Product(s):	WaterGEMS, WaterCAD, HAMMER, SewerGEMS, SewerCAD, StormCAD, CivilStorm
Version(s):	10.01.XX.XX and greater
Area:	Layout and Data input

Problem

How can I view a Bing Map aerial or road map as a background for my hydraulic model?

What can I do if I have a problem with the display of my Bing Map background?

Solution

Starting with the CONNECT Edition Update 1 release (10.01.XX.XX), Bing Maps can be added directly from the background layers manager (active internet connection required), with the ability to align to the model with up to three points of reference. See the related Help topic for more details. Note that the model elements will not be moved but rather the map background will be scaled and rotated accordingly to align with the existing model elements.

Note: Starting with version 24.00.02.XX, it is possible to set coordinate systems for Bing Maps. The following link has details on this: Working with coordinate systems in the OpenFlows standalone platform

To check if you have the ability to use Bing Maps, go to File > Help > About (or, Help > About, for older versions). The version number shown in the lower-left corner needs to be 10.01.XX.XX or greater.

To add a Bing Map background layer, first open the Background Layers manager. This is often found in the bottom-left corner, and can also be accessed from View > Backgrounds. Click the New button and choose "Bing Map"

For CONNECT Edition Update 2 and greater, you do not need to obtain your own Bing Maps key from Microsoft and can utilize a special per-product Bentley key, as long as you are signed into the CONNECTION Client.

For CONNECT Edition Update 1, you will need a Microsoft account to generate a Bing Maps key -https://www.bingmapsportal.com/.

Starting with CONNECT Edition Update 2, you can choose to use a built-in Bentley Bing Maps Key, or choose your own user-generated Bing Maps key as before. You would click the ellipsis (...) button in the upper right of the dialog shown above and will have the option to toggle between the two different keys.

Term of Use - You can find the terms of use for Bing maps by clicking File > Help > About WaterGEMS, then clicking the Legal and Patent Notices button. You will find Microsoft Bing Terms of Use and Microsoft Bing Print Rights.

Frequency of Updates - Bentley uses service provided by Microsoft to retrieve Bing Maps aerial images for a given area and then display them. Microsoft controls the frequency of when the images are updated. The date that the images were taken varies depending on your location. Data may be outdated in areas with recent development. Some images are taken over a period of time and stitched together later, hence an exact date is not shown. If Bing Maps does not have an adequately up-to-date image of your project area, you can insert an image file in the Background Layers manager.

Alignment and Projection

Starting with version 24.00.02.XX, you use coordinate systems to align your model. When you open the Bing Maps background manager, you have an option to Set Coordinate System. If you select this, you will be able to choose the coordinate system for your model. Detailed steps can be found here: Working with coordinate systems in the OpenFlows standalone platform.

You can also set the alignment and projection manually. The Bing Maps feature works off of Web Mercator projections, using the Map Alignment field. The Map Alignment can be used to help transform the background and align with the model. However, this feature doesn't use a true State Plane-like reprojection like you might see in a program like MicroStation or ArcMap, where you can list what the projection is.

To manually align the map with the model:

Select "3 control points" for the "Map alignment" dropdown in the Bing Maps Properties dialog.
Click the first blank cell under the "X" column and click the ellipsis "..." button. This enables you to select a point in your model plan view for alignment.
Click the point in the model to select the first point. For example this could be a particular node that is known to be at a particular road intersection that you know is visible in the aerial map. The model X and Y coordinates will be populated.
Click the first blank cell under the "Latitude, Longitude" column and click the ellipsis "..." button. This enables you to select a point on the Bing Map that corresponds to the point you had selected from the model in step 3.
Use zoom and pan to locate the corresponding spot on the Bing Map and click to select. The latitude and longitude will be populated and the model will be aligned with these pairs of points. Note that at this point the model will not move until the other two points are defined.
Repeat steps 2-5 using the second and third rows in the table (Control Point 2 and Control Point 3) to define the three other points. It is recommended that you select three points along the outer boundaries of the site location for a triangulation.
Click OK. The map will be rotated and stretched to align with the three points.

Setting Transparency

Starting in CONNECT Edition Update 3.4, it is possible set the transparency for the Bing Maps background.

Troubleshooting

Restricted internet access: If you have limited connection to the internet and cannot access sites which are not permitted by the administrator, you may need to request that an exception be added for Bing Maps. Otherwise, you may not be able to insert or view a Bing map background. The following address needs to be added to the exception list of your firewall or security settings, then you should be able to use Bing Map.

dev.virtualearth.net

Bing Map not displaying: First, confirm that you are signed in to the CONNECTION Client and using an up-to-date version. Check for IMS outages at status.bentley.com as this has also been known to interrupt the ability to obtain the Bentley Bing Map license key. Try signing out of the CONNECTION Client then back in, and restart the OpenFlows application.

Also, check that the Bing Map is configured correctly to align with your model location, and that the box next to it is checked in the Background Layers manager. Try zooming far out in case the map is aligned to an area with no map data such as out in the ocean. If that does not help, try restarting your computer and/or reinstall the software.

Furthermore, check to ensure that there is adequate free space on your hard drive.

Bing Map not displaying after reopening the model: In version 10.01.00.XX, if you uncheck the Bing Maps background layer, save and reopen the model, re-checking it will not correctly display the map and you will need to re-edit the Bing Maps definition. This issue is resolved in version 10.01.01.04 and higher (reference #788487)

Bing Map shifts position: There is also another known issue (reference # 1025234) which can cause the Bing Map to shift positions when reopening the model, due to a problem with the one point vs. three point option in the Bing Map properties. This issue has been resolved in the CONNECT Edition Update 3.4. For earlier versions, edit the Bing Map properties (from the background layers manager), set the number of control points to 3, define three points to align the Bing Map with the model and click OK. Save, close and reopen the model to confirm that the map is still aligned. If this does not help, try going to File > Database Utilities > Synchronize Drawing / Update Database Cache.

If neither of these methods corrects your model placement on the Bing Map, and if you believe the drawing is drawn at the correct scale and the Y-axis is aligned with North, simply try using 1 Control Point to move the map to the correct location under the model.

Just right-click the previously attached Background Map - Bing line from the background layer dialog, select 1 Control Point from the pull-down, click in the Latitude, Longitude field and select the ellipses (…) button, and then click a point on the map of a known coordinate in your model. Then click in the X (ft) field and again select the ellipses (…) button and click the point in your model. that corresponds to the map point you selected.

This should re-align the map and your model.

Flushing report or plan view report does not display correctly with a Bing map active: this is addressed in a patch to version 10.01.01.04 (and will be fixed in future versions as well) - see: Blank Page in Report of Plan View or Flushing Report with Bing Map Active

Ability to change Transparency: This feature was introduced in CONNECT Edition Update 3.4.

Bing Map transparency not applying to Print Preview: The transparency used in the Bing Maps properties will not currently carry over into the Print Preview for a report. This will be reviewed for inclusion in a future release of WaterGEMS and WaterCAD. The reference number for this is 983435.

"Item with the same key has already been added" error appears - try closing the program, browse to the folder where the model is stored, delete the model .dwh file, then try re-opening. Also, try editing the Bing Map background in the Background Layers manager and make sure the "map style" box is not empty.

Bing Map tiles are jumbled / mixed up - this has been known to occur in certain network configurations such as when using a proxy server or caching service. A fix was made in a patch for version 24.00.01.12. Please upgrade to a newer version when available, or if you have 24.00.01.12 (check under File > Help > About), please contact Support for the patch.

Examples of this issue:

Video Demonstration

https://youtu.be/Tn47UAqeMoo