Grant F. Walton Center for
Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis
Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences Building
School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
Cook Campus, Rutgers University
14 College Farm Road
New Brunswick, NJ, USA, 08901-8551
Tel: (732) 932-1582
Fax: (732) 932-2587
Michael P. Mills
H&H Software Architect
mmills@crssa.rutgers.edu
Project Participants
Principal Investigators: Chris Uchrin1 and Richard G. Lathrop2
Project Staff: Michael Mills2, Richard Ahn1
Project Assistant: Chris Dougerty2
1 Department of Environmental Sciences
2 Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis
School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, – Rutgers University
14 College Farm Rd
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551
2
Phone: 732-932 –1580
2
Fax: 732-932-2587
2
Email: lathrop@crssa.rutgers.edu
Project Manager: John Showler
State Soil Conservation Committee, New Jersey Department of Agriculture
P.O. Box 330
Trenton, NJ 08625-0330
Phone: 609 292-5540
FAX: 609-633-7229
Email: john.showler@ag.state.nj.us
.
Introduction
This project stems from the long term vision and initiative on the part of the State Soil Conservation
Committee (SSCC) and the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDAG) to make their operations
more efficient and more effective. The outcome of this vision, dubbed the Hydrologic and Hydraulic
(HxH) Data Transfer Project, was to develop a more computer automated means for the submittal
and review of stormwater basin design applications. NJDAG, with John Showler as Project Manager,
contracted with the Rutgers University Department of Environmental Sciences and the Walton Center
for Remote Sensing & Spatial Analysis to undertake HxH Data Transfer Project and develop the
Stormwater Basin Management Information System (SWBMIS) software application. The Mercer
County Soil Conservation District served as the pilot area and staff of this district helped in testing the
SWMIS software.
System design
The Hydrologic and Hydraulic Data Transfer Project, hereby referred to as H&H, is part
of the broader stormwater basin application submission and approval process overseen
by the SSCC and the local Soil Conservation Districts (SCD). The H&H project aims to
provide a 2-tiered approach towards long and short-term data encapsulation with an
emphasis towards user-friendly methodology and customization ability (see Figure 1
below).
The HxH Application Submission and Approval
TIER 1: Data Access & Submission
1
2
Applicant
1
CRSSA Server
3
User Application
TIER 2: Application Approval
4
5
Input
Input
Client (JavaScript)
Filtered Data
Server (ASP.NET)
Filtered Data
6
6
7
SCD Staff
Approved !!
2
Applicant connects to H&H Application on Rutgers server from any internet location and submits an H&H Stormwater Basin
Application3. Application data is validated by the client browser4 before being passed to the server for additional filtering5. A
final validation occurs as the application is overlooked by district staff6 and marked as approved / disapproved 7.
Figure 1. HxH stormwater basin application submission and approval process
Tier 1 of this program provides utilization to numerous server and client technologies.
Along with the combination of a secured system, the user is able to access the database
and enter information via the internet from any given location.
Tier 2 of H&H is to allow for a structured application approval process. Each application
must pass a rigorous validation scheme before final approval by SCD Staff.
While in many respect, the HxH software application replicates the existing hard-copy
application form submittal and review process, one of the major design improvements
that H&H offers is that of a spatial component ability. H&H utilizes server-based GIS
components. All Project site locations are identified by GIS functionality while the
Spatial Query function is used to collect data related to the project site.
The overall system design was the result of a collaborative effort of the principal programmer,
Mike Mills of CRSSA, SSCC program officer John Showler, the PIs Lathrop and Uchrin and DES
staff Richard Ahn and Programming Assistant Chris Dougherty. Paul Schiariti of the Mercer
County SCD provided extensive input and feedback from the field office perspective.
Development
Application Environment
The H&H application is running on Microsoft’s web server platform, Internet Information Services 6.0
and is based on the ASP.Net 2.0 Framework. The primary development language for server-side
functionality is C#.Net. C#.Net handles user-authentication, state management, server-side form
validation, and all database transactions.
Database
Application data is stored in relational tables in a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database. One
database is used to store all user “Profile” data and Application data. A second Spatial Data
Engine (SDE) database is used to store all spatial components.
Hardware
The database server (Dell PowerEdge) is presently housed at Rutgers CRSSA and will be
transferred to NJDAG. The database is backed up on daily, weekly, and monthly schedules to a
dedicated storage device to allow for the recreation of the database at multiple restore points.
Database snapshots can be saved at any time to external media.
System Testing
The system was initially tested using data forms provided by the Mercer County SCD. To date,
the system has gone through several stages of testing, feedback, debugging and modification.
User / Group Permissions
H&H offers a secured user profiling system for authentication. Access to particular parts
of the application is granted on a group basis. By default, all user accounts are
considered “Applicants”. Applicants can submit Applications and make use of all GIS
functionality.
“SCD Staff” members are eligible employees at any of the state’s Soil Conservation
Districts. SCD Staff have the ability to submit Applications, make use of all GIS
functionality, and review and approve/disapprove submitted Applications.
“Administrators” have the ability to alter the Application value constraints and manage
the user database. Appointment into the Administrators group is controlled by an
overall administrator or “Super” account.
User Interface
The application interface is based off of various versions of the SSCC Hydraulic and Hydrologic
Database Summary Forms for Stormwater Management Basins. The summary form was
converted to a web-accessible “tabbed” layout format. The customized tabs provide straightforward access to the various tasks required in an application. The interface allows the user to
easily view and edit necessary requirements for storm water basin approval.
Client side functionality is JavaScript based. Background data requests are written in AJAX
(Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). Display effects and tab functionality are written with a
combination of JavaScript, DHTML, and CSS techniques.
Form Validation
Each data input associated with the application is validated on an individual basis. Whenever
possible, standardized inputs were used. All numerical data is validated against minimum and
maximum values. These values can be adjusted manually in the source code. During the
submission process these constraints cannot be bypassed. The sole constraint for the majority
of textual data is a maximum length.
GIS Functionality
Each application submission is specific to one Project Site Location. This location is represented
spatially as a single point and is recorded in WGS 84 Latitude and Longitude coordinates and NJ
State Plane Northing and Easting coordinates. The project site is located using a customized
map interface based off the Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface). Various
tools are inherent with this interface and work smoothly to encapsulate a data entry. The “Add
Project Site” tool provides access to additional functionality associated with the marked
Lat/Long. The Lat/Long pair is passed to an external Web Mapping Application script running on
the ArcGIS Server platform. The point is then re-projected into NJ State Plane coordinate
system and a spatial query is run on the H&H GIS dataset. Location-based data not limited to
municipality, SCD and Watershed Management Area are returned and attached to the
Application. For a graphic example of Google Map interface see Figure 2. The point is ultimately
stored as point feature in a SDE Feature Class and marked with the associated project unique
identifier.
Figure 2. A data response from the Spatial Query feature on the Google Map graphical user
interface.
Database
The H&H application is dependent on a relational database system. A single Project submission can
contain one or many stormwater basins. A single basin may contain multiple outlet structures, multiple
drainage areas and a single stage-storage-discharge data table. Outlet structures can contain one or
many outlets. These associations are easily represented when organized in a relational database. The
basin location is ultimately stored as point feature in a SDE Feature Class and marked with the
associated project unique identifier.