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Feature Comparison

PCSWMM.NET is a comprehensive spatial decision support system for the US EPA SWMM5 hydrology/hydraulics engine. There are no limitations placed on model size or complexity. PCSWMM.NET contains a complete GIS engine (no third party software required) tailored to urban drainage modeling which supports all common projections, provides interaction with a large number of GIS formats, as well as topological operations, querying, temporal thematic rendering and class leading importing and exporting tools. PCSWMM.NET provides advanced versions of all of the standard urban drainage modeling visualization techniques in a modern, streamlined, easy-to-use interface.

PCSWMM.NET automatically maintains standard US EPA SWMM5 models from GIS data, and stores all data in open standard data formats, providing complete data availability and compatibility with third party applications.

Included below is a feature table comparing some of the features of PCSWMM.NET and the US EPA SWMM5 graphical user interface.

As PCSWMM.NET uses the US EPA SWMM5 hydrology/hydraulics engine, you will note the hydrology and hydraulic modeling capabilities of both software are identical.

 

Features of PCSWMM.NET vs US EPA SWMM5 GUI
 Hydraulics PCSWMM.NET SWMM5 GUI
Routing methods (3 types) Yes Yes
   Dynamic wave routing Yes Yes
   Kinematic wave routing Yes Yes
   Steady-state routing Yes Yes
Dynamic flow conditions Yes Yes
   Open channel flow Yes Yes
   Surcharged (pressure) flow Yes Yes
   Backwater effects Yes Yes
   Looped-pipe networks Yes Yes
Continuous and single-event modeling Yes Yes
Variable time step Yes Yes
Link-node network Yes Yes
   Manholes / junctions Yes Yes
   Storages Yes Yes
      Functional (power function relating area to stage) Yes Yes
      Tabular (stage/area relationship) Yes Yes
      Inline Yes Yes
      Offline Yes Yes
      Detention ponds (wet/dry) Yes Yes
      Tanks Yes Yes
   Outfalls Yes Yes
      Fixed elevation boundary condition Yes Yes
      Tidal boundary condition Yes Yes
      Time-varying boundary condition Yes Yes
      Flap-gate Yes Yes
   Dividers (flow splitters) Yes Yes
      Overflow Yes Yes
      Cutoff Yes Yes
      Tabular (rating curve Yes Yes
      Weir Yes Yes
   Conduits (21 types) Yes Yes
      Open channel (6 types) Yes Yes
         Rectangular Yes Yes
         Trapezoidal Yes Yes
         Triangular Yes Yes
         Parabolic Yes Yes
         Power Yes Yes
         Irregular Yes Yes
      Closed conduit (15 types) Yes Yes
         Circular Yes Yes
         Filled-circular (e.g. sediment depth) Yes Yes
         Rectangular Yes Yes
         Horizontal ellipse Yes Yes
         Vertical ellipse Yes Yes
         Arch (standard) Yes Yes
         Arch (non-standard) Yes Yes
         Rectangular with triangular bottom Yes Yes
         Rectangular with circular bottom Yes Yes
         Basket handle Yes Yes
         Modified basket handle Yes Yes
         Egg shaped Yes Yes
         Horseshoe Yes Yes
         Gothic Yes Yes
         Catenary Yes Yes
         Semi-elliptical Yes Yes
         Semi-circular Yes Yes
         Custom conduit shapes (via shape curve) Yes Yes
   Natural channels (irregular) Yes Yes
      Transect station-elevation data with overbanks Yes Yes
   Pumps (4 types) Yes Yes
      Off-line pump with a wet well where flow increases
      incrementally with available wet well volume		 Yes Yes
      In-line pump where flow increases incrementally
      with inlet node depth		 Yes Yes
      In-line pump where flow varies continuously
      with head difference between the inlet and outlet
      nodes		 Yes Yes
      Variable speed in-line pump where flow varies
      continuously with inlet node depth		 Yes Yes
   Weirs (4+ types) Yes Yes
      Transverse (incl. multiple end contractions) Yes Yes
      Side-flow Yes Yes
      V-notch Yes Yes
      Trapezoidal (incl. multiple end contractions) Yes Yes
      Leaping weirs (divider with diversion curve) Yes Yes
      Optional flap gate Yes Yes
   Orifices (4 types) Yes Yes
      Side circular Yes Yes
      Side rectangular Yes Yes
      Bottom circular Yes Yes
