Gas Utility Completes Geospatial Conversion and Acronym (AM/FM/GIS/Cad/CIS/GPS) Integration
Al Roy LS Project Manager New York State Electric and Gas Corporation Corporate Drive, Kirkwood Industrial Park P.O. BOX5224 Binghamton, New York 13902-5224
Introduction
NYSEG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy East Corporation and provides energy delivery and related services to 811,000 electric and 250,000 gas customers throughout more than one third of New York State. A community partner since 1852 we play a large role in the communities we serve through various programs we have initiated in our service territory. NYSEG operates a gas storage facility and 7000 miles of gas pipeline to serve it’s gas customers in 230 cities, towns and villages. Gas distribution maps and facilities records are the basis of the GBU’s asset documentation and engineering, construction, operations and maintenance activities. The automation of this information and making it available throughout the organization is seen as key to effective communication and to automating and improving critical engineering and operations workflows. Project History Gas franchise expansion projects beginning in 1987 provided positive change in gas mapping and records methodology but glaringly identified inefficiencies and out of date existing maps and records. The positive changes were the impetus needed to establish the need for change based on proven productivity increases based on advanced technologies. A major require-ment was an efficient, expedient methodology for base map preparation supporting fast paced construction and documentation for final as built maps and records. After several successful expansion projects, a plan based on solid cost and schedule projections was prepared, pre-sented and approved in late 1992 with more than 1650 activity items identified in the project. The AM/FM/GIS project consisted of several primary goals:
Phase I of the conversion process was the preparation of a detailed landbase covering our gas service territory based on aerial photogrammetry referenced to the New York State Plane Coordinate System, North American Datum of 1983(NAD83). The value of a detailed accurately developed set of base maps had been proven previously in our expansion projects. A coordinated effort with the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) in 1992 as part of the High Accuracy Recovery Network (HARN) Global Positioning System (GPS) helped develop the backbone of a survey control network throughout NYSEG’S service territory. Soon after this network was completed we entered into cooperative, cost sharing, data sharing projects that would provide Tompkins County, Broome County, Niagara Mohawk, NYSEG and the Southern Tier Association of Professional Land Surveyors with many fond memories and several geodetic grade survey control networks. NYSEG then completed the entire GPS densification network required for the photogrammetric ground control. The entire network consists of more than 1200 control points. Aerial photography for our service territory was started in April of 1993 and photogrammetric mapping contracts were released and awarded based on price and professional merit. The GPS survey control points were all pre-targeted prior to aerial photography to assist in photo control identification. Digital photogrammetric landbase summary: bridges, manholes, hydrants, catch basins, large trees, fence lines. Scale: 1“=50” Knowing we were attempting an expensive base map preparation program, we initiated the first of several county’s joint mapping projects. One of these was with Tompkins County, in partnership with seven initial partners, including a major university. The entire partnership’s atmosphere was based on an economy of scale cost saving project, shared costs and services which created a win-win project that continues to this day. The principles of a landbase that everyone could use to reference each departments data to was not only a well founded principle but one that has proven it’s worth many times. This joint mapping project was in keeping with NYSEG’S long standing tradition of community project participation. All participants showed a willingness to participate both financially and through shared services. The installation of a GPS reference network of survey control monuments used as the photogrammetric ground control required for the county mapping project was one of the first shared services agreements that was completed. The economy of scale savings of large projects and the cost savings associated with several partners was instrumental in the success of Phase I of the NYSEG mapping plan. Cost savings from the county joint mapping projects were significant but more importantly proved once again the value of an accurate, detailed landbase referenced to a solid geographic reference system. With the initial success of the Tompkins County project, many additional county wide projects were completed with equal results. To date more than 120 towns and cities have been participants in our efforts to promote strong customer satisfaction at the community level. Multiple utilities and departments have participated and benefited in our vision of cost sharing and the win-win projects accomplished through the shared participation. Some of our many partners are: Dept. of Transportation, Dept. of Public Works, Dept. of Environmental Conservation Real Property Tax Mapping Services, Emergency Services 911, Police County, City and Village Highway Departments Engineering, Planning, Soil and Water Departments Consulting Engineering and Land Surveying Firms Long term commitments to sharing of data and more importantly commitments to land base map maintenance have all been the very rewarding results of teamwork and the successes that come from those commitments. Digital photogrammetric base maps were incrementally prepared geographic division by division concentrating on the divisions with the best results from joint county mapping projects. The entire landbase was completed in 1994. Continuous productivity savings were being observed with the use of the new planimetric landbase through our on-going gas expansion projects. Again and again the county-wide joint mapping projects rewarded us in many ways in dealing with the very communities and permit issuing departments we had previously worked with. We were all working on the same page in regards to the mapping base and the working relationships established in many instances helped expedite the franchise application requirements but most importantly avoided the long delays normally experienced by expansion projects. Phase II, Gas Mains Conversion Adherence to the very detailed cost and schedule developed as part of the overall project was critical to the success of the conversion plan. Conversion of paper maps and work order records to electronic maps and relational database records started incrementally one geographic division at a time. All data conversion was done in-house using a combination of personnel resources coordinated by NYSEG supervisors. Main size, material, length per main segment, Main number, work order number, year installed 13000 digital map sheets were completed in this phase. Deliverables were multiple sets of hard copy map books for all the field crews, workstations at the division offices and laptops for one-call emergency response. Applications allowing view and print capabilities were accepted for their ease of use. Locates by road name, street intersections and street address were a major part of the acceptance and allowed non computer field personnel an opportunity to see and use new technology that would actually help simplify their work and help respond to every day questions regarding the gas asset model. Seamless mapping, applications built with the end user in mind, off the shelf software, standard desktop hardware and software were all keys to the Phase II product acceptance. Updates are done centrally and distributed electronically to each division on a regular basis for map book updates, CD ROM for PC’s and laptops. A few divisions perform their own map maintenance at the division office with electronic file transfer back to the central office for final posting and QA/QC checks. Incremental deliverables division by division allowed the opportunity to receive feedback that was valuable to making the next improvements. Phase III, Gas Services Conversion Conversion of gas services data located by address tied to the spatial facility model was next. With paper records dating back in some cases to over 100 years this proved to be as challenging as we had originally envisioned. Partial gas services data collected (34 total attributes): Service line size, type, location, swing ties Length of pipe to property line, length on private property Outside meter/ inside meter CIS data (owner, loads, year installed, meter number, etc.) User friendly access to facility information by customer name, address, road name and street intersection are now available to corporate and division personnel as well as field crews through laptops updated through CD updates. Integration and Leveraging The Investment A leading network analysis program was integrated with the AM/FM model to avoid maintaining two separate graphic models. Legacy Customer Information System(CIS) data linked to the facility model for gas load data verifies demand load for the facility model. The components for hydraulic analysis are connectivity, facility information and demand information. Using a network analysis tool is the best way to verify these components and provide an additional quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedure. 160 relational database tables (customers, mains, services, regulators, source, loads, parcels, etc.) are tied to the gas facilities maps and records. GIS queries, maps or reports involving any of these elements can be used in support of various department requests for services. Additional products/applications delivered to the enterprise include: Operating maps, Leak detection maps, Cathodic protection maps Marketing analysis, sandwich customers, business surveys New franchise applications, permits, construction drawings Gas valve books, critical valves, Global Positioning System (GPS) facility location, mapping QA/QC verification GPS/laser technology digital map maintenance Hybrid raster/vector files, digital orthos, scanned aerial image rectification Digital access to tax maps and records Activity based accounting related to AM/FM/GIS functions Software capable of utilizing multiple CAD, GIS formats Automated plotting software Conclusion Upper management support throughout the project has been excellent due to solid communications, timely progress reports, acceptable incremental product deliverables and an under-budget project. Project management of a large multi-year project is critical to success and can be very demanding but extremely rewarding if managed correctly. In-house conversion of a time consuming all encompassing project is not for everyone, but in our case we were willing to be responsible for the entire conversion process. Continuing our spirit of community involvement with the many joint partnership projects we were associated with was an added benefit and helped with critical aspects of the funding process of a very long and complicated project. The New York State Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangle (DOQQ) program was another joint project completed as a partner. By embracing change through technology we are able to provide better customer service, respond quicker while making our work easier. Leveraging our investment is on-going and continues to pay dividends. | ||
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