Modifying the FWS Hydrology Geodatabase

Introduction

WRIA utilizes geographic water features from two sources: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) ArcSDE geodatabase hosted in Denver by IRTM (ifw9d-gisdb2/FWS_Hydro), and the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) high-resolution National Hydrologic Dataset (NHDH). These hydrologic features are purposely kept separate. The USGS periodically updates the NHDH, and there needs to be a way to easily incorporate these updates in the application. On a regular basis (to-be-determined), these USGS NHDH updates will be downloaded at the state level and appended to the existing NHDH features.

USGS NHDH geographic water features do not often contain features at a high enough resolution (local-scale) to meet the needs of FWS users, so the FWS_Hydro geodatabase was created for the purpose of centralizing FWS additions to and modifications of the USGS NHDH. It is the intent of this project to eventually provide these additions and modifications to the USGS for inclusion in the NHDH.

A child replica has been created for each region from the parent FWS_Hydro SDE geodatabase. These child geodatabases only contain those FWS water features for the given region. Modifications made to the regional child geodatabase will be synchronized with the parent.

Please note that additional fields and attributes can be added to the regional child geodatabase, but these additions will NOT be synchronized with the parent. The following steps described how to modify a regional child of the FWS_Hydro geodatabase.

Before you Begin

1. Compile all pertinent water related geospatial data from the refuge/station or contractor working on the WRIA.
   
   
2. Download a local copy of the high resolution NHD data for the state(s) that the station is encompassed by (ftp://nhdftp.usgs.gov/DataSets/Staged/States/FileGDB/HighResolution/).
   
   
3. Bring the local geospatial data and the high resolution NHD data together in ArcGIS. Compare these layers and look for instances where the local data is more detailed or missing from the NHD. It is these local features that need to be add to the FWS_Hydro geodatabase.
   
   
4. Ensure that these local features are named. The WRIA application will not display them if they are not.
   
   

Connect to the Database

The first step is to create a connection to the child FWS_Hydro enterprise ArcSDE geodatabase. This connection must be established before new FWS hydrologic records are added or modified.

1. Start ArcMap by clicking Start, All Programs, ArcGIS, ArcMap 10.1.
   
   
2. Open an existing ArcMap document or create a new one.
   
   
3. Open Catalog by clicking on the icon in the Standard toolbar
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. In the Catalog window, expand Database Connections
   
   
   
   
   
5. Double left-mouse click on Add Database Connection
   
   
6. Type in the following parameters to match the screenshot below and click on OK.
   1. Database Platform = SQL_Server
   2. Instance = ifw9d-gisdb2
   3. Authentication Type = Database authentication
   4. User Name = IMR1 (for Region 1, IMR2 for Region 2….)
   5. Password = testpass1 (for Region 1, testpass2 for Region 2….)
   6. Database = IMR1 (User name and Password must be entered before the database is displayed.  IMR1 is for Region 1, IMR2 is for Region 2…...)
      
      
      
      
7. In the Catalog window, the new database connection should be listed below Database Connections. This database connection can be renamed to be made more descriptive (e.g., R1 FWS Hydro).

Connection Error

If the following error occurs, you may need to install the latest SQL native Client from Microsoft:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=188401&clcid=0x409

Check-Out the Feature Classes

Direct editing of the child enterprise SDE geodatabase (FWS_Hydro) is not allowed. A replica of FWS_Hydro must be created. It is this replica that is edited with changes getting reconciled with the parent. There are multiple ways to create replicas (i.e., check-out, two way replica and one way replica) in ArcGIS. The steps below describe the simplest type, the check-out. A check-out allows the user to edit the data locally and then synchronize these edits with the child geodatabase. Once the edits have been synchronized, additional edits can no longer be synchronized.

1. In the Catalog window, expand Database Connections.
   
   
2. Double click on the child enterprise geodatabase to expand its contents.
   
   
3. Add FWSFlowine, FWSHydroPoint, FWSWaterbody and RHI feature classes from the enterprise geodatabase by dragging each into ArcMap'sTable of Contents. These feature classes are contained within a Hydrography feature dataset.
   
   
4. If the Distributed Geodatabase toolbar is not already open, click Customize on the main menu, point to Toolbars, and click Distributed Geodatabase.
   
   
5. Click the Create Replica button on the Distributed Geodatabase toolbar to activate the Create Replica wizard
   
   
   
   
6. If prompted, choose which ArcSDE geodatabase you want to work with if the current ArcMap document includes data from more than one ArcSDE geodatabase.
   
   
7. From the CreateRelica Wizard window, choose the Check-out option and click on Next to proceed.
   
   
   
   
8. From the Check Out Wizard window, select Data under "What do you want to check out" and ensure that Geodatabase is selected under "Which geodatabase do you want to check out to".
   
   
9. Browse to or type the name of an existing personal or file geodatabase connection to which you want to replicate data. If this geodatabase does not exist, you must create it first.
   
   
10. If the existing geodatabase contains a previous check out, check the Re-use schema option. WARNING: this will overwrite any additional attribute fields that may have been created.
    
    
11. A default name for the new replica is provided, but you can type a different name. Note that the name of each replica must be unique to the user creating the replica.
    
    
12. Click Next to proceed.
    
    
    
    
    
13. In the Post Check Out Options window, check Change the layers and tables to point to the checked out data. The current ArcMap document will be modified to point to the data in the replica geodatabase, preserving all symbology.
    
    
14. Click on Finish to start replicating the data.
    
    
    
    
15. The status of the replication operation will be monitored in a progress dialog box. Once complete, this window will close and the layers are ready to edit in ArcMap.
    
