Network Editing with Maris

Geocode Certification: Course 2

Agenda – Day 1

Autostreeter Working with Autostreeter Layers Schools – add/modify school data Upstu process/address matching

students Editing the Mapseg Calibrating Your Map System Maintenance Sample Test

Agenda – Day 2

Review of material Q & A Tests

Autostreeter

Autostreeter

In this sample overlay;

All black lines represent streets (segments) with speeds set 1-60.

All red lines represent ‘no travel’ segments or segments with speeds set to – 0 -

Autostreeter is a program used to create ‘overlays’ or ‘layers’ of your map. Each layer represents an image of your map. This may be the entire map or subsets of it, such as streets of a specific speed.

Autostreeter

Autostreet layers are available in Edulog, Maris, Elplot and GeBndplan.

Autostreet layers are just a picture (of your map) taken at a point of time.

After any geocode is added, moved or deleted, autostreeter layers must be updated (extract and build) to be able to view the changes.

Autostreeter

Layers display on top of one another in the order they were created - the last layer created is displayed on top of (over) the layers preceding it.

Practice Removing A few layers

Select the last layer entry then click the Remove button. Continue pressing it to remove more layers.

To create the layers in a preferred order….

Autostreeter

To begin, Click Add

Type “RailRoads” Beside Name

Select Type Street

Enter Speeds

Continue entering the rest of the layers.

Refer to your handout (TRG-NT 6) for layer names, types and speeds.

Autostreeter

Autostreeter

create the rest of our layers in this order:Layer Name Type Speed Segment Level

1. All Segments All Segments All Segments2. All Streets Street All Streets3. County Line Street 98 - 984. Hazard Segment Hazard5. No Travel Segment Direction > No

Travel6. One Way Segment Direction > One

Way7. Private Road Street 9 - 98. Rivers Street 97 – 979. RailRoads Street 99 – 9910. Bridges Street Feature Class > BRG11. Military Base Street 96 – 9612. Apartments Street Feature Class >

APT13. Mobile Home Parks Street Feature Class >

MHP14. School Drive Street Feature Class >

SCH

Autostreeter

Typically, when finished adding the desired layers, select Extract and Build.

So, in our example choose….Extract and Build

BTW: In EMU you can create an AUTOSTREETERbatch that does the same asExtract and Build!

Autostreeter

We’re done! Click OK and then click Exit

Returning to Edulog or Maris

Autostreeter

When you re-enter Edulog or maris, you will see this confirmationMessage that lets you know that Autostreeter information has Changed.

Select Yes at the prompt

Displaying Autostreeter Layers

Displays the control window for our layers

Once these layers are checked on, they come up automatically every time you enter Maris

Notice “labels” and collision detection!

Edulog.nt Tools > Load Autostreet Layers

Maris Tools > Load Autostreet Layers

Common Autostreeter mistakes

You created a layer but it doesn’t show up. Another layer is covering it up (reorder your layers) The layer color is the same as another layer’s. The layer hasn’t been ‘checked on’ to display. Wrong speeds where entered or don’t match the segments

in question.

You’ve made geocode changes but the layer looks the same as before the changes.

Extract and build in autostreeter. You selected ‘no’ to transferring the autostreeter data

when entering maris or edulognt.

Schools

Schools

Schools are a major component of the transportation system in Edulog. The school codes are attached to student records as well as transportation records. Each school has bell times that are associated with all your transportation data.

Adding a New School

Before you start entering your new data in Edulog.nt, you will need to go into MARIS and draw the school segment in. Make sure you make a note of the node number where the school is located, you will need this in then next step.

Adding a New School

Schools/ Tabular

Key in School code then click ‘New’.

Adding a New School

Fill in School Name.

Location – in this field you key in ‘#node number’ then press your tab key to locate the school.

We will use ITRE Elementary School at #6863

Grades & Programs

Grade List - This field displays a list of grades for this particular school.

Program List – This field displays a list of eligible programs for this particular school. Example: ER (early release), SN (special needs), MID (mid-day)

To add Grades & Programs

Grades and Programs can be added by clicking on the ‘Grade/Prog’ button and following the prompts.

Bell Times

All grades and programs must have bell times.

Bell Times specify transportation time per grade, program and or frequency.

It is important that the regular bell time and program bell times for a single school are not identical.

Bell Times On the Bell Times window there are three columns that must be filled in.

Bell Times – this is the EXACT time the bell rings at the school for students to be in class or to be dismissed from class.

