available
• Five components make up ArcTools: Product specification; Programmers guide; Coding standards; Menu interface; and Listing of ArcTools tool sets

GUI

ArcTools Graphic User Interface

• As per agency standard - see Information Services documentation for details
• GIS applications development work will follow the intent and the look and feel of the standard to the greatest degree possible. This will be based on what the GIS tool set allows

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

GIS QA/QC

• Spatial accuracy requirements will be defined for each agency information technology project which captures and manages spatial data. Specific QA/QC procedures will be drafted to assure that the spatial accuracy requirements will be met.
• Standard, agency-wide spatial QA/QC procedures may be developed in the future. At that time these standard procedures may replace project-specific procedures.
• All edit tolerances will be explicitly set during data entry, subsequent editing, and coverage cleaning and not allowed to vary according to edit-session map extent.
• ESRI's QA/QC AML's should be reviewed in the future

GIS Data and Database Administration Standards

Spatial Data Management Strategy

Washington State Geospatial Data Initiative Guidelines

• The strategy is to provide a starting point for the agency GIS staff to refer to
• Provides guidance on how to manage geospatial data across multiple organizational structures and disciplines
• Strategy is divided into three areas: data architecture; data awareness; and data accuracy
• Strategy was drafted by the State Geographic Information Council's Local Government Work Group. Refer to document titled "Washington State Geospatial Data Initiative - Managing Geospatial Data Across Multiple Jurisdictions and Disciplines"

Spatial Metadata Documentation

FGDC's Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata

• Large Agency Critical Spatial/Tabular Data Themes
  • Comprehensive metadata standard will be used to: Organize and maintain the agency's spatial (and hopefully) tabular data; Provide information to data catalogs and clearinghouses; and Provide information to aid in data transfer
  • Seven main areas will be documented: Identification; Data Quality; Spatial Data Organization; Spatial Reference; Entity & Attributes; Distribution; and Metadata Reference
  • This framework should be considered by agency Data Administration for inclusion into the tabular data documentation within Sybase
• Project Specific Spatial/Tabular Data Themes
  • Each project data theme or coverage will have a minimum documentation file associated with it. The MakeDoc AML will be used and the resulting documentation file will be stored with the spatial data coverage

GIS Data Naming Standard

GIS Data Coverage Naming Convention

• A generalized heading name will be used to identify GIS coverages or data themes. It will encompass a single subject (entity) or a group of similar subjects. The convention is comprised of three parts: Full name, it's definition, and it's standard abbreviation
  • Example: Layer Name
    • HYDRO (Physical Layer Name abbrev. - 8 characters only)
    • Hydrography - The charting/mapping of surface water includes water bodies (open waters, lakes etc.) and watercourses (rivers, streams, canals, etc).
• All INFO files related to a GIS coverage will automatically follow the convention when creating the coverage in ARC
  • Example: HYDRO.AAT or HYDRO.PAT
• In INFO, any additional data file(s) associated to a GIS data layer or coverage will follow the following naming convention:
  • Layer Name[.]Subject (entity)
  • Example: Layer Name.Subject
    • TRANS.RTE
    • Transportation Route

Attribute Naming Convention

GIS Logical Attribute Name

• Will follow the agency logical attribute naming standard --external to the CASE environment
• There are three parts to a attribute or item name:
  • ENTITY - a person, place, thing, concept or event
  • DESCRIPTION - noun, or noun phrase, description of attribute/occurrence
  • CLASS WORD -code, date, unique identifier, quantity, etc.
• Logical Name - the full descriptive name of the attribute (item) being described and its definition
  • Example:
    • Coordinate Point Collection Method Code
    • Def: The manner used to collect the horizontal coordinates of an object

Attribute Naming Convention

GIS Physical Attribute Name

• Will follow the agency logical attribute naming standard --external to the CASE environment -- where possible, see the following standard for example
• A physical data name reflects all the parts of it's original logical name. It's component parts are shortened through abbreviation.
• Each attribute or item name has three components:
  • ENTITY 1 - 5 characters long
  • DESCRIPTION 0 - n characters long
  • CLASS WORD 2 characters long
• Abbreviation listings for entity and descriptive words can be obtained through agency Data Administration
• If an abbreviation for any given word is not recorded, then select one from and existing source (if possible) and forward the additions back to agency Data Administration
• An attribute or item name is separated by a the underscore [ _ ] delimiter
  • Example: entity _description_class word
    • COORD_HOR_COLL_METH_CD

GIS Physical Attribute (Item) Name

INFO RDBMS Item Names

• The database management system that's coupled to the ARC software is Henco's INFO RDBMS
• INFO has a 16 character limitation for item (attribute) names
• INFO utilizes a flat file storage structure
• Due to the character limitation, the physical attribute name may need to drop the entity component of the full attribute name. If the entity is dropped, then it needs to be consistently removed from all attributes stored within the data coverage, theme and files.
  • Example:
    • HYDRO.PAT (File or Table Name)
    • COLL_MTH_CD
    • STRM.NM
    • STRM.ID
• Note: the full naming convention should be followed if at all possible

Spatial Database Administration

Spatial Data Standard Formats Supported Within ArcInfo

• Data Layer Storage Structure: Librarian
• Data Layer Tiling Structure: What’s appropriate for the data (example: QUAD, WRIA, HUC)
• Horizontal Datum: NAD 27
• Vertical Datum: NGVD 29
• Coordinate System: WA State Plane Coordinates
• Coordinate Zone: South
• Coordinate Units: Feet
• Accuracy Standard -- Goal: +/-40 Feet

Back to the Table of Contents

GIS Technical Standards, Washington State Department of Ecology - November 1997

Page revised: Friday, October 09, 2009

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