You can model connectivity in a utility network using physical connections, known as geometric coincidence, or using associations. When you use Geometric coincidence, features share the same x, y, and z location. Associations allow you to model relationships between features that are not necessarily geometrically coincident. This includes modeling connectivity between nonspatial features as well as spatial connectivity rules for features that are not physically attached.

Utility networks have the following associations:

• Connectivity associations allow you to model the connectivity between two features that are not coincident, or a junction between spatial and nonspatial junctions. For example, a transformer can be connected to an electrical distribution line without sharing a coordinate. The connectivity association is a rule that represents the physical jump between the distribution line and the transformer.
• Containment associations allow you to model a dense collection of features in a network and display them at a level of detail that is appropriate for the map resolution. For example, a transformer has many features inside it that are useful to see when zoomed into a detailed view of the transformer, but it must be simplified when viewing the broader electrical network.
• Structural attachment associations allow you to quickly find which network features are connected to features from the structure network, such as when an electrical switch is structurally attached to a pole.

Each type of association has its own type of network rules that can be created to ensure data quality by restricting the types of network features that can be associated.

Learn more about associations

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