A new MiTS project used to start with a blank canvas leaving users to piece together the initial setup themselves. From locating rainfall settings and selecting the right rain gauge to specifying the temporal-pattern region and finding the import button. Miss one and the first drainage simulation runs quietly using a default gauge that has nothing to do with the actual project location.

This Project Setup puts those decisions in one place, in the order an engineer makes them following where is the site, which design guidelines apply there, and what survey and drawing data do we bring in.

There are three steps involved in this project setup and this article will explain further on what each one sets in the project file. You are also able to stop halfway and resume the setup while designing later on.

Opening Project Setup #

Project Setup opens by itself when you create a project with File > New. For an existing project, open it from the ribbon Main > Start > Project Setup. The same group holds CAD Import, the drawing import button that used to be called Import.

Once the project setup is opened, the window lists three steps on the left. Once each step is go through, a small tick mark will present indicating that the step is already set. Nothing in the project changes until you press Apply guidelines on step 2, so you can move back and forth freely before then.

If all you want right now is to import drawing or your project does not involve any drainage analysis, click Skip to import on step 1 or 2. It goes straight to step 3 without applying anything, whether or not the earlier steps are filled in. You are able to come back to the step 1 and 2 to set for site location and guidelines later if needed.

Once project file is saved with the project setup settings, opening the project file again retains its current settings. Meanwhile for project files saved before Project Setup introduced, their parameter settings and objects remain unchanged. Project Setup will not be opened automatically.

Step 1: Site location #

The site is the one fact everything else depends on. It decides the country, the nearest rain gauges and, the grid cell for gridded IDF. The site location needs to be set, and the pin can be placed in four different ways:

• Search by name or state. Type a town, rain gauge or state in the search box and choose a suggestion. This list suggestion also works offline.
• Search online. With a Google API key set, Search online looks up any place name. The key needs the Geocoding API enabled.
• Click the map. The map needs internet for its tiles. Find and click the location directly on the map.
• Type or paste coordinates, for example 3.1390, 101.6869 copied from Google Maps, and click Set pin.

Country is pre-selected from the pin. If the location is near a border, the country setting can be wrong so need to be double checked (the design guidelines in step 2 follow the country chosen here, not the pin). Site label is a free-text name for the site.

If the project already has survey groups imported from Google Earth, Site from existing survey data offers Use centre to place the pin at that group’s centre. The site and the survey group’s georeference are kept separate, so moving the site never moves survey points.

Step 2: Design guidelines — Stormwater #

Step 2 sets the design rainfall that drain design, storm hydrographs and storage routing all share. It shows the same settings as Options > Project Settings > Storm Design > Design Rainfall, arranged top to bottom in the order you decide them.

Design manual #

For Malaysia, choose MSMA 1st Edition (2000), MSMA 2nd Edition (2012) or MSMA 3rd Edition by clicking on the dropdown. The manual decides which IDF sources and temporal patterns available for the next settings. For Brunei there will be no design manual option.

IDF source #

The IDF source determines which coefficients are used in the IDF equation. Choosing the IDF Source covers each source in detail, while this section focuses only on the information introduced in Step 2.

Rain gauge or urban centre #

The list is sorted by distance from the site, and the nearest one is selected for you. Use nearest button shows and reselects the nearest location in case you select another rain gauge. To find a station, type any part of its name or state, such as Kelang or Selangor, and the list narrows as you type. You can also click a station’s pin on the map (the red pin is the selected station). If you move the site in step 1, MiTS selects the new nearest station again.

Gridded HP1 / HP26 #

By clicking the drop down button for Grid IDF from, you may choose and set where the grid cell comes from:

• Project site — the cell at the site from step 1.
• Another point — the cell at a latitude and longitude you enter, or a point you click on the map, for example a catchment some distance from the site pinned.
• Published grid number — you first choose the Published table either HP1 or HP26 and type the grid number, for example when the authority has already specified the cell. MiTS starts you at the cell nearest the project site, so often you only change the number.

Grid number to use is editable only when Published grid number is selected. For the other two options (Project site and Another point), MiTS automatically identifies the corresponding grid cell and displays its grid number in a greyed-out (read-only) field, together with the published table. Gridded HP1 and HP26 IDF Coefficients explains how the cell is found and what the report records.

User λ, κ, θ, η coefficients #

Set the coefficient format first either one coefficient for each ARI or separate coefficient set for every ARI. Then, input the λ, κ, θ, η sets (or a, b, c, d for MSMA 1st Edition) exactly as in the Parameters page.

