After a couple of months of hard work, we have managed to release the version 3.4 of Giswater. This achievement was only possible because of the trust and feedback from all of you who make the project possible. Therefore, a huge thank you!
It’s also important to appreciate and thank QGIS and PostgreSQL which are the foundations of this growing project.
This time we release a version where we have focused on improving usability, facilitating integration with other systems as well as enhancing interaction with the community. For this we are immersed in an intense process of refactoring and rewriting the code that has started in this version 3.4 and will end with the next version 3.5. It is worth to comment that a huge effort is being made to ensure backward compatibility (version 3.3) for both this 3.4 release and the next.
Going into detail, regarding making the tool more intuitive as well as improving usability, numerous interface adjustments have been made, of which the following stand out:
Merged all selectors in only one single button – check video
All the selectors that previously had their own button have been merged into a single button, so the toolbar has been reduced and it is possible to manage all the filters applicable to the network from the same place. Additionally, the exploitation selector zooms to the selected extent.
Refactor of mincut form, dividing in different tabs. Data, hydrometer and log tabs – check video
The form of the cutting polygon has been modified, dividing its use into different tabs, one for planning, another for execution and one with the affected customers. A ‘log’ of results is also displayed at the end of the cutting process.
Dockerized forms for mincut, go2epa, options and selectors. User’s choice – check video
For some forms such as cut polygon, go2epa or selectors, it is allowed that, if the user wishes, these are opened as dockerized on the right side of the screen. This can be more convenient as the forms in the middle of the screen can be more annoying.
Dockerized forms for feature info, user’s choice – check video
In the same way as the previous section, but being able to choose it separately, the info of the network elements can also be shown as dockerized. If there is already a form open and info is done in another element, it just replaces one with the other. On the other hand, if you can redirect from one form to another, it will open without dockerizing in the middle of the screen. This happens, for example, when from a section you want to open one of its extreme nodes or a linked connection.
Dynamic symbolization of the mapzones – check video
When the map zones are dynamically calculated, the results will also be dynamically symbolized in your QGIS rendering layer.
Project and database check button with more than 100 controls – check video
To know the status of our project in relation to possible data inconsistencies or errors, a tool has been developed that, when executing it, we will see if there are things to review or our project is perfect. The results are categorized into Critical Errors or Warnings.
Background tasks
Now the longest tasks carried out by Giswater, such as the export of the hydraulic model, the cutting polygon or the toolbox functionalities, are carried out in the background, thus allowing the user to continue working normally and see the moment when the process has been completed.
Multi-network projects – check video
Now it is possible to use the basic tools of Giswater (info, search engine and selectors) in two different networks. This will be very useful for users who manage both supply and sewerage networks, since in the same QGIS project you can view and consult both networks. To activate it you just have to fill in two QGIS project variables.
Home guide map – check video
When working with networks of several exploitations, often you only want to view one. Now Giswater allows you to see a map of all available exploitations just by opening the project and, when you click on one, automatically activate that one in the exploitations selector and zoom in on its extension. A very useful way to start working for corporate environments with networks in different municipalities.
In turn, in order to facilitate integration into a ‘Data Warehouse‘ environment where you can fully interact with others with BI or AI tools and in line with the pending refactor, the entire transformation of the database has already been addressed by making numerous adjustments with the following results:
– Ordering and understanding of tables and views has been put in order, a total of 149 tables and views have been renamed or deleted.
– Order has been placed and the compression of stored procedures has been facilitated, the name has been changed or deleted in 101 functions.
– Order has been placed and the compression of variables has been facilitated, 122 system variables and 90 user variables have been renamed or deleted.
Here you can see all the details of this refactor. With it, a stable and understandable environment has been created to start interacting fully with corporate systems such as BI software (Grafana, PowerBI, Qlik), AI software as R or Tensorflow.
Specifically comment that the performance, usability and robustness of numerous algorithms (stored procedures) have been improved, among which it is worth noting:
– ‘gw_fct_grafanalytics’ tracing algorithm: More input parameters, greater robustness and significant performance improvement.
– EPA file generation algorithm ‘gw_fct_go2epa_main’: Improved log messages, performance and robustness. Encapsulation of the inp file as a key ‘file’ in the response json to handle large volumes of inp file in the cloud.
– Import algorithm of EPA results ‘gw_fct_rpt2pg_main’: Improved log messages, performance and robustness. Encapsulation of the rpt file as a key ‘file’ in the input json that allows to handle large volumes of results file. In our tests, an rpt file of more than 1,000,000 records was easily imported.
Work has also been done to improve interaction with the community, and in this sense, actions have been carried out aimed at this, including:
– Execute the first phase of the editor, database, dialogs, python libraries, with the aim of making it very easy to provide code or make plugins from Giswater itself.
– Extensively document the Github database wiki. It remains pending when the version 3.5 will be released to also document the wiki of the plugin repository.
– Enable a collaborative translation environment that currently allows the translation of the tool into Spanish, French, Portuguese and Catalan.
Finally, also comment that there have been numerous ‘bug fixes’ and small performance improvements as a result of the contributions and observations that you have been providing to us during this time.
And so far, this is a bit of what this new version 3.4 provides, which we hope you like it.
Last, but not least, we would like to highlight some of the things we have done this year:
– Webinars aimed to the Spanish and English speakers;
– Monetary contribution to the QGIS project.
To be announced in the near future and it is planned to happen:
– Prepare workshops;
– Online road training.
Thank you all for your interest in Giswater and enjoy it!!!