Set Latitude and Longitude

Bringing latitude and longitude values into BEACON lets you see locations via the Monitor page Consumption Graph map view. If you provide latitude and longitude values that pinpoint service point locations, you and your customers that use EyeOnWater will get a map view that shows exactly where that particular meter is located.

Recent system improvements changed the way BEACON handles Location and Service Point Latitude and Longitude values.

Four fields in the Data Exchange Specification let you capture geo-coordinates, e.g. Latitude and Longitude values. Those fields are: Location_Latitude, Location_Longitude, Service_Point_Latitude and Service_Point_Longitude.

Previously, it was recommended that you provide both Location and Service Point coordinates. In response to customer feedback, that process has been revised. Now Location and Service Point Latitude and Longitude perform the same function.

As a result, BEACON does the following when you:

• Do not provide any coordinates: BEACON uses the Location address to get the coordinates from Google maps for both the Location and Service Point Latitude and Longitude.For BEACON to use Google maps to geocode, you must provide:
  •  Location_State
  And one or both of
  •  Location_City
  •  Location_Zip

  Note: If Location_State and one of Location_City or Location_Zip are not provided, no Google-maps geocoding will occur. As a result, the system defaults to the Utility’s geo-coordinates.

• Provide Location coordinates but do not provide Service Point coordinates: BEACON uses the Location Latitude and Longitude values as the Location and Service Point Latitude and Longitude values.
• Provide Service_Point coordinates but do not provide Location geo-coordinates: BEACON uses the Service Point Latitude and Longitude values as the Location and Service Point Latitude and Longitude.
• Provide Location coordinates and Service Point coordinates: BEACON uses the Service Point Latitude and Longitude values for both Location and Service Point, regardless of whether the Location values are different from the Service Point values.

In addition, when the Data Exchange validation process detects both Location and Service Point Latitude and Longitude values, a warning gets triggered to notify you that Service Point coordinates take priority over Location coordinates.

To correct geo-coordinates, do one of the following:

1. Create and import a new Data Exchange file that includes records for each affected location and enter the desired Service_Point_Latitude(s) and Service_Point_Longitude(s). Be sure to provide the Location_ID and Service_Point_ID for each affected location.

If you do not have the correct geo-coordinates and want the system to geocode via Google maps:

1. Create and import a Data Exchange file that includes records for each affected location and use the _CLEAR_ command to remove the existing data from the following fields:

Location_Address_Line1

Location_Address_Line2

Location_Address_Line3

Location_City

Location_State

Location_County_Name

Location_Country

Location_Zip

Location_Latitude

Location_Longitude

Service_Point_Latitude

Service_Point_Longitude

2. Create and import a Data Exchange file that includes the correct data from the fields that you cleared in step one except Location_Latitude, Location_Longitude, Service_Point_Latitude and Service_Point_Longitude. Leave those fields blank. After the import is complete, the system will use Google maps to look up the geo-coordinates for each location in the file.

About dmilanobadgermeter

Technical Documentation Specialist, Badger Meter