    
16. Save the ArcMap project.
    
    

Edit the Feature Classes

Edit the feature classes in ArcMap to add, delete or modify existing records. This is where the earlier comparison of local versus NHD data comes into play.

Additional fields may be added to this local copy of the FWS Hydrology features classes. Please note that any additional fields will not be checked in to the master SDE geodatabase.

It is assumed that FWS hydrologic features are local-scale water features created by Service staff or contractors. These features might be points, lines or polygons that were on-screen digitized, collected by GPS or modifications to USGS National Hydrographic Dataset – High resolution (NHDH) features.

Mandatory Fields

The following fields are mandatory for FWSFlowline, FWSHydroPoint and FWSWaterbody.

Permanent_Identifier

Where USGS NHDH features are used (modified or not) the 'permanent_identifer' value must be preserved to identify this record as originating from USGS NHDH. If FWS hydrographic features do not have a 'permanent_identifer' value for records originating from USGS NHDH, then a spatial join can be run to add these 'permanent_identifier' values to those records that are identical to NHDH features.

FType

The 'FType' field identifies the type of water feature.

Label

The 'Label' field is a reconciliation of 'GNIS_Name' and 'FWS_Name' for labeling purposes. Compute: if FWS_Name <> Null, then FWS_Name, else GNIS_Name.

CCCODE

The CCCODE is the FBMS Cost Center Code for the NWRS station. Each record must have the CCCODE field populated. The CCCODE for each NWRS station cane be acquired from the corporate master table (https://intranet.fws.gov/cmt/).

FeatureClassSource

This field identifies the source and feature class of the record. This field has a domain with a default value that should not be modified.

FWSFlowline

Below is a table of field names, descriptions and requirements. For more detailed information on the FWSFlowline feature class please see FWSFlowline in the Appendix.

Please note that the WRIA application only recognizes the following FTypes:

• 558 (Artificial Path)
• 336 (CanalDitch)
• 460 (StreamRiver)

FWSHydroPoint

Below is a table of field names, descriptions and whether the field in mandatory or not. For more detailed information on the FWSHydroPoint feature class please see FWSHydroPoint in the Appendix.

Please note that the WRIA application only recognizes the FTypes:

• 436 (Reservoir)
• 458 (SpringSeep)

FWSWaterbody

Below is a table of field names, descriptions and whether the field in mandatory or not. For more detailed information on the FWSWaterbody feature class please see FWSWaterbody in the Appendix.

Impoundments or Inundation areas should be given the NHDH FType of "466." This is a NHDH "SwampMarsh" type. Within the WRIA application these types will be displayed as wetlands. An option will be given to select either "Managed" or "Unmanaged".

RHI

Below is a table of field names, descriptions and whether the field in mandatory or not. For more detailed information on the RHI feature class please see RHI (Region of Hydrologic Influence) in the Appendix.

Synchronize Changes

Now that edits have been made to the checked-out version of the FWS Hydrology Geodatabase, these changes need to be synchronize back to regional child database. Please remember that any additional fields added for their purposes will not be checked in
The last step of this process is to synchronize the changes from the checked-out version to the regional child replica.

1. Click the Synchronize Changes button on the Distributed Geodatabase toolbar to activate the Synchronize Changes wizard.
   
   
   
   
2. On the first panel of the Synchronize wizard, choose the replica that you want to synchronize. Once selected, the connection information for geodatabase 2 is automatically filled in if stored with the replica. To add this information to a replica, open replica properties in the replica manager and set the relative replica connection in the advanced tab. If a user name and password are not stored you will be prompted for the user name and password during synchronization.
   
   
3. If the field is not correctly pre-populated, browse for the local or remote geodatabase containing that replica.
   
   
4. For checkout replicas, the only option available is to send changes from the child replica to parent replica.
   
   
   
   
5. Click on Next.
   
   
6. On the second panel of the Synchronize wizard, check the Reconcile and post with the parent version option.
   
   
7. Toggle the By Object (by row) option for defining conflicts.
   
   
8. Toggle the Resolve in favor of geodatabase 1 option for resolving conflicts.
   
   
   
   
9. Click on Finish.
   
   
10. The status of the synchronization operation will be monitored in a progress dialog box. Once complete, the modifications will be synced with the parent SDE geodatabase in Denver. These changes should now be visible in the database connection.

For future editing sessions, go to the Check-Out the Feature Classes section and repeat the subsequent steps. If you have kept a local-copy with regionally relevant extra attributes, do not check-out to this database. Additional attributes will be lost.

Requesting Water Resource Updates in WRIA

Now that additions/edits have been made to the child replica, those changes need to be synchronized with the parent geodatabase. This synchronization process automatically happens nightly.
The WRIA application only checks for updates from the FWS_Hydro geodatabase monthly. However, users of WRIA can force an update to happen nightly so that these additions/edits are visible in the application the next day by following these steps:

1. Open WRIA (https://ecos.fws.gov/wria/)
   
   
2. Select the refuge you want to run the updates on from the dropdown list and click on the View Refuge button.
   
   
3. Select the Water Resources tab and click on the Water Resource Updates button.
   
   
   
   
4. Click on the Schedule Updates for Tonight button.

Getting Help

If you need assistance navigating this process, please contact Richard Easterbrook at 970-266-2931 or Richard_easterbrook@fws.gov.

Appendix A

FWS_Hydro Data Model

FWSFlowline

FWSHydroPoint

FWSWaterbody

RHI (Region of Hydrologic Influence)

Data_Source Tables