The Relationship Manager tool maintains two types of relationships between objects:
- Hierarchical (structure-equipment)—previously known as master/slave
- Peer to peer (collections)
With the Relationship Manager tool, you can create, edit, and delete structure-equipment and collection relationships in your data. The Relationship Manager tool is located on the Nautical toolbar.
Hierarchical relationships
Hierarchical relationships have designated structure and equipment features. A structure-equipment relationship is created to relate features comprising a navigational aid. Navigational aids are composed of two basic types of objects: structures and equipment. The structure object is considered the parent feature, and all the related equipment the child features. A lighted buoy is a good example of a structure-equipment relationship. The buoy is a parent structure with different equipment attached to it, such as lights and navigational devices, which are considered child features.
To create a structure-equipment relationship between two points, the two point features must share the same x,y geometry values. However, when line, area, and point geometry type features are grouped into a structure-equipment relationship, they do not have to share similar geometry values. There could be more than one child feature, but only one parent feature is allowed in a relationship. If you have selected two or more parent features when creating a structure-equipment relationship, you have to choose which one is the parent feature from the selection, and the remaining parent features become child features in the relationship.
The following tables list all allowable structure-equipment feature objects (subtypes in ArcGIS).
| Structure features | Geometry |
|---|---|
BCNCAR | Point |
BCNISD | Point |
BCNLAT | Point |
BCNSAW | Point |
BCNSPP | Point |
BOYCAR | Point |
BOYINB | Point |
BOYISD | Point |
BOYLAT | Point |
BOYSAW | Point |
BOYSPP | Point |
BRIDGE | Point, line, area |
BUISGL | Point, area |
LITFLT | Point |
LITVES | Point |
LNDMRK | Point, line, area |
MORFAC | Point, line, area |
OFSPLF | Point, area |
PILPNT | Point |
SLCONS | Point, line, area |
CRANES | Point, area |
FLODOC | Line, area |
FORSTC | Point, line, area |
FSHFAC | Point, line, area |
HULKES | Point, area |
PONTON | Line, area |
PYLONS | Point, area |
SILTNK | Point, area |
| Equipment features | Geometry |
|---|---|
DAYMAR | Point |
LIGHTS | Point |
FOGSIG | Point |
RADSTA | Point |
RDOSTA | Point |
RETRFL | Point |
RTPBCN | Point |
SISTAT | Point |
SISTAW | Point |
TOPMAR | Point |
Peer-to-peer relationships
In peer-to-peer relationships, no feature's existence is dependent on another's. Collections are considered a type of peer-to-peer relationship and can be grouped into two different object classes: aggregations (C_AGGR) or associations (C_ASSO).
Association objects (C_ASSO) depict at least one feature that, when associated, better represents certain navigational situations. For example, a buoy that marks a wreck can be associated in S-57 to help the mariner see that a danger lies in the area. The buoy is not dependent on the wreck, nor is the wreck dependent on the buoy.
Aggregation objects (C_AGGR) are collections of features that form a higher-level collection object that better describes a system or defines a larger area. For example, an aggregation relationship can be used to form a traffic separation scheme from traffic separation lane parts, boundaries, and so forth. In the geodatabase, the collection object is stored in the PLTS_COLLECTIONS table, and its relationships to the features that make up the collection are stored in the PLTS_FREL table.