Running the Fire Brigade Maps Generator

Scenario: You want to create fire brigade maps from the Desigo CC fire graphics. Based on a graphic template, the fire brigade maps generator can create PDF files with the maps corresponding to fire objects.

Reference: For general information about the fire brigade maps generator, see the reference section.

Workflow diagram:

Prerequisites:

• The following extension module is installed and included in the active project:
• Danger Management > Fire Brigade Maps
• The fire brigade maps option (sbt_gms_opt_fbm) is included in the Desigo CC license. For more information, see Checking license.
  The license option enables both the fire brigade maps generation in Engineering mode, and the access to the corresponding documents as Related Items of the fire objects in Operating mode.
• A valid graphic template is available in System Settings > Libraries > Fire > Device > Fire Brigade Maps. For more information, see Fire Brigade Maps Graphic Template.
• You have configured the Desigo CC graphics that correspond to the required maps. For detailed information, see Graphics Specifications for Fire Brigade Maps.
• You have defined which types of fire objects are relevant for the fire maps and to be searched for in the graphics.
• You have defined if you want to restrict the map creation to specific segments of the System Browser tree.
• Optionally, in case of complex access routes across multiple graphics (for example campus, building, and floors/rooms), you configured a user-defined view for access/escape routes where you defined the hierarchies of graphics you want to apply. For more information, see User-defined View with Fire Brigade Maps Hierarchies.
• Optionally, you have configured one or more views of the fire system in which to search for the selected objects. These views are used to resolve the placeholder variables specified in the graphic template.
• You have defined the graphic style to use for symbols in the maps. You can create a new style as necessary to properly represent the fire objects (see Customizing the Fire Brigade Map Symbols). In the function or object model of the represented fire objects, make sure to have a symbol associated and set to the style. For more information on symbol styles, refer to the Graphic section.
• System Manager is in Engineering mode.
• In System Browser, Management View is selected.

Steps:

1 – Select Functions/Object Models and Target

You can use the following filters to define for which types of fire objects and for which part of the installation you want to create Fire Brigade Maps starting from Desigo CC graphics. For more information, see Graphics Specifications for Fire Brigade Maps.

• Functions. For example, use Automatic Zone to get a Fire Brigade Map for each zone. Easily specified by dragging a fire object as an example, this filter is required unless all the objects in the graphics are of the required types.
• Object Model. Narrows down the set of objects to a more specific subset based on the object models. This might be required when multiple object models are involved in the base selection and you want to exclude some of them.
• System Browser Target. Narrows down the set of objects to only consider those in selected parts of the installation, for example one or more buildings or floors.

Proceed as follows:

1. In System Browser, select Project > System Settings > Conversion Tools > Fire Brigade Maps.
   NOTE: If the Fire Brigade Maps node is not available, select the parent node Conversion Tools and select New > Fire Brigade Maps.

• In the Fire Brigade Maps tab, the page 1 of 4 – Filter Criteria displays.

2. (Optional) Select Import Object Model for dropped item as additional filter criteria. With this option, both the function and object models will be added when you drag a fire object from System Browser. You can later remove the object models that you do not want to filter by.

3. Drag any object from System Browser to the Selection Type area to select the corresponding function and possibly the object models.

4. Check the list of selected functions and object models. Repeat the previous step to add more items or click Remove to exclude unwanted ones.
   NOTE: If you add any object models to the filter, make sure to include all required object models along with all functions. Removing functions or objects models may result in unexpected or incomplete results. Consider for example the selection illustrated in the image below. It includes both functions and object models for automatic zones and manual zones. Removing the Manual Zone object model from the last position would exclude manual zones even if the Manual Zone function remains. Instead, removing both object models would result in including both types of objects because no object model filtering occurs.
   
   

5. In Target, do one of the following:

• Drag any part of the System Browser tree to the Target area to only consider that part of the plant. Add more parts as necessary or click Remove to delete any of them.

• Leave this field empty to get maps of the entire plant.

6. Click to proceed to the next page.

 

 

2 – Access / Evacuation Routes Sequence

• You are in page 2 of 4 – Access/evacuation routes sequence.

1. In Maps Sequence, do one of the following:

• Select the view where the structure of graphics is configured to define all required maps and access routes across multiple graphics. For more information, see User-defined View with Fire Brigade Maps Hierarchies.
  Then, specify the direction: Access Route or Evacuation Route.