      Bottom rectangular Yes Yes
      Optional flap gate Yes Yes
   Outlets Yes Yes
      Tabular (outflow/head relationship) Yes Yes
      Functional (power function relating outflow to head) Yes Yes
      Optional flap gate Yes Yes
   Gates Yes Yes
      Flap gates for Conduit, Orifice, Weir, Outlet and
      Outfall entities		 Yes Yes
Control rules ("real-time" control) Yes Yes
   Passive real time control Yes Yes
   Global optimal real time control (GO RTC) Yes Yes
   Modulated controls Yes Yes
   Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers Yes Yes
   Pump on/off controls Yes Yes
   Weir crest elevation controls Yes Yes
   Orifice size controls Yes Yes
   Node depth, head or inflow based rules Yes Yes
   Link flow or depth based rules Yes Yes
   Simulation time based rules Yes Yes
   Date/time based rules Yes Yes
   Boolean logic structure (AND, OR, ELSE, PRIORITY) Yes Yes
 GIS formats
26 projections, 225 datum operations, 50 ellipsoids supported Yes No
Supported GIS formats (for opening, querying, thematically coloring and importing SWMM entities and attributes)
   E00 (ArcInfo) Yes No
   SHP (ArcView, ArcGIS) Yes No
   MID/MIF (MapInfo) Yes No
   TAB (vector and raster georeference) Yes No
   TIGER 2000 (US Census Bureau) Yes No
   DGN (Microstation) Yes No
   DXF (AutoCAD MAP) (Incl. XData) Yes No
   GML (Geographic Markup Language) Yes No
   KML (Google Earth format) Yes No
   GDF (3D Geological Model) Yes No
   GPX (GPS Exchange Format) Yes No
   SDTS (Spatial Data Transfer Standard) Yes No
   DLG (USGS Digital Line Graph) Yes No
   VPF (Vector Product Format) Yes No
   SQL Layers – OPENGIS® Yes No
   Geomedia® SQL Server & Access Warehouse Yes No
   Personal Geodatabase (ArcGIS) Yes No
Supported GIS formats for saving/exporting GIS data to (including SWMM entities and attributes, as well as data from any of the above file formats)
   SHP (ArcView, ArcGIS) Yes No
   MID/MIF (MapInfo) Yes No
   DXF (AutoCAD MAP) (Incl. XData) Yes No
   GML (Geographic Markup Language) Yes No
   KML (Google Earth format) Yes No
   GPX (GPS Exchange Format) Yes No
   DLG (USGS Digital Line Graph) Yes No
   SQL Layers – OPENGIS® Yes No
   Geomedia® SQL Server & Access Warehouse Yes No
   Personal Geodatabase (ArcGIS) Yes No
Supported raster formats for opening, tiling, layering, with translucency and geo-reference file support
   TIFF, GeoTIFF (uncompressed, LZW) Yes No
   TIFF, GeoTIFF (packbits, group4) Yes No
   MrSID Yes No
   PGN Yes No
   BMP Yes Partial: single layer - no tiling or translucency
   JPEG Yes No
   JPEG2000 Yes No
   BIL/SPOT Yes No
   IMG Yes No
   ECW/ECWP Yes No
   RPF (CADRG & CIB) Yes No
   SDTS Yes No
   DTM: ASCII GRID, FLOAT GRID, BT (Binary Terrain), DTED,
   ADF		 Yes No
Supported raster formats for saving to (including any of the above raster and vector formats)
   TIFF, GeoTIFF (uncompressed, LZW) Yes No
   BMP Yes No
   JPEG Yes No
   PGN Yes No
 General GIS interface
Individual and group entity editing (replace, multiply, divide, add, etc.) Yes No
Group entity attribute editing Yes No
Editable attribute tables Yes No
Draw new entities Yes Yes
Move existing entities Yes Yes
Cut, copy and paste Yes No
   Entities between layers or within layer Yes No
   Attributes between layers or within layer Yes No
Overview map (shows current extend with rectangle) Yes No
Zoom (6 methods) Yes Partial
   Zoom selection (drag selection box to zoom) Yes Yes
   Zoom extended (similar to AutoCAD® mouse up/down) Yes No
   Zoom extent (user defined extent) Yes Yes
   Zoom to extent of active layer Yes No
   Zoom history (move back and forward through history) Yes No
   Mouse wheel zoom Yes No
Pan (3 methods) Yes Partial
   Pan mode (with left mouse button) Yes Yes
   Mouse wheel button (middle button) panning Yes No
   Overview map panning (drag view extent frame) Yes No
Measure tools Yes Partial
   Ruler (one or more multi-segment polylines, measuring
   length, sum length, and average length of lines)		 Yes Yes
   Polygon (one or more polygons, measuring area,
   sum area, average area of polygons)		 Yes No
   Rectangle (one or more rectangles, measuring area,
   sum area, average area of polygons)		 Yes No
