Layers

The Property Manager pane, Layers, manages the following layer types:

Border Layers – toggles on and off the display of world, provincial, and state borders
Imported Shapefile Layers – toggles on and off imported shapefiles
Grid Layers – toggles on and off the display of coordinate system grid layers
Imported Image Layers – toggles on and off imported image files
Bubble Maps – toggles on and off the display of bubble map and link map layers
Project Layers – toggles on and off the display of links, facilities, and annotations
Flag Layers - toggle on and off the display of flags

Layer functionality

By default, layers are grouped by type in the order displayed above. The display order of the layers determines the drawing order for what is visible on the map. Each layer draws over the previous layer, potentially obscuring the previous layer's information on the map. For example, if you choose to place your Project Layers first, links, facilities, and annotations may no longer be visible if the border layers are toggled on.

You can group layers by type, or by a flat list. Each layer can be moved to a new position within its group type or within a flat list in the layer tree. Each group can also be moved to a new group location in the tree; it cannot be moved to within another layer group. The layer order remains in place when you restart the application.

Layers can be added or removed with the exception of layers in the border, grid, and project layer groups. These are default layers and are always included.

Border layers

Border layers display the world map including provincial borders and states for North America. These are default layers that cannot be deleted.

Imported shapefile layers

The following shapefile layer options are available:

Shapefile Info - view details about the shapefile, such as, the number and type of shape, label selection, and the bounding box
DBF Info - database files (DBF) that contain attribute information that can be imported when the shapefile is converted to facilities or links
Goto Shapefile Area - zooms the map to the area where the shapefile is loaded
Customize Drawing Tools - change the line color, line thickness, fill color, and other visual attributes of the shape. This option is also available for the default border shapefiles
Highlight Shape(s) - highlight the selected shape
Show Labels - show the label title for the shape

Only shapefiles with Mercator projections, and locations in geographical coordinates (i.e., latitude and longitude), can be imported.

The following DBF data is available for import when a shapefile is converted to facilities or links.

Facility attribute DBF data

If the shapefile is converted to facilities, the following data can be imported:

DBF Item	Piper Editor Location	Comments
Name	Facility Editor	Includes a numbering system for unique naming
Surface Location	GIS Position Editor	Can be lat / long, UTM, DLS, NTS, and / or an elevation
Sandface location	GIS Position Editor	Can be lat / long, UTM, DLS, NTS, and / or an elevation
Remarks	Facility Editor

Link attribute DBF data

If the shapefile is converted to links,. the following data can be imported:

DBF Item	Piper Editor Location	Comments
Name	Gathering System Editor	Includes a numbering system for unique naming
Pipe Length	Gathering System Editor	Scaled for individual links based on proportional map distance
Internal Diameter	Gathering System Editor
External Diameter	Gathering System Editor	Used with wall thickness to calculate inner diameter
Wall Thickness	Gathering System Editor	Used with external diameter to calculate inner diameter
Roughness	Gathering System Editor
Remarks	Gathering System Editor

For technical information on shapefiles, see ESRI Shapefile Technical Description (a new window opens).

Compatibility

If you encounter issues importing a shapefile, it may be because your shapefile is incompatible with Piper. Ensure that your shapefile meets the following requirements:

Mercator projection
Geographic coordinate system (GCS)
NAD 27 (North American Datum, created in 1927), or NAD 83 (North American Datum, modified in 1983), or WGS 84 (World Geodetic System, modified in 1984)
Latitude and Longitude in decimal degrees

Grid layers

These layers identify locations on the earth's surface through the following grid selections: PNG-NTS, Lat/Long, UTM, and DLS. Relative locations are provided using the Cartesian grid.

Imported image layers

Imported images, used to provide additional visual references, such as contour lines for elevation, are included in this group.

Bubble map layers

Bubble map layers are diagnostic tools that display the operational conditions of the model.

By default, the following bubble maps are available:

Pressure distribution - displays operating pressures throughout the model
Pipeline pressure loss calibration - the difference between measured pipeline pressures (measured gas line pressure values in the well options) and calculated pressures at each of the wells

Gas and water line difference - displays the difference between the calculated line pressure loss and the measured water line pressure (entered in the Well Options menu)
Well drawdown - displays the wellhead drawdown for wells that have been defined using a deliverability model (wellhead, sandface, or reservoir model)
Well uplift - displays the ultimate uplift potential for wells that have been defined using a deliverability model (wellhead, sandface, or reservoir model)

By default, the following link maps are available:

Frictional pressure loss - identifies pipelines with limited capacity
Gas velocity- displays the average gas velocity in each segment of the pipeline
Delta pressure - displays the total line pressure loss in each segment of the pipeline

Turner critical velocity - displays whether the current velocity in the pipeline segment is above or below the Turner critical velocity

Additional options provided for bubble maps include:

Options - to redefine bubble map preferences and the entities the bubble map is applied to
Auto Range - to calculate a range based on the data for the entities used in the bubble map
Legend - to redefine the size, position, transparency, and visibility of the legend

Project layers

This layer includes links, facilities, facility annotations, and general annotations. The facilities layer provides an additional menu option (Displaying All) to toggle viewing on and off for facility types.

Flag layers

With flags, you can highlight specific facilities and wells to mark areas of interest on the map. Once a flag is created, it is added to the Property Manager as a flag layer.

After an initial flag layer is created, the flag layer options are expanded to include:

Add Flag Layer - adds a flag to Flag Layers, Flag Properties, and to selected facilities on the GIS map
Flag Properties - changes the flag properties associated with a flag layer
Remove Flag Layer - removes the flag from the Flag Layers, Flag Properties, and the GIS map