Climate change factor #

This part determines whether the climate change factor (CCF) is included or not included. For IDF source that is set as gridded HP1/HP26 you may choose the HP1 CCF region under the dropdown (MiTS suggests one from the site’s state).

Areal reduction factor #

To apply a published factor for the design area and storm duration, turn on Apply areal reduction factor by ticking the box. For Malaysia, MiTS suggests a table from the IDF source and available location information, then shows its read-only values. HP1 and HP26 tables also show the no-reduction area threshold. The Storm Sync ARF area setting chooses whether Storm Sync reads each catchment’s own area or its connected drain network total. Brunei uses MSMA1 Table 13.1 when ARF is on. You may need to review the selected table and any warning before applying the guidelines. See Choosing the IDF Source for table selection, threshold and area-basis details.

Temporal pattern #

Choose the temporal-pattern reference and region. MiTS suggests them from the IDF source where it can, but a published temporal-pattern region cannot always be read off a coordinate, so check the region map and confirm it.

The pattern is chosen separately from the IDF source, with one exception. If a gridded cell moves between HP1 (Peninsular Malaysia) and HP26 (Sabah and Sarawak), the reference follows it and the region is cleared for you to choose again, because a West Malaysia pattern does not apply in Kuching.

Apply guidelines #

Apply guidelines writes the site, the country and all of the above into the project in one step, and moves you to step 3. Ctrl+Z undoes it as a single action.

If something is missing, MiTS does not apply the settings yet. Instead, it outlines the field that needs attention with a red outline, automatically scrolls it into view, and displays a message below explaining what needs to be corrected.

Examples include HP1 / HP26 table that was never chosen, a grid number that does not exist in the selected table, a user coefficient table with a missing value or a repeated ARI, or a temporal-pattern region that is still not set. The red outline disappears as soon as the issue is resolved. The example below shows the validation message displayed when the temporal-pattern region has not been set.

Step 3: Survey and drawing import #

Step 3 offers two paths, both using the existing import dialogs:

• All-in-One Import > Choose drawing… imports survey points from a DWG, DXF, VDCL or VDML drawing, together with any platforms, boundaries, cut lines, catchments, drains, sewers and water networks you select in the import dialog.
• Survey Point Only Import > Choose file… imports ground survey points from CAD, TXT, CSV, Excel or LAS without design entities. Import from Google Earth… gives approximate levels for early design, centred on the project site.

You are able to import entities before applying the guidelines. In this case (Skip to import button is clicked), once Choose drawing/Choose file button is clicked MiTS will first prompt the message on Design guideline not applied, then asks first and names the starting settings the project still holds, such as Malaysia, MSMA 2nd Edition (2012), MSMA2 rain gauge. Imported drains, catchments and survey points do not store the design guidelines. Below is the example how the message is prompted in the case of All-in-One Import is proceeded with no guidelines set.

To proceed with the importation, you may click on Import anyway. The analysis reads them when it runs, so applying your own setting afterwards is enough. The one exception is Import from Google Earth…, which centres on the project site only once the site has been applied.

After successful import, Import results displays the contents of the project, grouped by discipline, and highlights the items added during the most recent import. Import more… returns to the two paths, and Manage survey groups… opens the survey group manager.

Survey and drawing import is optional, and you can complete the setup without importing any files. Press Done to close Project Setup. If you skipped ahead after entering a site or guidelines that you never applied (Apply guideline button in step 2 is not clicked), Done takes you back to step 2 instead, so your previous selections are retained. You can choose to apply them, or select Discard draft to keep the project’s current settings.

Stopping halfway #

Continue later keeps the step you are on and every choice made so far, including incomplete user coefficients, and closes the window. Closing the window does the same. These drafts are saved beside the project as <project name>.projectsetup.xml, so they do not change the project’s settings or results, and reopening Project Setup resumes where you left off.

Discard draft removes any choices that have not been applied. Previously applied guidelines and imported data will remain in the project.

If someone changes the rainfall settings through Options > Project Settings while a draft is pending, MiTS will not automatically apply the draft and overwrite the new settings. Instead, it prompts you to choose Use current settings or Keep saved draft, then returns you to step 1 to review.

Copying only the .mits2 file keeps every applied setting and imported data. However, any unapplied draft will be lost.

Conclusion #

Run Project Setup at the beginning of every new project to define the site location, confirm the country, select the IDF source and temporal pattern, and press Apply guidelines to apply the settings. If the drawing needs to be imported first, you can use Skip to Import and return to complete the project setup later. However, make sure to apply the guidelines before running the analysis. Any missing information will be highlighted with red outline, and Main > Start > Project Setup brings you back to the settings at any time for you to review or update.