   Circle (one or more circles, measuring area,
   sum area, average area - useful for area reduction
   factors)		 Yes No
Simulation progress bar Yes Yes
Coordinate scaling Yes No
Thematic rendering of any layer (SWMM or background) Yes Partial
   Support variable element sizes, widths, and colors Yes Yes
 Querying / searching / selecting
Query both SWMM layers and background layers Yes No
Search for specific node, link, or subcatchment by name Yes Yes
Search for specific node, link, or subcatchment by other attribute Yes No
Center and select search result Yes No
SQL based entity selection (Boolean logic on attributes) Yes No
SQL query builder Yes No
Select within (query within selection) Yes No
Select upstream (all entities draining to specific entity) Yes No
Select path (all entities between two specified entities) Yes No
Direct selection (with mouse click) Yes Yes
Multiple entity direct selection (Ctrl - mouse click) Yes No
Multiple entity selection box (mouse dragged rectangle) Yes Yes
Select all, Invert selection, etc. Yes No
 Layer control and visualization
Separate layer for each SWMM entity type Yes No
Support for unlimited number of layers Yes No
Support for vector layers (see GIS formats) Yes No
Support for raster (pixel) layers (see GIS formats) Yes Partial
26 projections, 225 datum operations, 50 ellipsoids supported Yes No
View any/all vector layers in Google Earth® Yes No
   Attributes available in Google Earth® Yes No
Support for tiling or overlaying layers Yes No
Layer collections remembered between sessions Yes No
Layer reordering (move up/down, top/bottom, drag&drop ordering) Yes No
Individual layer visibility can be controlled by zoom level Yes No
Transparency support (0-100%) for any layer (vector or raster) Yes No
Inversion, histogram, greyscale filters for individual raster layers Yes No
Brightness, contrast and RGB control for individual raster layers Yes No
Thematic rendering of any attribute (input, results and user-defined) (for SWMM layers and any other vector layer) Yes Partial (a limited number of SWMM attributes)
Dynamic (animated) thematic rendering of all SWMM5 computed time series Yes Partial (just a few available)
   Unique value rendering (integer, string fields) Yes Limited
   Continuous value rendering (optional logarithmic scale) Yes Limited
   Render color, size, outline size or outline color Yes Yes
   Save and load multiple themes Yes No
   Themes remembered between sessions Yes Limited
Create new layers from scratch (see GIS formats) Yes No
Layer restructuring (attribute manipulation) for all vector layers types (SWMM and background layers) Yes No
   Add new attributes/fields Yes No
   Edit attributes/field names Yes No
   Delete attributes/fields Yes No
 Entity visualization
Point representation for SWMM5 junctions, storages, outfalls and dividers (plus any other layer types) Yes Yes (SWMM nodes only)
Polyline representation for SWMM5 conduits, weirs, orifices, pumps, outlets (plus any other layer types) Yes Yes (SWMM links only)
Polygon representation for SWMM5 subcatchments, radar-rainfall cells, soil types, impervious coverage, etc. Yes Yes (SWMM subcatchments only)
Unlimited number of vertices for polygon and polyline entities Yes Yes
Point entity appearance control (color, size, style) Yes Partial
   Geometric shape representation (circle, box, triangle, etc.) Yes No
   Bitmap representation Yes No
   Symbol representation (CGM and TrueType) Yes No
   Thematic control (see section above) Yes Yes
Polyline/line entity appearance control (color, outline, style) Yes Partial
   Bitmap representation Yes No
   Symbol representation (CGM and TrueType, WMF) Yes No
   Thematic control (see section above) Yes No
Polygon entity appearance control (color, outline, fill style) Yes Partial
   Bitmap fill (tiling) Yes No
   Symbol fill (CGM and TrueType, WMF, tiling) Yes No
   Thematic control (see section above) Yes Partial (SWMM only)
Labeling (any attribute) Yes Partial
   Label font, size, color, outline control Yes Partial
   Label position control Yes No
   Label overlap avoidance Yes No
   Multiple attribute values displayed Yes No
