Skip to main content

Creating a project

A project is the container for everything in a single evaluation: the map area, the layers, the features, the criteria, and the analysis results. Several of the choices you make at creation time are difficult or impossible to change later — this lesson focuses on the durable decisions and the training-relevant framing behind them. For the click-by-click steps, see the capability reference: Projects → How to create a project.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

  • Identify which project-creation choices are durable and which can be revised later
  • Pick the right criteria set (or sets) for the evaluation, and recognize that criteria sets are siloed
  • Pick the default attribute strategy that fits the workflow
  • Pick a spatial reference suited to the project's location and any existing data

Durable vs revisable choices​

ChoiceRevisable later?
Project name, installation, locationYes
Map backgroundYes
Default attribute presetYes (and per-feature overrides are always available)
Criteria sets selectedAdd later, but each set evaluates independently of the others
Spatial referenceDifficult once the project has features

Treat criteria selection and spatial reference as commitments. Treat the rest as starting points you can refine.

Criteria sets are siloed​

Under Analysis Criteria, you can select one or more standards (DCMA / DoD Manual 4145.26, DESR 6055.09, NATO EdC, ATF). For each, set the Max NEQ — the maximum net explosive quantity you expect at any PES.

warning

Criteria sets do not talk to each other. A facility compliant under DCMA is not automatically compliant under DESR — Siter evaluates each criteria set independently and reports each separately. If you need both, select both at creation; criteria added later are still evaluated independently.

Default attribute presets​

The Default Attribute Values setting picks the preset Siter applies to every new feature you add to the project:

PresetWhat it doesWhen to choose it
Most LikelyCurated industry-typical configuration that Siter observes most often across real-world facilities.You want defaults that reflect normal operations, refining specific facilities as needed.
Most ConservativeConfiguration that produces the largest required separation distance for each criteria path until you change it.You want to bound the worst case first, then relax attributes deliberately as you confirm real-world conditions.

For the conceptual background on what these presets do downstream — and why a single preset choice cascades through every analysis — see Calculator: Attributes.

Spatial reference​

  • Local UTM — the default, and the right choice for most projects. Siter automatically picks the UTM zone for the project's coordinates.
  • A specific coordinate system — choose this only if you must when existing map data (shapefiles, AutoCAD, prior project deliverables) is in a known coordinate system you need to align with. And even then, Siter or a third-party tool like QGIS can usually convert to local UTM.
warning

Spatial reference is one of the harder choices to change after the project has features. Pick it deliberately at creation; if in doubt, Local UTM is the safe default.

Try it​

Create a throw-away project at coordinates of your choice using Most Conservative defaults and a single criteria set. Add one PES with a small NEW, run analysis, and note the required distance. Now copy the project, open the copy, and change the default attribute preset to Most Likely. Add the same PES with the same NEW and re-run. The required distance should be smaller — the cleanest demonstration that preset choice cascades through every subsequent calculation.