A case of Work Flow in Transmission Line Utility Sector
Spatial Data Capture Process
InfoTech's Photogrammetric division, identified the framework for processing the data acquired in aerial photogrammetry in a format directly integrateable with a GIS system.
Figure 1.0 illustrates a possible scenario in data capturing using a Air borne techniques & the associated processing for data product generation. Table 1.0 list and compares conventional techniques in spatial data capture process & their relative merits.
Design of Desk Top GIS System to Support Utility Managers in Maintenance & Operations
InfoTech's Geographic Services team worked in identifying crucial requirements in utilities services and developed a pilot architecture in addressing the same. The primary task of the team was in design of a desktop Transmission Line Reviewing system which would address points such as:
- Spatial data integration acquired from Aerial Mapping
- Inspection & maintenance
- Engineering & planning operations
- Real Time Routing
- Integration with conventional tabular database
- Report generation
- Vegetation Management
The system flow designed is outlined in figure 2.0 below. The Framework of the architecture consists of Clients, Services, and Management. ArcView GIS (Desk top GIS product of Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc.,) provides the basic high-end geographic information systems (GIS) and mapping services for the GIS functionalities that are required for the application. The entire framework of the desktop system can be customized in a single user interface through the customization environment Avenue, available in ArcView.
ArcView GIS offers the extensibility to attach additional features to the primary design, such as the extension 3d analyst can be interfaced with the design for terrain analysis, line of sight analysis and other 3 dimensional analysis that might arise in a typical Transmission Line operations and maintenance.
The Network Analyst extension support the users in routing analysis such as routing to any transmission line facility with turn-by-turn directions, accurate travel time calculations and distance figures.
Image Analyst extention for analysis of Digital imageries for cases of temporal analysis, vegetation growth study, Thermal anamolies detection etc.
The Sag analysis of Power Lines can be addressed by integrating ArcView with SagSec (a product of Powerline Systems Inc). This module can support users in
calculating the section static equilibrium configuration for arbitrary combinations of: 1) sagging conditions, 2) wind velocity and direction, 3) balanced or unbalanced ice, 4) temperature, 5) broken conductors or insulators, 6) slack redistribution through offsets or other means and 7) support relocations with a fixed length of cable between the dead ends etc.
Tabular data integration with ArcView GIS is
achieved by ODBC support to custom RDBM's. Report generation feature
can be handled by Crystall Report access within ArcView GIS.
Optionally, depending upon the operational constraints, the spatial
data can be stored in a RDBM's and interfaced with the desktop
system via the Spatial Database Engine interface through ArcView.