WATERBURY, CT, Aug. 2, 2002 -- Haestad Methods has announced the release of LoadBuilder™, a GIS-integrated module that automatically assigns and projects water demands for hydraulic modeling based on spatial data such as billing meter records, land-use information, and population estimates.
LoadBuilder enables modelers and GIS professionals to take advantage of data they already collect and use it to quickly construct accurate hydraulic models.
"The consumption of water is the driving force behind the hydraulic dynamics of water distribution systems," said Dr. Zheng Wu, Chief Engineer of Hydroinformatics for Haestad Methods. "So, an accurate representation of system demands is critical. The most common method of loading a water distribution model involves the spatial allocation of demands. LoadBuilder leverages the spatial analysis abilities of GIS software and uses any type of source data-whether that be geocoded billing meter records, water production data, census tracts, land use zoning, traffic analysis zones, meter routes, or demand density information."
The core capabilities of LoadBuilder include:
-Demand Allocation-Users can automatically assign customer meter data to the nearest network modeling node or pipe.
-Demand Distribution-If water consumption or production is measured for larger areas such as meter routes or pressure zones, it can be equally distributed among demand nodes or divided proportionally based on land area or customer population.
-Demand Projection-LoadBuilder simplifies master planning by projecting future demands based on phased land-use projections, estimated population growth, and system build-out.
-Unaccounted-for Water Estimation-Modelers can assign unaccounted-for water to the entire system or to smaller areas using a variety of approaches.
Improving productivity is the driving force behind LoadBuilder. Engineers can dynamically update their hydraulic models with the latest billing data by using persistent and reusable demand allocation templates that afford one-click access to the latest demand data. Users can also apply LoadBuilder's results to the model by creating new demand alternatives, appending or overwriting existing ones, or exporting the results for convenient reuse. This functionality allows modelers to easily evaluate different water usage scenarios.
Diego Diaz, Lead Software Engineer for Haestad Methods, commented, "LoadBuilder sets a new standard for flexibility. With eight allocation, distribution, and projection strategies that can be used alone or in combination; a wide variety of acceptable source data types; and an array of options for applying results to the model, LoadBuilder is the most comprehensive package available for the automatic assignment of water use to hydraulic models."
LoadBuilder is included with WaterGEMS™, Haestad Methods' utility-wide solution for GIS-based water distribution modeling and management.
About Haestad Methods:
Founded in 1979, Haestad Methods provides more than 125,000 civil engineers in over 170 countries with hydrologic and hydraulic computer modeling applications, continuing education workshops, and textbooks. Haestad Methods' complete suite of engineering software products for water, storm, and sanitary sewer modeling includes WaterGEMS™, WaterCAD®, Darwin™, SewerCAD®, StormCAD®, PondPack®, FlowMaster®, CulvertMaster®, HEC-Pack™, Skelebrator™, and LoadBuilder™.
