The following article describes how to migrate from Intergraph’s MGE system to Bentley Map.

Contents

Background 2

MicroStation GeoGraphics Review 2

Project components 2

Dual Tables 2

CATEGORY and UGCATEGORY 3

FEATURE and UGFEATURE 3

MAPS and UGMAP 3

Other System Tables 3

UGCOMMAND 3

MSCATALOG 3

UGJOIN_CAT 4

Attribute Tables 4

Workflow Overview 4

Upgrade MGE database to GeoGraphics 4

Bentley Map Geospatial Administrator 6

Import Legacy Project 6

Import Modified MGE Database 7

Export Workspace Metadata 8

Further Study and Learning 8

Background

Intergraph’s Modular GIS Environment (MGE) was a MicroStation-based GIS application developed in the 1980’s that was replaced with GeoMedia in the mid 1990’s.   Since GeoMedia was not MicroStation based, many MGE customers chose to continue with MGE indefinitely or they upgraded to Bentley’s MicroStation GeoGraphics application, which was subsequently replaced with Bentley Map in 2007.

Migrating the MGE database to work with MicroStation GeoGraphics was a simple task of copying and running a macro called XTNDMGE that was delivered with the GeoGraphics MyTown project. This macro simply created the missing tables that are needed to run GeoGraphics with the MGE database.

For those users who chose to continue working with unsupported MGE and V7 design files, they likely are now facing a forced upgrade. This upgrade can be due to a variety of factors and limitations including: MGE, the operating system, the V7 design file format, and requirement changes in the data model.

In this situation, a suggested upgrade is to migrate the MGE database to work with Bentley Map and convert the V7 design files to V8.

The remainder of this article discusses how to re-use the feature definitions in an MGE database with Bentley Map Geospatial Administrator. 

MicroStation GeoGraphics Review

There isn’t a direct upgrade path from MGE to Bentley Map, therefore the MGE database is edited to make it compliant with MicroStation GeoGraphics. When that’s complete, it can be imported into Bentley Geospatial Administrator. Before proceeding, let’s review the architecture of a MicroStation GeoGraphics database.

 Project Components

A MicroStation GeoGraphics project is comprised of many components, including: categories, features, maps, user attribute tables and system tables.

Dual Tables

To enable compatibility with MGE, the extensions to its data model are stored in an additional set of MicroStation GeoGraphics tables called UGCATEGORY,UGFEATURE,UGMAP. Data relating to a project´s categories is stored in the CATEGORY table, which is identical to the MGE table of the same name, and the UGCATEGORY table, which contains MicroStation GeoGraphics extensions to the MGE Category table.

There must always be a one-to-one correspondence between the CATEGORY and UGCATEGORY tables, the FEATURE and UGFEATURE tables, and the MAPS and UGMAP tables.

The following describes each of the tables.

CATEGORY and UGCATEGORY

The CATEGORY and UGCATEGORY tables store information regarding the project categories which are groupings of similar features. For example, a category name Water might include features like Streams, Rivers, and Lakes.

FEATURE and UGFEATURE     

The FEATURE and UGFEATURE tables store information relevant to feature definitions which are graphic elements that represent real world objects.For example, lines that represent roads may be assigned a database linkage to a row in the FEATURE table. That database row would identify the element as a road and include graphical display information as well as other data relevant to the features use.

MAPS and UGMAP

The MAPS and UGMAP tables store a listing of the design files used in a GeoGraphics project. Usually maps contain elements that are features of a single category, but that is not a requirement. For example, a design file that displays waterways might be comprised of features like river, stream and lake.

Other System Tables

In addition to the dual tables noted above, the following are also present in a GeoGraphics database.

UGCOMMAND

The UGCOMMAND table holds commands which can be associated with features. For example, a feature named Stream can have a command of Place Stream which is associated to the MicroStation keyin Place Line.

MSCATALOG

The MSCATALOG table defines which tables are available to assigning attribute linkages.  For example, a polygon representing a parcel would be associated to the feature attribute table named PARCEL.

UGJOIN_CAT

This table is referred to as the Join Catalog and stores information used to connect two tables. It contains the names of the two tables and the foreign key from one table to the primary key of the second. It may also store a look up column from the second table.

Attribute Tables

Attribute tables store the data specific to a feature.  For example, a table named PARCEL might contain the Owners Name, Tax ID number, Lot ID number, Address Number, Property Value and so on.

Workflow Overview

The following briefly describes the steps involved to reuse MGE data in a Bentley Map environment.

1. Upgrade the MGE database for use with MicroStation GeoGraphics.

2. Import the resulting database into Bentley Map Geospatial Administrator.

3. Export and run the newly created workspace.

4. Fine tune the project schema as needed.

Upgrade MGE database to GeoGraphics

Open the MGE database and, if necessary save it to Access 2002-2003 mdb format.

In the Navigation pane, take note of the feature attribute tables (ie: PARCELS) containing MSLINKS and the following system tables:

FEATURE

CATEGORY

MAPS

MSCATALOG

To perform a successful import into Bentley Map Geospatial Administrator, the database must contain the following additional tables that are not present by default.