Bus Early – this time designates the earliest time a bus could arrive at the school in the AM (if they need to come in and drop off a load in order to go back out to pick up a second load). In the PM this time designates the earliest time a bus can leave the school.

Bus Late – this time designates the latest time a bus can arrive in the AM, to drop off students so they will be on time for school; this is the arrival time at school showing on your bus runs

**This time CAN NOT be after the Bell Time * Bus Late does not mean the bus is late for school* In the PM this time designates the latest time a bus can leave the school to start a PM run.

North Carolina does not normally use the Depart column; this column is used in Route Optimization

Bell Times

To enter bell times, highlight all grades that share the same bell time, click the ‘Edit’ button and enter them all at once.

Bell times can be different for different days of the week ~ The ‘Days’ button allows you to enter different day patterns to be specified.

BE CAREFUL with the day patterns – contact your project leader if there are any questions about different days of the week

Bell Times

After a school is added or relocated you should run these utilities from EMU.

POSTRELOCATESCHOOL DUMPALL – Updates Report data

Shift Times Shift Times is used once

the bell times have been set and need to be adjusted.

Resetbelltransclient is a

program you can use if you only need to change a bell time for a particular program or grade.

Before using Shift Times make sure you have a backup of your data!

Shift Times Here we have taken

the old times – 8:00, 7:00, 7:50 and will be changing them to 7:45, 7:15 and 7:35.

There are 3 options on how you want the bell times reflected in your current data.

‘Change time at stop only for runs outside new windows’. This option changes runs that are outside the new bell times.

‘Do not change time at stop for run’. This option will not change any current run times. It is important to note if you choose this option it will cause an informational error in the diagnose program.

‘Change time at stop for all runs based on new windows’. This option will change all stop times regardless of the previous bell windows. This is normally the option you would choose.

ResetBellTransClient ResetBellTransClient is a very powerful program that can

affect a significant amount of your transportation data. Please contact your project leader to get assistance before running ResetBellTransClient.

ResetBellTransClient is used if you have multiple times at a school due to programs. If you need to change the bell times for a specific grade in a particular program for example, you would use ResetBellTransClient.

ResetBellTransClient clears out the existing bell times so you can re-enter the correct ones at the School menu.

ResetBellTransClient

Make sure you exit out of all Edulog programs.

The batch file you will need is located in the Elt\Exe\Client folder.

Make sure there is a resetbelltransclient.bat

and a resetbelltransclient.exe file in place (you will open the bat file).

ResetBellTransClient

Choose the School, Program, Frequency and Grade that you need to change.

ResetBellTransClient

Replace the existing times to 12:00 AM, then click on ‘Add’. Do this for each School/Program/ Frequency and Grade you need to change.

‘Confirm’.

ResetBellTransClient

Go into Edulog.NT to Schools ~ Tabular and key in the school you are working with; you will see that the bell times are cleared out and you can re-enter the correct bell times.

Rename a School Using the

Schools/Tabular function; key in the school code that you need to change.

Click on the Rename button; you will be asked if you have a current backup – respond appropriately.

**If you do not have a current backup, STOP and make one!**

Rename a School

Key in the new school code and confirm.

This will change any records associated with the school code. Stop Records Run Records Student Records

School Relocation

Sometimes, the school bus lot driveway will change

To relocate it, first, make the change in Maris taking note of the new node number, run the Geocode maintenance

Using Schools/Tabular Click on the Relocate tab

School Relocation

Beside ‘New Location’ enter in the new node number of the school. The #XXXX format must be used

You must run POSTRELOCATESCHOOL in EMU. You may need to create this batch

School Deletion

Before a school can be deleted, there must not be any student, stop, run or route data associated with it.

Students school codes can be changed via the upstu process. If you need to change student school codes before the data can be gathered from the NCWISE Data Manager, you can run the rollover process.

School Deletion

Student deassignment from stops; stop deassignment from runs and run deassignment from routes can be done easily using EMU.

DEASGN (use this to deassign students from stops) DEASSIGNSTOPSONRUNS DEASSIGNRUNSONROUTES DELETERUNSNOSTOPS DELETEROUTES KILSTP (this deletes stops not on runs, and with no

students assigned)

School Deletion

You will need to have worklists made for:

Students in the school you want to deassign. *note: if students school codes are changed they will not have stops assigned to them anymore so you could skip this step

Runs that are assigned to the school you are deleting

Stops that will need to be deleted

School Deletion

DEASGN – Students from Stops In EMU create the batch: DEASGN

School Deletion

Create the batch DEASSIGNSTOPSONRUNS *you can ‘include checkpoints’ here and not have to run a separate batch to do this.

School Deletion

Create the batch: DELETERUNSNOSTOP

School Deletion If necessary you can delete routes using

the DELETEROUTES batch. There is no input needed to create this batch; however if runs are assigned to routes, the route will not be deleted

School Deletion

Create the batch: KILSTP

School Deletion

Almost Done! At the Schools/ Tabular menu: DELETE

School Deletion

Once the school has been deleted, you must run DELINVALIDSCHSRV in EMU. You may need to create this batch. There is no input needed to create this batch.

Programs

Program types are associated with schools, allowing students to arrive or be dismissed from school at a different time other than the regular school bell time. These are commonly used with Special Education students.

Since the school bell time and the program bell time are different – special care needs to be taken when creating stops or runs for the program. This is where careful attention to the stop services is important.

We ask that you call your Project Leader to discuss the process first; changes will be made to your data that will require some extra work

Programs

Programs are created in Schools/Tabular

Most stops generally only have 2 services assigned to them; 1 for AM and 1 for PM. These two services will have the schools regular bell times.

When you need to create a stop for a program you will need to make sure an appropriate service has been made before assigning it to a run.

Programs

You will need to define bell times for each program

Once created, you will have the option to assign students to stops created specifically for a program

MAPSEG

The MAPSEG file controls where buses can turn or turnaround.

The MAPSEG file contains a record for every direction on every segment that a bus can travel.

MAPSEG

MAPSEG automatically allows buses to turnaround at the end of streets (dead ends), but other locations require a manual entry in mapseg.

MAPSEG

MAPSEG also allows you to restrict turns. For example: where no left turn is allowed by law or for safety reasons…also where medians prevent turns.

MAPSEG

Segments have no record in the MAPSEG when they have: Speeds of zero Direction setting of 3

Mapseg editing can be done in Edulog.NT or in MARIS. Edulog.NT~tools~edit mapseg MARIS~edit geocode~mapseg

A bus can not travel on these segments !

MAPSEG EDITING

Select a segment using the mouse or by entering the node pair manually.

By clicking slightly to the left or right of the segment will determine the direction of travel.

MAPSEG EDITING Any available

Mapseg Adjacency will be listed in the top of this Mapseg Arc Edit window.

Any other possible options will be listed in the bottom of the window.

Remember to pay close attention to the direction of travel you have highlighted.

MAPSEG EDITING

If you receive this message “Error in retrieving arc from node pair” it simply means the segment you pointed to does not exist in the Mapseg files. (no travel or zero speed)

MAPSEG EDITING

Suppose there was a dangerous left turn, and you do not want your buses to make this left turn.

You can use MAPSEG to delete this adjacency.

MAPSEG EDITING

Now the only way the bus will be allowed to turn is to the right.

MAPSEG / Turnarounds

If you need a turnaround at the end of this segment, you need to add the appropriate adjacency to the MAPSEG file.

MAPSEG / Turnarounds

If turnaround is needed somewhere along a segment,the segment must be split so there is a node where the turnaround is needed

Turnaround needed here

MAPSEG / Turnarounds

After you split the segment, you will need to run geocode maintenance, then reopen MARIS and add the appropriate adjacency to the MAPSEG file to make your turnaround active.

MAPSEG

Remember, you are not deleting any segments in your Geocode. You are only “hiding” them in this special file by making the segment(s) unavailable for bus travel.

Fine tuning segments allow your run direction files to create correct run path data that can be trusted by you and drivers to allow safe travel and timely arrival at school.

Calibrating Your Map

We can not stress enough the importance of your geocode calibrated to reflect an accurate path and speed of travel in your district

Accurate speed and travel paths determine the validity of your runs and routes

Calibrating Your Map -Addressing

Do you know if your addressing is correct? In some instances, the addressing is spread

out along the segment and the actual house/bus stop will not be in the appropriate location

This will affect your runs by adding additional time to the run – 3, 4 or 5 minutes between stops along the same segment

It will also affect your driver directions AND student distance to school, a piece of the funding formula!

More on Addressing

Address

505 S Green StreetTIMS address - parsed

Num Pr Street Name Type Suf

505 S Green St

S Green St

Map

le S

t

Oak St

Will

ow

St

Pin

e S

t

N Green StWhat if 505 S Green St was really here?