• Leave this field empty to get maps from all graphics that contain the selected objects and their own local access route.

2. Click to proceed to the next page.
   
   NOTE: The Access Route/Evacuation Route selection determines the order of multiple maps for inward or outward direction.
   Any graphical elements connecting the maps (for example lines, arrows, references) should be designed consistently with the resulting order of presentation.
   

 

3 – Configure Output Style

• You are in page 3 of 4 – Output style.

1. In Graphic Template, select the graphic template to apply.

2. In Symbols Style, use Select symbols style to set the symbols to use in the fire brigade maps. The selected symbols will replace the original symbols in the graphics. The list of available styles may vary depending on the installed extension modules. As a general reference, the following is a list of typical styles:

• Any: generic selection, NOT recommended (select a specific style)

• 2D_EU_AT, two-dimensional symbols for Austria

• 2D_EU_DE, two-dimensional symbols for Germany and DIN-approved graphics

• 2D_NA_NFPA, two-dimensional symbols for North America and NFPA-approved graphics

• 3D, three-dimensional symbols, generic, NOT recommended (select a more specific 3D-style)

• 3D_EU, three-dimensional symbols for Europe

• 3D_NA, three-dimensional symbols for North America

3. Check the list in Views to resolve object references ordered by priority. Select a single View and click Move Up or Move Down to change the priority.

4. Click to proceed to the next page.

 

 

4 – Configure Output Settings

• You are in page 4 of 4 – Output settings.

1. In Output path, browse for and select the output folder where the PDF files are created.

2. In Output PDF filename, choose the desired pattern for naming the PDF map files:

• Parent – Object Description and Name:
  <parent object name> <object description> <object name>.PDF

• Graphic – Object description:
  <graphic name> <object description>.PDF

• Date & Time – Object description:
  <date> <time> <object description>.PDF

• Single Custom Filename:
  Enter the filename to generate a single PDF:
  <filename>.PDF

• Single Custom Filename – unique ID:
  Enter the filename to generate multiple PDFs with an appended sequential number:
  <filename> <number>.PDF

3. In Output PDF page size, choose one of the following:

• Letter

• A4

• A3

4. In Output PDF page orientation, choose one of the following:

• Portrait

• Landscape
  NOTE: If the Output PDF page orientation choice is not the best option for the layout of the selected graphic template, a dialog box advises you to change.

5. (Optional) In the Print-out settings expander, in Printout, select Generate output PDF files as related items.

• The Output PDF filename is automatically set to Graphic – Object description.

• The Fire Brigade Maps will be available to display as Related Items in the Document Viewer step for Assisted Treatment.
  NOTE 1: While PDF files are created in the specified Output path (where you can manage them for Fire Brigade use), an additional copy is created internally and available from System Browser in Application View > Application > Documents > FireBrigadeMaps > [map folder]. The PDF files are named after the corresponding fire object.
  NOTE 2: Every time you re-execute the PDF generation, previous PDF files and all associations with Desigo CC objects are deleted and re-created completely.

 

 

5 – Start the Fire Brigade Maps Generator

• You are in page 4 of 4 – Output settings.

• You have set all the output parameters.

1. (Optional) If you want to modify any item, click Previous in the toolbar to go back to the previous page. After the required modifications, press Next to reach this final page again.

2. Click Start .

• The map generation starts. PDF files will be available in the Output folder specified in the previous section.

3. The System Manager dialog box appears, click Yes to confirm the start of the maps creation process.

• A progress bar displays. The generation may take a long time, depending on the size of the database. At any time, you can click and confirm to stop the procedure.

• If you navigate away, by clicking any other node in System Browser, you will be asked whether to:

• Continue the map generation in background (click Yes)

• Abort (click No)

• Cancel the new node selection and remain in the Fire Brigade Maps generator page (click Cancel).

• When the import procedure finishes, the Import Summary dialog box displays the number of analyzed graphics and symbols as well as the number of maps created in PDF files.

4. Click Summary to display the summary log file: [drive]:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp\FireBrigadeMaps_mm-dd-yyyy_nn.txt. The file provides a report with summary information from the dialog box and any errors or warnings.

5. Click Details to display the detailed log file: [drive]:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp\FireBrigadeMaps Results yyymmdd hhmmss.txt). The CSV file contains a record of all symbols processed.

For examples of log files, see Fire Brigade Maps Generator Log Files.

In case of errors, see Fire Brigade Maps Generator Troubleshooting.