UGCATEGORY

UGCOMMAND

UGFEATURE

UGJOIN_CAT

UGMAP

UGTABLE_CAT

To add the UG* tables, create and run a macro that will execute the following commands. Note that this macro is delivered with the MyTown GeoGraphics project and is named XTNDMGE.  If this is accessible to you, simply copy and paste it into the MGE database.

create table ugmap (mapid integer, mdir char(128), descr char(132), viewrot float, filesize integer);

create table ugfeature (feature integer, elock smallint,fclass smallint, fpriority smallint, infomode smallint, das smallint,dprio integer, forder char(16), descr char(132), lsscale smallint, dashscale smallint, gapscale smallint, startwidth smallint);

alter table ugfeature add endwidth smallint;

alter table ugfeature add phase smallint;

alter table ugfeature add phasetype smallint;

alter table ugfeature add slant smallint;

alter table ugfeature add cs smallint;

alter table ugfeature add underline smallint;

alter table ugfeature add vertical smallint;

alter table ugfeature add fraction smallint;

alter table ugfeature add lsname char(255);

create table ugcommand (feature integer, cname char(32), keyincmd char(240), sqlstmt char(240), class smallint );

create unique index ugcategory_msl on ugcategory(category);

create unique index ugcommand_feanam on ugcommand(feature,cname);

update category set indexname='index.dgn' where indexname is NULL;

update category set indexlevel=1 where (not (indexlevel between 1 and 63)) or (indexlevel is NULL);

insert into ugcategory (category, olap, foreignf, dgnfex) select mslink, '0', '0', 'dgn' from category;

insert into ugfeature (feature) select mslink from feature;

insert into ugmap (mapid) select mslink from maps;

create table ugjoin_cat (jtype smallint, table0 char(36), index0 char(36), table1 char(36), index1 char(36), value1 char(36), descr char(80));

create table ugtable_cat (tname char(128), talias char(32), pkey char(32), descr char(80), ustn smallint);

insert into ugtable_cat (tname) select tablename from mscatalog where tablename in (select distinct tablename from feature);

update ugtable_cat set pkey = 'mslink';

insert into ugcommand (feature, cname, keyincmd) select mslink, 'AUTOPLACE', digcmd from feature where digcmd is not NULL;

At this point the MGE database is ready to be imported into Bentley Geospatial Administrator.

Bentley Map Geospatial Administrator

Bentley Geospatial Administrator uses schema promotion to convert a legacy GeoGraphics project to an XFM project that describes the features, properties, placement tools, rules and datasources for a project. The terminology used here is defined in the Geospatial Administrator Help document.

Import Legacy Project

XFM features are created based on the name of the GeoGraphics feature. The symbology is identical. The level name defined in the XFM feature is based on the feature name. When importing a GeoGraphics project, evaluate how the features and capabilities available in XFM relate to projects and workflows. Some features may be consolidated using Property Based Symbology, accuracy improved using Property Based Annotation, or Domains and Adding Placement Metadata can be created and associated with features to improve speed and accuracy of entry.

While promoting a legacy project to a new XFM project is required, data conversion is not necessary to effectively use Bentley Map. However, these tips may help create a better XFM project from a legacy schema.

 • Define feature characteristics — Bentley Map needs to know the type of feature (point, polygon) in order to create proper placement tools. If MicroStation GeoGraphics is available to you, define the feature type in MicroStation GeoGraphics before importing. Test the workspace and make the necessary changes in the GeoGraphics model. Re-import until the desired XFM project is obtained.

• Have a complete feature definition — MicroStation GeoGraphics did not enforce a complete feature definition. Text sizes and fonts, cells to be used, and others were omitted. Because Bentley Map uses a feature centric approach to building and maintaining features, make sure these types of feature attributes are defined before importing a project.

• Define level names to be the same as feature names — Matching level names to feature definitions was introduced in MicroStation GeoGraphics 2004 Edition. With XFM projects, this is important because it helps Bentley Map recognize legacy and MicroStation features as valid XFM features through a mechanism called Dynamic Feature Scoring (DFS). This also makes using the project easier for users not using the XFM model.

• Adopt the XFM model for feature names — Feature names in XFM are composed of alphanumeric characters and are subject to restrictions. Refer to Help for the feature naming rules.

• Remove any custom commands from the UGCOMMAND table — By default, the project import tool creates Command Manager entries for each command it recognizes in the GeoGraphics feature command table. Since the Command Manager uses a feature based approach, remove any commands associated with an existing GeoGraphics features. Custom commands can be added later using Bentley Geospatial Administrator.

Import Modified MGE Database

To import the modified MGE database, open the Bentley Geospatial Administrator and choose File > Import MicroStation Geographics Database

The following actions are performed:

• The project information is populated from the Import MicroStation Geographics Database dialog.

• The Features node will be populated with features specified in the FEATURES table. This includes items such as: Feature name, Category, Database properties, Symbology and SQL Statements to query, insert, update, copy and delete database linkages.

• Categories are extracted and defined in the Categories node.

• Database node is defined to correspond to the connection type specified in the Import MicroStation Geographics Database dialog.

• A workspace is created based on the name provided in the Import MicroStation Geographics Database dialog.

• Feature Operations and Methods are created and added to the workspace.

• The Scales node is populated with plot scales as selected in the Import MicroStation GeoGraphics database.

• Various configuration variables are defined and added to the workspace Macros node.

• The workspace Command Manager node is populated with keyin commands for each feature.

Export Workspace Metadata

When the import is complete, save and export the workspace metadata. This creates the necessary folders and files in order for Bentley Map to operate.   Running Bentley Map with the new workspace will indicate the following:

• All features are recognized as inferred features.

• Database linkages via MSLINKS are preserved.

• Database attributes can be reviewed, edited and queries with the provided XFM tools.

• The Command Manager is populated with feature commands that can be used to create new features.

Further Study and Learning

To continue your learning with Bentley Map,

Bentley Map on the Learn Server:

http://learn.bentley.com/app/Public/BrowseLearningPaths?productlineId=310

Webinars:

http://pages.info.bentley.com/webinars/

Communities:

http://communities.bentley.com/products/geospatial/desktop/

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