What would that do to run directions or student distance to stop or school?

Analyze Your Runs

Run a STATS report of your runs showing loaded miles, run time, and average speed

Does the report raise any red flags compared to what your drivers say they are doing? – are times between stops different; begin/end times different?

Could drivers be using a favored path of travel versus what the run directions generate from TIMS call for?

Your map/geocode should accurately reflect the correct path; try not to make manual turns for direction purposes

Do you see any long times between stops?

If you have a very long amount of time between stops, your road speeds may not be correct

To determine how much time is given to each segment, bring up that segment in Mapseg and look at the example of how much travel time is allotted for this segment

This segment is coded 13 mph; the travel time is 163; or 2.7 minutes to travel this segment

Calibrating the Map

Segment Speed = 45Travel time = 25 (or 41 seconds)

Calibrating the Map

Often, adjusting the segment speeds is enough to make a big difference in your run and stop times

Using the speed and travel times attributes of a segment available in mapseg will allow you to accurately calibrate your map

If the speed were change to 5 mph – see what happens

Segment Speed = 5Travel time = 224 (or 3.7 MINUTES) – just a bit long to travel this small segment??

Calibrating the Map

Calibrating the Map – Bus Run Analysis

If a driver indicates the times are not correct; take a look at them

Examine the segment speeds, travel times in mapseg

Looking at the segment speeds showed the segments were 5 mph here, slowing the entire run down

7:16 AM 187 CORNER STORE RD 302.278 7:17 AM CORNER STORE RD & JAY JENKINS LN 302.207

7:20 AM CHAPMAN LN & SIPE RD 302.211

7:22 AM 515 SIPE RD 302.160

7:27 AM CHURCH RD & OTT DYSON CT 302.155

7:34 AM 3619 US 64 90 W 302.408

7:36 AM ELLENDALE LN & RED OAK DR 302.217

Calibrating the Map - Bus Run Analysis

The speeds were way too slow along a portion of the bus run; when a speed change was made, times were accurate according to what the driver/GPS stated.

A portion of Run 302.010

7:26 AM 187 CORNER STORE RD 302.278

7:27 AM CORNER STORE RD & JAY JENKINS LN 302.207

7:29 AM CHAPMAN LN & SIPE RD 302.211

7:31 AM 515 SIPE RD 302.160

7:36 AM CHURCH RD & OTT DYSON CT 302.155

7:38 AM 3619 US 64 90 W 302.408

7:40 AM ELLENDALE LN & RED OAK DR 302.217

Show the 2 runs short/long

Calibrating the Map

You can detect discrepancies in travel times based on driver information or actual driving the run yourself

If GPS is available, you can easily compare segment travel times

Either way, an accurate, calibrated map will produce correct stop times; reflecting better service for your students

Calibrating the Map - Bus Run Analysis

Questions?

Upstu/address matching

Upstu/TIMS Data Inputs Student data comes from NCWISE. TIMS uses the Geocode to verify student

address information. Student Transportation Requests come

from the schools or parents so the transportation department can design and optimize routes based on this ridership data.

Upstu Process -The Importance of Accurate TIMS Data

Without an accurate list of students who have requested transportation from each school TIMS Data Managers are unable to determine the number of buses needed to meet these demands nor are they able to estimate the driving time required to transport these students.

We are only as good as the information we receive from: Parents Schools Drivers

Ridership should be analyzed at the school level to ensure enough buses are in place to provide service

Upstu Process - Students

TIMS contains a record of all students in each LEA. These records are loaded into TIMS by a process called an UPSTU.

A build from NCWISE is obtained and uploaded into TIMS. The accuracy of student addresses in NCWISE is vital to insure that students are ‘located’ correctly in the Geocode in TIMS.

Locating StudentsNCWISE address

505 S Green Street

TIMS address

Num Pr Street Name Type Suf

505 S Green St

S Green St

Map

le S

t

Oak St

Will

ow

St

Pin

e S

t

N Green St

The system matched the NCWISE address to an address in the Geocode, therefore this student is ‘located’.

Locating StudentsNCWISE address

505 S Greene StreetTIMS address

Num Pr Street Name Type Suf

505 S Greene St

S Green St

Map

le S

t

Oak St

Will

ow

St

Pin

e S

t

N Green St

The geocode does not have a Greene St.; so it doesn’t know where to ‘locate’ this student.

