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Introduction to utility networks

A utility network provides a comprehensive framework of functionality for modeling utility systems such as electric, gas, water, storm water, and wastewater. It can model all of the components in your system—such as wires, pipes, valves, zones, devices, and circuits—and allows you to build real-world behavior into the network features you model. Using the multiuser model, your team can simultaneously edit and maintain a utility network across devices.

With a utility network, you can do the following:

  • Create and delete features and objects that model every type of utility equipment.
  • Use editing templates to create collections of features based on pre-defined rules with a single click, such as creating a power pole with transformers attached.
  • Validate network topologies after edits have been made.
  • View associations and network rules to discover how features and objects in the network are connected.
  • Trace how resources, such as gas, water, and electricity, flow through the network.

The ArcGIS Advanced Editing user type extension is required to edit a utility network.

Create and configure a utility network

You can create utility networks in ArcGIS Pro and publish them as feature services to your portal's federated ArcGIS Server site that is registered with an enterprise geodatabase. Publishing creates a service with feature access, version management, utility network, and network diagram capabilities enabled on the federated server. You can create a web map with a utility network and dirty areas in Map Viewer.

You can use web maps in Web Editor to access and edit utility networks, view associations between network features, and run traces to understand how network assets are connected and operate in the field. To run traces, you must add and configure named trace configurations in utility networks in ArcGIS Pro and share them to your portal through web maps.

Utility network tools

Once you share a web map with your portal, you can access utility network tools in Web Editor. Data editors can use web maps with utility networks to access utility network data, validate network topologies, view associations between network features, and run traces to understand how network assets are connected and operate in the field.

Note:

You cannot reconcile and post in Web Editor; you must use ArcGIS Pro.

Versioning in utility networks

You can create different versions of the data to allow multiple users to edit data simultaneously.

Network rules

You can use the network rules tool to view the rules defined for the utility network, such as feature types you can connect or contain in another feature type. When a feature is selected, you can view the network rules that apply to the selected feature.

Note:

You cannot configure rules in Web Editor.

Snapping in utility networks

Web Editor supports rule-based snapping for utility networks. When enabled, you can edit a utility network and the feature-to-feature snapping honors established network rules.

Note:

You cannot configure rule-based snapping in Web Editor.

Related topics

Use the following resources to learn more: