Making a GIT Tossed Salad - Cost Sharing Opportunities Between Government and Utilities

Making a GIT Tossed Salad - Cost Sharing Opportunities Between Government and Utilities

John A. Middlestead
Manager, Distribution Drafting & MARS Technical Services
Michigan Consolidated Gas (MichCon), 3200 Hobson
Detroit, Michigan 48201 USA

Understanding the Ingredients Needed to Make a GIT Salad
Just like the vast variety of salad recipes we can all select from, government and utilities have mixture of geospatial information & technology (GIT) ingredients that they require or put into the design mix. Understanding the different needs and expectations between government and utilities / telecommunications / other companies, is the first step to developing a "lowest common denominator". Government, it could be argued, has a wider variety of needs for a geographic information system (GIS) than does a utility. Since government is made up of a many different departments, each with their own unique requirements, it is difficult for the agency in its totality to come to a common agreement let alone working with outside companies.

To understand how diverse GIS's have become one only needs to go to the Web and search under "Geographic Information Systems". Hundreds of web sites are available for review. It is not hard to see how government has used the technology creatively to address a magnitude of issues. Crime statistics, environmental issues, land use zoning, tax assessment and valuation, E911 vehicle routing, school district boundary setting and busing analysis based on student population shifts, soil mapping, police and fire coverage / statistics, etc. These are all in addition to public works applications such as road construction and maintenance, sewers, signage and lights. Whenever one talks to governmental agencies there are issues of land base accuracy, including required photography and planimetric, cadastral and cultural land captured features, etc. The understanding of exponential cost increases based on increased land feature / photographic accuracy is not always understood until the bids arrive. Even then, based on perceived requirements by various individuals, some will hold out until monies are available for the accuracy they demand. Obviously, in today's day and age, something is better than nothing for governmental agencies and utilities verses waiting for the perfect solution at next to no cost.

An electric, gas, water, pipeline or telecommunication company has differing needs as well. Above ground facilities do not require as much location accuracy as below ground facilities, both from a land base and facilities standpoint. Land is almost a necessary evil to many companies while tracking assets is critical. As a result, great debates have occurred regarding land base accuracy requirements between utilities. For below grade utilities it is critical that the facilities be located off of a right-of-way / property line or edge of pavement with an accurate dimension noted on the GIS. Land accuracy is important with below grade utilities. The question is how far to go with the accuracy requirement. When it comes to facility placement, most below grade utilities utilize a fairly accurate land base and "relative" accuracy for facilities. The most common reason for relative accuracy is the inherent over-plotting of facility data that can occur with detailed mapping. The accuracy of land base becomes even more important to utilities and telecommunication companies when their GIS is tied to a work management system (WMS). This is due to using the GIS for "points and spans" design and cost estimating. The more accurate the land base and facility placement, the more accurate the construction cost estimate.

What Is Common to the GIT Salad

Aerial Photography / Imagery
Sometimes a common requirement for both government and companies, although some have elected not to develop their landbase from scratch but rather jointly develop or purchase from an outside firm / vendor. With data storage becoming very inexpensive some agencies and companies are electing to use digital orthophotography / imagery as a backdrop to vector line work for facilities and limit land to street centerline, for example
Land Base Features
Common land base features that government and companies have included in their respective GIS's include the following. While certainly not an all-inclusive list it does cover the many of the feature of interest. Various descriptive text along with the graphics is part of the features.

Typically, government and utilities require some pictorial basis to locate a land feature or facility against. Some may use an intelligent street centerline method to locate a parcel or address. The majority of utilities will have a right-of-way and/or an edge-of-pavement land fabric to orient their facilities against. Government always has a full set of parcels in addition to right-of-ways to track property values and the size of each parcel. This requirement is many times cited as why the need for +/- 2 ½ foot accuracy or better is needed for orthophotography.

While these basic items may have some commonality, there are differences. The main differences between government and utility companies is that government must meet the needs of their own departments, which in large cities is significant, as well as the community and various businesses at-large. Land and property information is critical for zoning, tax assessment, title searches, etc. On the flip side, utility companies are interested in their facilities, how they are connected and where they are located. While land information is important to locate facilities, it is not the primary focus of a GIS. Given the two different points-of-view one can see why it is so difficult for reaching an agreeable partnership.

Finding the "Lowest Common Denominator"

Interest to Save Money
Government is faced with providing much better service to the taxpayers while at the same time having to live within their respective means. Raising taxes to pay for incremental products and programs is political suicide. Obviously, doing more with less has hit government as hard as competing utility companies learning to deal with deregulation. Government especially is looking for inexpensive ways to get into GIS / GIT through partnerships however, interactions with the private sector is new territory for many agencies. In many cases, polarization can occur as both, or multiple, parties seek fairness in obtaining an agreement for required products.

Utilities and telecommunication companies as well are seeking to reduce costs and increase revenues, especially now that deregulation is here. The idea of giving away an existing land base or paying the full cost of a custom land base is not the way that most companies are thinking. Given all the difficulties, how can an agency or company go about getting started with a cost-sharing project? A first step might be to analyze what the "lowest common denominator" is.

First Steps and Cost Sharing Analysis
MichCon and it's land base vendor in 1997 started a project of aerial photography and GPS ground control for the Traverse City area of the lower peninsula of Michigan. From that area of approximately two townships digital orthophotography was produced along with a digital terrain model (DTM). MichCon along with its vendor attended a conference in Michigan known as Imagin, which brings governmental agencies together for GIS education. At this event, MichCon's plans were shared and discussions started with two counties who were part of the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments. MichCon and its vendor then started developing the opportunities that were available and different options available. The following table suggests some of the options and potential cost sharing opportunities.