Upstu process

It is important that you fully understand the upstu process and able to resolve any addressing errors

There are several error reports available to aid you in correcting addressing issues

Upstu Error Reports

Choose Unlocated Students for TIMS Data Managers; you may choose export the report to an Excel format

One of the most helpful reports is found under Reports/User Defined/All Students and Transportation

Upstu Error Reports

Once the student addresses are correct in NCWISE, they should easily match and you will not lose their stop assignment

Other Upstu Addressing Issues

Sometimes, your district may have a street name where it is frequently mis-spelled or incorrectly parses out during the address matching maintenance

Use the TRG 9 – (found on the NCBusSafety website) “Using ADDUPD to correct incorrect address parsing” to see if this will aid you in correcting some of the addressing errors

Other Upstu Addressing Issues

Some districts have street names that occur more than once with the same addresses

Use the TRG 8 “Using MAPZONE for Overlapping Addressing” (found on the NCBusSafety website) to aid you in correcting this common problem.

Edulog Maintenance Utility

EMU

EMU is used to run all maintenance associated with maintaining database integrity.

Individual maintenance utilities are added to ‘batches’ which can be run manually or scheduled.

Audit and error reports are generated that help operators manage their data.

EMU features….

History of maintenance activity

Access to audit and error files within the program.

Saved configurations Store responses required to run utilities

EMU features….

Batches Run several utilities by starting one batch

Utility queuing Initiate utilities while another is running

Utility scheduling Set basic utilities to run same time every

night

Utilities and Batches

What are Utilities and Batches?

Utility: Program that performs one or a set of closely related data maintenance functions.

Batch: A named, saved selection of one or more utilities listed in the order in which they need to run.

When we run batches, batches run utilities.

Your Batches

The TIMS project leaders have created and given you a set of ten (10) batches which cover most routine maintenance.

You may rarely need to create batches.

TIMS Batches

01. Rebuild all keys - maintains data file integrity

02. GEO – Map Maintenance - maintains the integrity of the Geocode and mapseg files and updates secondary files pertaining to routing, stop locations, and student assignments. It also deletes any unused streets leftover from geocode editing and rebuilds the autostreeter layer.

TIMS Batches

03. GEO Badstps & Schdst - This is a continuation to batch #02. It re-scans stop locations and creates error reports that aid in locating unmatched stops. When this finishes running, review BADSTP.ERR

and attempt to relocate any stops found in the report. Rerun this batch after fixing stop locations.

05. Dumpall - wipes out old report tables and transfers all data to new report tables

TIMS Batches

06. Upload student data – transfers students from NCWISE to TIMS (full or partial build)

07. Set Date-Delete flags – flags for deletion students not updated by 06.

TIMS Batches

08. Purge Flagged Students – removes student records flagged by 07.

09. Address update – Addupd – used for correcting information in student location fields. Resolves street name parsing issues with streets named East, West, North, & South.

TIMS Batches

10. Address update - Pststu – used for adding a mapzone to the students location field to resolve problems with duplicate streets and addressing.

11. Student Address Match – Attempts to match the students location address to the geocode. Determines student eligibility and distance to stops.

When to Run the TIMS Batches

Batches fall into two groups in terms of frequency of use

Those you run daily Those you run on special occasions.

These batches could be run daily

Daily maintenance…

01. Rebuild all keys 02. GEO - map maintenance 03. GEO – Badstps & Schdst 05. Dumpall – update reports

Maintenance pertaining to a Student Upload

06. Upload student data 07. Set deletion flags 08. Student purge 09. Address update - Addupd 10. Address update - Poststu

(if used in your district)

11. Student Addr Match

EMU Rules

All users should be out of other edulog programs before you start maintenance.

No one should be in any edulog programs while maintenance is running.

If a Batch Queues when run…

A batch will queue, rather than run immediately, when EMU thinks the data files the utility needs are in use.

If this happens, use the Terminal Services Manager or Elterminator to determine who is has an edulog program open.

Ask that user to exit the program.

Other Reasons a Batch may Queue

A user has exited edulog in a manner that did not allow programs to close properly.

This can leave processes running and files in existence that make it appear to EMU that a program is in use.

Fix: close processes and remove any lck or Taf files

Fixing Batches That Queue When No User Is Logged in

1. Close Processes• Open Task Manager• Choose “Processes” tab• End any eltransservice Processes

2. Delete Files• Elt\LIVE\server\dyn\*.lck• Elt\LIVE\server\geo\*.taf

• Or if, installed, run the special utility “delete lck & taf”