Popular Acceptance of GIS through Implementation of an enterprise-wide view and query application at Reliant Energy Cindi Salas Manager, Business Solutions Reliant Energy Houston, Texas Email: cynthia-salas@reliantenergy.com Jeff Meilandt Director, Business Partnerships GIS Technology, Inc. (GTI) Redlands, California Email: gmeilandt@gistech.com Preface Geographical Information Systems (GIS) applications have officially entered into the set of basic business tools. Today, data is not considered valid without inclusion of the related geo-information; the "who, what, when, and how much" must now necessarily include the “where” of the data. Reliant Energy has seen this evolution first hand. However, until recently, the “where” content of data has been the hardest element to technically represent. Location-sensitive information is normally a highly complex combination of X-Y points that mathematically describe location-specific data, which to be easily understood, requires a graphical, map-based display medium. In the past, expensive, highly missionspecific equipment and customized software were required to display and use GIS databases and location-based data. This report documents why this in no longer the case by describing the successful implementation of an enterprisewide view and query GIS application at Reliant. The Acceptance of GIS in the Marketplace In the beginnings of Geographical Information Systems, government and landscape-engineering markets primarily drove the research into GIS. Today, most every application that touches these markets includes GIS as the standard and central feature around which applications are designed. Within these sectors, the following uses are commonly serviced by GIS-based applications: Census related data Drivers licenses Public safety (fire/police/911) Facilities management Weed abatement and related property code enforcement Land use, design and conservation Property tax revenues Transportation design and flow management Laptops, PDAs, and mobile wireless data access further drove the business imperative to distribute complex applications that access centralized data out to non-technical branch and field staff. Prior to adopting the graphical GUI model of application design, common business applications then popular with technical and semi-technical users were too complex for wide popularity. It is only since the release of the GUI applications, coupled with the compelling force of the Internet, that desktop PCs became wildly popular. Yet despite the ease of use of the GUI Internet browsers, other business applications did not immediately adopt the Windows-standard of ease of use. The cost to software companies who failed to observe this trend is legendary. Prior to the introduction of Windows, Microsoft did not dominate the business software marketplace. Other companies dominated the database, word processing and spreadsheet markets; and those companies have seen their user base dry up in favor of Microsoft’s Office Applications Suite that fully incorporates Windows features. Microsoft’s domination of the general office application market showed the software industry that it was no longer possible to introduce a great application concept without it first passing through the human factors application design stage. This meant that the application had to adhere to the emerged new standard for corporate and home marketplace acceptance--to certain rules for well mannered, Windows-based applications. Reliant Energy is a large user of software authored by Environmental Science and Research Institute (ESRI). The Utility Industry and GIS Utilities were early adopters of CAD systems, and used them to map gas and electric grid connections. These maps were static, and had to be updated by hand. The early applications were limited to highly technical users with the skillsets necessary to record and access specific data. Ultimate users needed to request the desired data set, and the technical users would translate their requests into output. The history of GIS use within Reliant Energy generally parallels the general business community as a whole. As the usability of GIS applications improved, the diversity of applications and the number of users steadily increased. Uses now include applications such as damage prevention of underground assets, maintenance of other facility assets, right-of-way management, outage analysis and circuit modeling, streetlight billing, and various types of demographic analysis and reporting. GIS Within Reliant Energy One of the principle success factors for GIS within the utility industry has been improvements in the GUI interface. Since the work duties of the greater part of the utility user community have heretofore not been principally computer-based but now require some level of computer usage in order to achieve greater efficiency, casual users of GIS applications have driven the development of less complicated, more intuitive GUI interfaces. Improved, simplified application design with greater access to distributed server-based data is the significant factor influencing acceptance of applications in the general business community. Reliant Energy is a large consumer of GIS systems and services, and much of the GIS success story within the company parallels advancements in research and development in the general computing marketplace. In the past, Reliant Energy installed applications that required specialized computer expertise to accomplish a specific GIS-based task. Specialized GIS applications were delivered on multiple OS environments. However, when faced with deploying GIS application efficiencies enterprise-wide, throughout the organization, many areas were not staffed with sophisticated computer users. Many users were casual Windows users, accustomed to simplified and intuitive GUI application interfaces. Reliant looked for ways to solve the problem of delivering complex GIS data to a broader range of users. To meet the need of supplying its GIS user community with a simplified, low cost solution, Reliant procured a third party product, GTI View, developed by GIS Technology, Inc, a GIS software and consulting firm that specializes in ESRI GIS software. A Simplified GIS Viewing, Querying, Redlining and Plotting Tool In addition to a core group of GIS data editors (approximately 100), Reliant currently has more than 1000 'viewers' of GIS data, and this number is continually growing. Current users represent many areas of the company--gas and electric