Montana Rural Water Session
February 25, 2011
Distribution Mapping Made Easy for Small Systems

This webpage is an expansion from the Small Systems Mapping session that I gave at the Rural Water Conference on February 25, 2011 in Great Falls.  The goal of the class and this webpage is to show small system operators how to get free online data for their area, and then show you several tools to map small water and sewer systems without having to buy expensive software.

With this data and these tools you will be able to get an aerial image of your area of interest, a parcel layer, and then use the software tools to map your systems.  You can then use this information to convert the mapped layers into a Google Earth (GE) project file that can be opened up and used on any computer that has Google Earth installed and a high speed internet connection on it.

> Class Handout for Small System Mapping

SOFTWARE

This section will show you where to get the software that you will need to begin mapping your system.  All the software discussed below is free to use and available online for download.  A brief description for each software application and a download link for each can be found below:

There is existing data online to get you started to use it to map your systems.   This session will show you how to obtain and use the online data and then convert it to a GE file format and use it to overlay your utilities on the GE base map.  This file or project file can then be used on any computer that has GE installed on it.

1. Google Earth

Google Earth is a free application that you can download and install on any Windows or Mac computer.  Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D which was acquired by Google in 2004.  It maps the Earth by the superimposing images obtained from satellite imagery and aerial photography on to a 3D globe.  Locations can be entered as City, State formats or as latitude and longitude coordinates.  GE will then take you to the location that you enter.  The image can be zoomed in or out, or panned as you want.   

Download link:  http://www.google.com/earth/index.html

Screenshot of the Google Earth webpage.  Click on the "Download Google Earth 6" link and follow the on screen instructions to install Google Earth to your computer.  After installing the app it should show up in your installed programs list.  Go to the program and run it after installing it.  Type in your  and play around with it without doing anything else.  Enter your city and state into the search bar in the upper left side of the GE window and then hit enter or click on the search icon to the right of the search field.

GE will then zoom into the location that you entered.  You can also enter latitude and longitude coordinates and GE will zoom to the coordinates you entered.  The screenshot below is the zoomed view of the Big Sky area.  You will see in the lower left corner a list of layers, or options that you can turn on or off.  Click on the Photos, Roads, and Street View options.  After turning on these layers you should see the road names and any photos that have been taken and linked into the map.  Once the Street View layer is on you should see small camera icons on the map view.  You can then click on these icons and GE will zoom down to a street view of the area.  You can then pan left or right once you are in the street view mode.  Exit this and you will be back to the regular aerial view.  You can use the zoom and pan tools in the upper right side of the GE window to zoom or tilt the image.  You can also change the orientation of the map with the tool the has the N on the top.  Click and hold on the N and drag it around the circle to change the north position, or orientation of the map.

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2.  MapWindow Open Source GIS Software

Open source GIS software that you will use to create Geographic Information System (GIS) data shape files that we will convert into GE supported files.  It can be downloaded at the following link:

Download link: http://www.mapwindow.org/

Before downloading this software figure out if you are running the 32 bit version of windows or the 64 bit version of windows.  If you are running Windows XP it is 32 bit and you will download the first link: MapWindowx86Full-v48RC1-installer.exe.  If you are running Windows 7 you need to check which version of Windows 7 by clicking on “My Computer” and then select “Properties”.  The window that comes up will tell you which windows operating system version you are running.  If it is a windows 64 bit version you will select the second download link: MapWindow47SRa-x64-Setup.exe

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3. GPS Babel

GPS Babel is a donation based freeware program that converts waypoints, or tracked GPS’d waypoint data between the programs and hardware that we choose to use for.  The software app is particularly useful if you are going to map utility points such as manholes, water valves and curbstops with a handheld GPS device.

Download link:  http://www.gpsbabel.org/download.html

Scroll down the page to the "Latest Release" box and click on the link for your operating system.  They have a windows, max and Linux version.  After downloading this file install it.  You will use this program if you are collecting mapped waypoint files and need to convert your waypoint files into a different format to be used for a program like the open source Map Windows program.

DATA

This section will show you where to get the software that you will need to begin mapping your system.  All the software discussed below is free to use and available online for download.  A brief description for each software application and a download link for each can be found below: Get Base Data For Your System

1.  Aerial Images from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) 

For aerial images of Montana go to NAIP site and show them how to download 2005 and 2009 aerial images.  These are SID files which we will use as a base aerial image layer so we can overlay other data on to it.  Show them how to download and save the file.  Remember where you save these files.  Go to Map Window and add this base layer

There are two sets of statewide NAIP images that were taken in Montana; one set in 2005 and another set in 2009.  The links for these aerial images are as follows:

Natural-Color Aerial Photos of Montana, 2009
Download link: http://nris.mt.gov/nsdi/orthophotos/naip_2009.asp

Natural-Color Aerial Photos of Montana, 2005
Download link: http://nris.mt.gov/nsdi/orthophotos/naip_2005.asp

The map image file will be downloaded to your computer.  Make sure you remember where you download the file because you will use it as a base layer in the gis mapping software, Map Window.

2. Parcel Layer- GIS Data Bundler

Go to the NRIS website to the GIS data bundler and go to the county that you want to download information from. The link for this webpage is:

Download link: http://nris.mt.gov/gis/bundler/

Downloading information from this website page is a little different.  You have to select the layers of data that you want and then choose the coordinate system that you want the data in.  You will want to select the “State Plane NAD 83 Meters” option for the coordinate system.  Enter your email address and then click on the “Go” button.  You will get an email that has the linked data that you requested.  It comes as a zip file attachment.  Download the zip file and then extract, or unzip it to its own folder.  You will use this parcel layer in the Map Window program to add the parcel layer that you just downloaded.