GIS Component	Opportunity For Cost Sharing
Aerial Photography	High
GPS Ground Control	High;
DTM	High
Digital Orthophotography	High, at 1.5 foot ground resolution; 4 square mile area; 1”=400’ digital orthophotograph; flight at 15,840 which results in an aerial negative scale of 1”=2,640’; each 1”=400’ ortho = 59mb.
Vector Land Features - Planimetric	Medium to Low
Vector Land Features - Cadastral	Medium to Low

Digital Orthophotography

What is it?
In the deregulated utility and telecommunications industry, companies require land-base mapping that is accurate and complete. The search is on for low cost land base mapping that can support detailed planning especially in areas where customer density is suburban or rural. Digital orthophotography meets these criteria. Until the later 1990's, however, utilities required large, powerful, expensive computer systems to manage and manipulate digital orthophotography and other high-resolution imagery. With the advent of powerful, low cost computer systems, digital orthophotos became a viable alternative to traditional vector land-base maps in AM/FM/GIS systems. A digital orthophotograph is a geographically referenced high-resolution scan of an aerial photograph. The distortions caused by minor anomalies in the camera lens, relief on the earth's surface, and tip and tilt of the airplane at the moment of exposure is removed through a rigorous mathematical process. The resulting geo-referenced image provides an excellent land-base map for AM/FM/GIS applications. As accurate as vector based maps, digital ortho's provided the added benefit of being a much more complete source of information.

Due to the high cost of vector based mapping, many utilities are reluctant to update their land-base maps. Less costly to create in the first place, digital orthophotos also have the advantage of being less costly to update than their vector predecessors. Unless major construction has occurred, the DTM surface created during the original orthophoto project can be reused, saving considerable project fees. Typically, the ground control information can also be reused in the update digital orthophoto project. These factors combine to create update project fees as much as 50% lower than the original project costs.

Noted below is a sample digital orthophotograph. Some degradation of the resolution will be noted due to dpi constraints.

1.5 Foot Ground Resolution - Zoomed in area
Common "Ingredients" Reached
Our land base vendor started working with us on contractual possibilities for producing digital orthophotograph land products for the rest of Northern Michigan after great interest was expressed from several of the county governments. MichCon's initial agreement with Emmet and Charlevoix Counties was fairly complex given the fact that an agent for the State of Michigan was involved in a three-way partnership. All products leading up to and including the digital orthophotography were included in the cost sharing agreement.

Since then MichCon has reached agreement with Otsego, Grand Traverse and Antrim Counties with other counties being targeted for additional discussion.

Contractual Issues and Ownership

Different Ways to Address Ownership of the Product
While it is easy to come to an agreement in principle between two parties such as a county government and a utility such as MichCon there are key issues contractually that must be addressed. They include:
1. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
2. Competition Issues - Deregulated For Profit Companies
3. ship of the Data / Copyright Protection
Of Information Act (FOIA)
FOIA, is a U.S. federal law whereby any individual can request and receive government information that has been developed for the cost of reproducing that product(s). This Act includes reproducing various GIS and / or land products for the cost of that product(s). Some States have written laws that acknowledge that the cost of a GIS is above and beyond what was intended with FOIA and that a fair return on the investment is in order as far as fees to the requestor goes.
Competition Issues - Deregulated For Profit Companies
A utility, such as MichCon, must question the possibility that a competitor can walk into a governmental agency and demand for the cost of reproduction digital photography that cost thousands of dollars to produce. What incentive is there to cost share with an agency except the good will it produces? This is a real concern in a deregulated world where previous franchise areas were cut and dry as to ownership.
Ownership of the Data / Copyright Protection
A way around FOIA and the competitive issues is to institute copyrights on the products. If MichCon owns the products and has the county under contract as a license holder then it helps the county out as far as the "sticky" points with the requestor demanding the products for cost of reproduction. In most cases this is the approach MichCon has taken under its agreements. A "competitor" clause has been instituted in the agreements whereby MichCon is not looking to restrict a competitor from the data but rather that the competitor equally share in the cost of producing the products. Where a county prefers to own the data, MichCon has negotiated a lesser share of the cost to produce the products, but even in these cases we have inserted the "competitor" clause.

Partnerships

Photography Updates
Once the partnerships have been established and the original products are produced it is easy to update, and less costly to produce. It provides a "win-win" for the parties involved. Providing that the parties can agree to a frequency of reflights and that the area has changed enough to justify the reflight, the possibility for a long relationship exists. Government, in most cases, requires photography once every ten years (typically on a census year) or every five years where population growth / shifts are evident. This can be synchronized with the utility and its planning.
Networking
Utilities depend on government for the processing of permit requests in order to do their construction. Typically, when a company has built relationships with an agency it can result in improved service. Like most of us, if we have a good relationship with an individual we are more prone to return the phone call or process the request. By teaming with the agency on GIS it can build towards an improved level of service in other areas.
Data Sharing
It is MichCon's belief that with our new partners in Northern Michigan that we can give and receive reciprocal benefits in the area of land updates. Most utilities have a very difficult time keeping land and facilities current. Any data sharing is a help, and in this case any vector land base update information will reduce our need to develop safeguards where we can insure that we get notification of updates. While MichCon does not have any agreements in place yet we expect that to be our next step.

Conclusion
MichCon has undertaken a significant step in cost sharing with governmental agencies. While other multi-participant projects have occurred in the United States, we have found in our case that by starting with the "lowest common denominator" GIS products our chances for a common agreement are improved. Contractual issues can be dealt with; however, a company and agency must understand the issues from both parties' perspective. When this occurs, a longer-term relationship can be built upon whereby a true "win-win" scenario can be achieved.

References:
Contrucci, Kirk, 1998, "The Use of Digital Orthophotos in Automated Mapping / Facilities Management Systems"; AM/FM International Conference XXI Proceedings, pp. 115-119