Charting (pie or bar) for any group of attributes Yes No
 Entity editing
Entity shape editing Yes Yes
   Move entities (polygons, polylines and points) by dragging Yes Yes
   Move multiple selected entities by dragging Yes No
   Edit vertices for polylines and polygons (add, remove, move) Yes Yes
   Snap polygon vertices to nearest neighbor Yes No
Convert SWMM entity from one type to another (e.g. junction to storage, orifice to conduit, etc.) Yes Yes
Aggregate (union) SWMM entities (links and subcatchments) Yes No
   Intelligent SWMM attribute handling for aggregation Yes No
   Intermediate/redundant nodes deleted during aggregation Yes No
   Vertices created for deleted nodes during aggregation Yes No
   Topological union operation for subcatchment polygons Yes No
      Vertices created, removed as required to maintain shape Yes No
Disaggregate (split) SWMM entities (links and subcatchments) Yes No
   Intelligent SWMM attribute handling for disaggregation Yes No
   Intermediate nodes (junctions) created during disaggregation Yes No
   Multi-segment polyline cutting tool for subcatchment/polygon
   disaggregation		 Yes No
Multiple entity attribute editing Yes No
   Use SQL to select entities and Replace operation to modify attributes Yes No
   Replace, add, subtract, multiply, divide operations Yes No
   Advanced operations Yes No
      Set minimum slope Yes No
      Compute length, area, width attributes Yes Partial
      Area weighting operations (e.g. infiltration from soil maps) Yes No
Cut, copy and paste entities Yes No
   Paste in same layer, creating duplicates Yes No
   Paste into another layer, creating new entities Yes No
   Entities are converted as required (storages to junctions) Yes No
   Attributes are also copied and pasted Yes No
   Entities can be pasted from non-SWMM layers to SWMM
   layers and vice versa, providing an alternative method for
   importing/exporting GIS data (otherwise see Import Wizard)		 Yes No
 Entity importing
Import Wizard Yes No
Import entities/attributes to SWMM layers from multiple sources Yes No
   Import from XYS (Map) files (coordinate/vertice data) Yes No
   Import from GIS/CAD sources Yes No
      E00 (ArcInfo) Yes No
      SHP (ArcView, ArcGIS) Yes No
      MID/MIF (MapInfo) Yes No
      TAB (vector and raster georeference) Yes No
      TIGER 2000 (US Census Bureau) Yes No
      DGN (Microstation) Yes No
      DXF (AutoCAD MAP) (Incl. XData) Yes No
      GML (Geographic Markup Language) Yes No
      KML (Google Earth format) Yes No
      GDF (3D Geological Model) Yes No
      GPX (GPS Exchange Format) Yes No
      SDTS (Spatial Data Transfer Standard) Yes No
      DLG (USGS Digital Line Graph) Yes No
      VPF (Vector Product Format) Yes No
      SQL Layers – OPENGIS® Yes No
      Geomedia® SQL Server & Access Warehouse Yes No
      Personal Geodatabase (ArcGIS) Yes No
   Import from spreadsheets Yes No
      Excel 2007 Yes No
      Excel 2003 and earlier Yes No
   Import from databases Yes No
      Access 2007 Yes No
      Access 2003 and earlier Yes No
      SQL Server Yes No
      Oracle Yes No
      OLE DB support Yes No
      ODBC support Yes No
   Filtered import from other SWMM5 input files Yes No
Flexible import scope Yes No
   Create new entities (with optional naming) Yes No
   Update matching entities only Yes No
   Update selected entities only Yes No
   Replace all existing entities Yes No
   Import shape (coordinate) data only Yes No
   Import attribute data only Yes No
   Update/import specified attributes only Yes No
Copy & paste entity importing from open background layers Yes No
     
     
     
     
     
PCSWMM and PCSWMM.NET are trademarks of CHI, Microsoft, Excel and Access are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, ArcGIS and ArcView are registered trademarks of ESRI Inc., MapInfo is a registered trademark of Pitney Bowes MapInfo, Microstation is a registered trademark of Bentley Systems Inc., Google Earth and YouTube are registered trademarks of Google Inc., Flickr is a registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc, AutoCAD is a registered trademark of AutoDesk Inc.
  

 

 
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