A coordinate system is a definition of how we numerically describe the position of objects and events. The Network Management System supports two dimensional coordinate systems, typically with an x and y value, sometimes using latitude and longitude.

In the Network Management System, only objects in the same coordinate system can be loaded in the Viewer at any given time.

Many Network Management Systems implementations need to be concerned with only one coordinate system: The geographic coordinate system assuming the source of the model data is a Geographic Information System (GIS). Typically the GIS coordinate system is specified in x and y values with units being feet to meters.

In the Network Management System, we specify a coordinate system in the model import files as part of the PARTITION definition using the COORD_SYSTEM value. By convention, the primary GIS coordinate system is identified as COORD_SYSTEM=0.

Some GIS systems, specifically SmallWorld and Intergraph, have the ability to model a schematically drawn quasi-geographical representation of the model. This representation is often drawn in the same coordinate space as the geographic data but is an alternate representation of the device and conductor layout to be easier to see. These alternate representations are usually orthogonally drawn and devices are spaced out so they can be seen while zoomed out at a higher level.

Typically, by convention, any quasi-geographic coordinate system or systems would be given a COORD_SYSTEM number between 1 and 9. Most projects that implement quasi-geographic coordinate systems will have only one coordinate system, would use COORD_SYSTEM=1.

Internal worlds are drawings using a simple Cartesian coordinate system with no relationship to geographic coordinate system. Typical, internal worlds are used for complex electrical facilities that occupy a small geographic space. Examples are substations, complex switch cabinets, and low-voltage stations. These drawings are typically drawn orthogonally and convey electrical connectivity orientation as opposed to spatial orientation.

As opposed to Geographic and Quasi-Geographic coordinate systems, which can contain many partitions that can be tiled or laid out together over space, an internal world coordinate system will have one partition per coordinate system. The numbering system for internal world coordinate systems by convention will match the partition number, which start at 1000 and go up from there for each partition in the system.

The Network Management System can create auto-generated overview schematics as described earlier in this chapter. Typically a Network Management System will configure one schematic set for each major level (i.e., distribution, sub transmission, and transmission). Each schematic set will be given a coordinate system to use for the resulting schematic partitions using the ‑coordSystem parameter. By convention, Network Management Systems implementation will use COORD_SYSTEM number from 100-199 for overview schematics.

The overview schematic coordinate systems should be specified in the viewer configuration to allow loading these views using the schematic focus/target button. This specification should be in the VIEWER_GLOBAL_PROPERTIES.inc file using the viewer.schematic_coord_systems property.

In addition to overview schematics, the Network Management System supports one line feeder schematics. Feeder one lines schematics can be loaded individually and dynamically you choose tie switches to load electrically adjacent feeders and they are loaded next to the original feeder and the Viewer highlights the common devices between the loaded feeders.

The feeder one line schematic coordinate systems should be specified in the viewer configuration to allow loading these views using the one line schematic focus/target button. This specification should be in the VIEWER_GLOBAL_PROPERTIES.inc file using the viewer.single_circuit_schematic_coord_sys property and defaults to a value of 10.

Many interfaces to the Network Management System require latitude and longitude values. The Viewer has a Coordinate report that displays map coordinates and latitude and longitude values. The Customer Self Service, Operations Mobile Application, and Mobile Workforce Management interface require latitude and longitude values. Longitude and Latitude are either defined as part of the model build process or dynamically calculated.

The model build process used the LatLong tool in addition to the model preprocessor to populate the latitude and longitude values on objects. This process is discussed elsewhere in this document.

The dynamic calculation of latitude and longitude is based on configuration of source coordinate system and target latitude and longitude specification. This configuration is done in the [project]_parameters.sql file using the MBS_GEO_* and MBS_LL_* parameters.