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by Paul Ginther What do a city engineer, a backhoe operator, and a pizza delivery person have in common? They all need location information. Keeping tabular information in a database, a spreadsheet, or hardcopy records has long been standard practice. Knowing the street address for facilities, customers, or work orders provides a general where factor. However, tabular data tied to an address is generally not sufficient in the utility business. Geographic Information System (GIS) technology has added an entirely new level of functionality - and opened the world up to a wealth of information. GIS is in use in almost every industry. People use it every day whether they realize it or not. Obtaining driving directions from the airport to a hotel uses a form of GIS that relates addresses to street networks and traffic patterns. Obtaining an Internet list of nearby restaurants of a specific type uses a GIS search function to query business data associated with geographic locations within a user-defined radius.
GIS maps can be used to display locations of complaints regarding water in basements and street flooding.
Once established, a GIS can be enhanced to serve as a critical link for meeting ongoing data maintenance requirements, supporting numerous data analysis/reporting activities, and interfacing with other applications. A few examples are described below.
Although much of the data needed for modeling can be maintained within a GIS, modeling and GIS have historically developed along separate but parallel paths. The primary goal for a GIS analyst typically has been to create a geographically accurate and up-to-date depiction of the actual utility system - the more detail, the better. The main objective for a modeler has been to create a hydraulically correct representation of the network, under various operating conditions, that would support flow/pressure modeling analysis - the simpler, the better. Historically, creating new H/H models has required tedious and costly data collection and model construction efforts, often duplicating work already performed in the creation of the GIS or previous models. Recent advancements in software and database functionality have dramatically narrowed the gap between these two powerful applications. When properly designed, a GIS can now be used to efficiently develop the majority of an H/H model. Data cleanup and integrity tools streamline the effort to establish required network connectivity and verify correct network construction - such as preventing a 4-inch pipe from being inserted into the middle of a 24-inch pipe. Additional benefits can be achieved by maintaining connectivity between the model and GIS. This integration significantly improves the ability to update or enhance future modeling efforts. Use of the advanced spatial analysis capabilities of GIS can further enhance modeling results. Examples include: Fire Flow Analysis. Most hydraulic modeling software can calculate available flow values at nodes throughout the system network. Different land-use categories have different fire flow requirements. Associating model results with land-use requirements in GIS enables users to evaluate the ability of a distribution system to meet fire flow requirements for various land uses. This information is useful for planning distribution system improvements to provide adequate fire protection. This analysis can be taken to a higher level by using risk analysis tools to assign risk factor ratings to specific land uses (e.g., hospitals, schools, tall buildings). Specific fire risks can be determined by using GIS to overlay these ratings with the fire flow data. This analysis can help determine or support a citys ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating. Drinking Water Source Analysis. Utilities that obtain water from multiple sources need a good understanding of how the water mixes throughout the network. This is especially important where source quality varies. Customers may want to know which source provides their water. However, over time a customer may be served from a number of
sources, and the proportional mix of the various sources may be constantly changing. A long-term proportional (or percentage) mix of source water is a good indication of overall customer water quality. For a specific operating scenario, the hydraulic model can be used to calculate the percentage of total demand supplied by each water source at any location in the distribution system. Using the GIS, percentage contours can be generated for each source. Overlaying this data onto a digital street or parcel map can help users correlate street addresses with source percentage polygons to determine the approximate percentage of water each customer gets from each source. Water Usage Demand Allocation. To accurately model a water distribution network, engineers must understand where water is being consumed under a variety of water usage conditions. Demand allocation is a process in which current or predicted future water consumption data is assigned to locations in the network. Ideally, existing water demand is allocated using water meter data tied to specific points in the water network system. This method works well for established neighborhoods. However, good meter data tied to physical addresses or to a location on the network may not be available. Through use of GIS tools, water usage demands can be indirectly derived based on population data or land-use maps. This method is also helpful in predicting water usage in future growth areas. Establishing Facility Elevations: GPS survey data (if available) or Digital Elevation Models (DEM) can be used to automatically determine node elevations required for H/H modeling. These GIS-based methods are far superior to the painstaking process of manually estimating elevations from contour maps.
Graphic representation of how an alignment sheet can be generated from a continuous GIS map/database
Relating customer records to geographic locations can provide additional customer service benefits. When a customer calls with a complaint, the customer service agent can immediately see the location of the current complaint as well as any recent complaints nearby. A work order tied to that location can then be generated. Customer address records often present a limitation to this integration. Address data is often tied to billing addresses, which are not necessarily the same as meter addresses. Therefore, there may not be a dependable relationship between a customer record and a meter location. Likewise, many utilities lack dependable relationships between meter records and locations along the mains. A variety of GIS tools can be used to establish these relationships.
only provide for superior record management but also provide a tool for planning and scheduling work activities-such as valve and hydrant maintenance programs or pipe cleaning and inspection programs. Computerized systems specifically developed to improve asset management include Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and Work Order Management (WOM). These database applications are often the primary source of attribute information for pipes, fittings, valves, and other components of distribution systems. They are often used to track material inventories and work-order purchases. Linking (or migrating) this asset data to the GIS relates it directly to the network system without the need to reenter it or maintain a duplicate data set. It also allows for reporting the values of infrastructure assets by geographic area (e.g., tax/city boundaries, pressure zones) or for use in pipe replacement prioritization and rehabilitation projects.
Immediate ties to location and other features (even photos) Review of existing data used to support field activities Immediate validation of previous and collected data Reduced need for field sketches to show facility layouts Elimination of data re-entry
Graphic representation of how a GIS relates overlapping drinking water source percentage polygons to an address
Pipeline Alignment Sheet Generation Up-to-date, construction-quality alignment sheets for transmission pipeline projects have previously been only a dream. Advancements in GIS-based alignment sheet generation software have made this a reality. Pipeline alignment sheets essentially become reports that can be generated from data stored in a GIS database. As environmental, right-of-way, site condition, and engineering data are collected or revised, new sheets can be generated from the GIS to provide all users with the most current information available. A variety of sheet formats, contents, and scales can be used from pre-construction planning through as-builts and ongoing operations. This same data can be used for other purposes and analyses throughout the project life cycle.
Conclusion
Although GIS and its related technologies have made major impacts on the way utilities manage both infrastructure and operations, there are still many opportunities to improve both the way in which GIS is used and the management of infrastructure and operations. The greatest limitation still haunting the industry is the quality of available data. Even in this information age, much of the data available is outdated, incomplete, inaccurate, or in the wrong format. The good news is that as low quality data is validated, verified, and/or migrated using GIS technology, it will continue to improve.
So the next time you call for pizza delivery, you can thank GIS technology not only for its role in finding your address and mapping the directions-but also for supporting the infrastructure to field phone calls, provide clean water, and carry wastewater to treatment facilities.