Geospatial
Infrastructure Software
TELVENT MINER & MINER (TM&M)
TM&M is in the development and implementation
of ESRI's ArcGIS software for
utilities.
ArcFM Solution is their most popular
collection of tools for managing, modeling,
and editing facility and land base
data for the enterprise, which is built on a
generic and open platform.
ArcFM leverages the power of the
ArcGIS architecture and facilitates the
integration of GIS with other enterprise
systems. The different modules available
under ArcFM can be listed in the below
table,
- Network Adapter
- Integrated Analysis Tool
- Used in the electrical networks to balance load across their networks
and plan for future expansion and to support the integration of GIS with
system planning tools
- Provides tools to extract a model from the GIS and load the data to an
analysis engine via XML.
- Conduit Manager
– Underground FM Component
- An extension to the ArcFM™ Solution to support underground facilities
management.
- Used in the underground network systems for functions, such as duct
space joint use, call-before-you-dig, and cable placements
- Also provides the ability to manage the internal representation of underground
structures, including manholes and vaults, by allowing users to create,
edit, and view the internal structures.
- Redliner Extension
- As an extension for ArcFM Viewer, it provides the ability to redline,
sketch, and place graphics to support initial design, inspection work, or
map adjustments in the ArcFM solution.
- ArcFM Engine and Server
- This provides ArcFM objects and developer kits to leverage the power of
the ArcGIS Engine and ArcGIS Server products.
- It supplements ESRI's ArcGIS Engine components for developing
focused stand-alone view, edit, and query applications with ArcFM and
ArcGIS functionality.
- ArcFM Server supplements ESRI's comprehensive ArcGIS Server toolkit
for enterprise and Web application developers.
- Inspector Extension
- Allows mobile and desktop users to edit existing feature attributes and
manage related objects to support workflows for inspections, joint-use
attachments, cathodic protection, pole surveys, transformer audits, leak
detection, damage assessments, and overall updating of attribute data.
- Also provides comprehensive redlining and sketching functionality within
the ArcFM Solution.
Quality infrastructure is a key requirement
Dr M. K. Munshi, Sr. Executive Director, Rolta India Limited
Global Trends
The global trend in terms of infrastructure provision is to provide better
quality of services to citizens and businesses. Every country wants to
attract investments and hence, good infrastructure becomes a basic
requirement. The other aspect is the quality of infrastructure. For
instance, good quality transport infrastructure is needed for transporting
people, goods and services from one place to another. The fundamental
objective of providing quality infrastructure is to promote and
develop good business and commerce. Cost effective management of
an existing infrastructure is also very vital. This is why urban authorities
require a robust information system having a geospatial base to find
out the location of different physical entities. Another area is the planning
of new infrastructure. Here, the geospatial technologies become
an essential component to understand how to create new infrastructure
without harming the environment. In case of software modules,
specific applications are developed on top of core GIS platforms to
meet the requirements of specific utilities like electricity distribution,
power network, water network, sewage system, telecommunication
network etc.
Products
Rolta works on solutions and not on out-of-the-box software. Customisations
are required on existing commercial software module to meet
specific requirements. Each utility needs a different software for consumer
indexing, load flow analysis, emergency response etc. In Rolta,
core technology is provided by Intergraph's GeoMedia and G/Technology
(for utilities and communication). Thereafter, a lot of features are
built internally by Rolta to provide total solution to its customers. The
geospatial technologies are both web and desktop based.
Clientele
Rolta's clients in the urban infrastructure domain include urban authorities
(Nagar Nigams) of the cities of Allahabad, Gorakhpur, and Lucknow
in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. In the road network segment,
Rolta developed a web-based information system for the road
network managed by the Maharashtra Public Works Department. The
organization was also involved in a pollution monitoring project of
World Bank for the Gujarat Pollution Control Board. Rolta's clients in
the utilities and communication sectors are MTNL (Mahanagar Telephonbe
Nigam Ltd.), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Brihan Mumbai
Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST), Eastern Power
Distribution Company Ltd. (EPDCL) and others. In the transport sector,
Airport Authority of India is a major client. Rolta provided both web and
desktop-based solutions for managing infrastructure within the Delhi
and Jaipur airports.
A large number of projects were sucessfully completed by Rolta in
USA, Far East and the Middle East. For instance, the whole of Dubai
Emirates having an area of 5000 square kilometres was mapped by
Rolta for Dubai Municipality at 1:1000 scale (for urban areas) with 10
cm accuracy.
Future
In India, geospatial technology is yet to pick up pace. In the future, we
will witness huge amount of conversion of legacy data into geospatial
information technology for not only managing existing infrastructure
but also for planning new infrastructure. Also, more businesses will be
using GIS in their operations as the return on investment is quite high.
GE SMALLWORLD
Smallworld was a GIS company for GIS in
utilities and communications, which was
acquired by GE Energy, a division of General
Electric, in 2000. It supports application
products for communications, utility
and public systems organizations. The
different components offered are
- PowerOn outage management
- Smallworld Design Manager for engineering
design
- Smallworld Network Inventory for
telecommunications
- Smallworld Spatial Intelligence for business
analysis
It has functionality for automation of
design activities, modelling and tracking
entire design, construct as built process.
GE Energy's Smallworld GIS platform is
based on an object-oriented programming
language called Magik and database
technology called Version Managed
Data Store (VMDS) for storing and analyzing
complex spatial and topological data.
The native smallworld datastore can be
stored in Oracle. This allows the use of
Oracle facilities for backups and recovery.
GE Smallworld has the following products,
- Smallworld Product Suite Technology
- Smallworld Core Spatial Technology
- Smallworld Design Manager
- Smallworld Network Inventory
- Smallworld Field Infomation System
- Smallworld Internet Application Server
- Smallworld Spatial Intelligence
- Smallworld Watch Blog (independent
from GE Energy).
Please note: There might be some products or companies, overlooked in
the article, this is not intentional. If you find any, do write to us, we will publish
them in the subsequent issues of GIS Development