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Table 1: Geometric data required in Utility GIS

Right of Way Edge Average Road Width Right of Way Center Carriage Way Edge Carriage Way Center Median, Traffic Island Property Boundaries Entrances to Properties

Power and Telecom Poles, Pylons, Junction Boxes, Transformers, etc. Overhead Power and Telecom Cables Buried Power and Telecom Cables Manholes Underground sewerage and water supply lines Locality, Sub-Locality and PIN Code Boundaries

Table 2

	Positional Accuracy	Geometric Tolerance
Coarse Mapping	10m (using hand held DGPS or IKONOS)	1~2m (using Rodometer and Tape)
Fine Mapping	2m (using Geodetic GPS and ETS)	Sub-decimeter (using ETS)

Table 3

Initial Investment		Financial after 1 Year		Financials after 2 Year
Cost of GIS facility Saving in Network Net Cost	160 -60 100	Cost carried over Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Net cost	100 14 -80 34	Cost carried over Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Net cost	34 5 -80 -41
Financials after 3 Year		Financials after 4 Year		Financials after 5 Year
Cost carried over Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Net cost	-41 -6 -80 -127	Cost carried over Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Net cost	-127 -18 -80 -225	Cost carried over Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Net cost	-225 -31 -80 -336

Table 4

Initial Investment		Financial after 1 Year		Financials after 2 Year
Cost of GIS facility	75	Investment Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Net cost	75 11 -40 46	Net Investment Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Net cost	46 6 -40 12
Financials after 3 Year		Financials after 4 Year		Financials after 5 Year
Net Investment Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Net cost	12 2 -40 -26	Net Investment Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Upgrade cost Net cost	-26 -4 -40 108 38	Net Investment Add 14% cost Saving in Maint Net cost	38 5 -30 -37

Cost of Geometric Data
The prevailing market prices for the “Fine Geometric Data” is almost twice as expensive as the “Coarse Geometric Product”

• Within the next few years, no new technology is expected to reduce the present cost of acquiring “Fine mapping” data products
• In the third/fourth years from now, certain evolving technologies are expected to reduce the “Coarse Mapping” data cost by some 20%.
• Presently, many of the data products available in the market are of suspicious quality. If the buyers become more quality aware, the market prices are likely to harden. While the quality awareness of the buyer is not likely to change drastically in the immediate future, it might happen in about two/three years time, after the buyer has acquired a substantial experience in using the data products.
• As the market matures, data vendors will begin to distribute the cost of compiling their base data to more than one customers. This will have a large contribution in decreasing the market price of the data products. This is likely to reduce the cost of the map product by some 40% after two/three years.

Cost of GIS Software and Hardware
Desk Top GIS is just coming of age the world over. However, almost all the utility GIS installations in the country are already desk top GIS. Desk top GIS today has the following four disadvantages:

• Desk Top machines are not yet adequately equipped for handling complex real-world GIS. Users often notice crippling performance deficiency with Desk Top GIS. However, this will change in the coming years as the Desk Top hardware and software become more capable. As per Moore’s Law, our Desk Top machines will be at least 10 times more capable within the next 5 years. That kind of capability will be good enough for handling all perceivable problems with Utility GIS
• GIS application products are presently priced at ridiculously high levels. Some of the developments that are happening in the industry will reduce the cost of GIS software by a factor of 10 with the next two/three years.
• Utility GIS applications involve development of a wide variety of custom solutions, which are presently being offered by specialized international vendors. However, some of the Indian companies, with their low cost base, have already started entering this space. These companies will be in a position to offer good quality custom solutions at one third or one fourth price in about the next three/four years time. This will allow the utilities to dramatically extend their GIS capabilities.
  
  In about three year’s time, real-time decimeter GPS will be available for about one fifth the today’s cost. This, when combined with all the factors indicated above, will modernize the cable/infrastructure maintenance way beyond today’s capabilities.

Benefits from GIS Systems built with Coarse and Fine Mapping Products
The advantage of the “Coarse” geometric data product is, evidently, that this product is cheaper than the “Fine” data products. Other than this, it usually takes less time for get the “Coarse” mapping done, though this doesn’t seem to matter in Indian scenario.

How much you will spend for a 100sq km GIS if you set it up in year XXXX


Whereas all that can be done with “Coarse” product can also be done with “Fine” product, the “Fine Product” has a few additional capabilities:

• Last Mile Planning: With the kind of accuracy available with “Fine” product, the last mile planning, including customer connectivity, is very accurate. The planned quantities and the theoretically most optimal quantities can hardly be more different than 1%. Traditionally, this figure is seldom lower than 3%.
• Pilferage Control: As the GIS data model is very close to the actual scenario on the ground, pilferages and misappropriations of network infrastructure material are totally eliminated. This could save between 1 and 2% of the network cost.
• Repairs and Maintenance: With the help of high precision map product, coupled with decimeter GPS, repair and maintenance works can be automated to a large extent and the cost drastically reduced. This can save up to 70% of the cost of the repairs and maintenance of the network.
• Resale of Map Data: Often, Indian utilities are found to be footing the full cost of data acquisition. With the high precision “Fine” data product, utilities can recoup more than their investment by selling the map data even across industry. This is extremely difficult with “Coarse” mapping products as many GIS users will eventually find it inadequate.

Investments in GIS

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