engineering, communications, dispatching, planning, land and right-of-way, marketing, surveying, construction, operations and maintenance. A large number of these viewers require additional functionality such as redlining and plotting. To accommodate these requirements, Reliant selected "GTI View", an inexpensive solution for providing many users with GIS capability, and worked closely with the vendor to develop the tool to meet their needs. The tool provides basic GIS functionality (pan, zoom, and queries such as identify and locate) using files prepared in advance coverages or shape files. These are displayed with full cartographic quality. "Relates" are performed between spatial data layers and database tables; and sophisticated queries are performed including buffering, SQL expression queries, and interactive queries with a mouse. Additional features include an overview window showing the map extent, address matching, and reporting in a number of formats. The tool can be a stand-alone product or networked, and it is used in both capacities throughout Reliant. Data can be downloaded from an FTP server on the fly, on an asneeded basis. Vector image layers (HPGL2) are displayed, so that as you zoom in, the quality of the image does not diminish as with raster bitmap images. Used in conjunction with a gateway product, HTTP requests are sent to ArcInfo servers. Full Cartographic Rendering One of the dilemmas in providing desktop mapping functionality is the choice between software cost and the cartographic quality of the display. Most lightweight packages compromise cartographic quality in order to provide low cost. This problem is solved by rendering maps prepared in advance by heavyweight GIS software. The maps can be stored as raster images or as vector plot files. In either case, the map base is organized in a spatially continuous catalog structure that permits rapid and seamless display with full cartographic quality. Users can pan and zoom just as they would ordinarily, but the display is generated very quickly and with the same detail you would expect from the more sophisticated but complex products. Shape File Query and Rendering In addition to displaying and rendering image and plot files, the tool can query and render shape files, providing the ability to render plot files with full cartographic detail and still query and highlight shape files. Users can identify features by pointing at them, and the attribute values of the feature are displayed in a table. They also locate features by entering the attribute value of the item. The map automatically pans or zooms to display the feature. Features in the active layer can be selected and are highlighted in the map view. Users construct queries using several methods, including queries to select map features by using Locate, Buffer, and Query buttons which we conveniently located on a tool bar. Reporting Users construct reports with their specified fields for the active theme, as well as browse to create reports from any dbf file. Local or Remote Data Via the Intranet Data is automatically retrieved from the corporate intranet. When data is requested, it is first looked for locally. If it can't be found locally, it searches specified remote sites until the data is found. It is then downloaded via FTP. Data retrieved remotely is maintained in a local cache (user defined cache size), which is managed to optimize reuse of the data. This yields several important benefits:
While GIS data and the basic functionality described above are sufficient for many Reliant users, some require more sophisticated query and analysis. This capability is provided via an internet gateway which provides access to the full functionality of ArcInfo and ArcView GIS through the Internet using TCP/IP. Using the gateway, the viewing tool is configured to send various requests for additional data in related tables (i.e., addresses, street light data, pole attachment info, etc.). Separate Application Utilizing Viewing Tool (ULTRA) The ULTRA project [Underground Locating and Ticket Research Application] was developed at Reliant to introduce efficiencies into the underground line locating process. Excavators are required by law to call in advance to a call center that in turn notifies utilities with underground assets which, if damaged during excavation, could result in loss of life and/or property. ULTRA was built around a common database and the GTI viewing tool deployed on desktop and Laptop computers. In operation, users access a common, dynamic database that is updated daily. This database stores information related to the location of underground lines within the Reliant service area. The ULTRA application is deployed on Researcher desktop PCs in the office, as well as on the laptop PCs used by the Field Locators. Each day the Field Locators come into the office and download the day’s assigned stops to their laptops. At the end of the day, they upload the results of the day’s location efforts. The ULTRA project impact on its user community is significant. The primary users of the complex data maintained by ULTRA are not technical computer users, and they required a simplified, map-based UI that could be delivered to multiple computing platforms. The coupling of the viewing tool with a common database capably met this need. Future enhancement plans include the use of wireless uploads and downloads, which will allow Field Locators more productive time in the field. Because these field-computing platforms will probably include PDAs equipped with wireless connections that will connect them to the Internet, ULTRA will be accessible via multiple mobile computing platforms using a variety of OS systems, including Windows CE and Palm OS to name a few. Further future uses of GIS-based efficiencies within ULTRA include introducing dynamic routing and vehicle tracking, a GIS-based application will take the day’s assigned stops and figure out the best route from a particular starting point, while allowing the central office to monitor actual field progress. Dynamic routing takes into consideration such factors as real-time traffic flow. Based on the difference between the allocated stop time and real time, those stops in jeopardy of falling outside of standard business hours are identified; and resources can be reallocated as necessary. Dynamic routing coupled with wireless technology will also allow Field Locators to handle emergency calls as they come up, with dynamic adjustment of the stop schedule. Reliant Energy and GIS: Summary Reliant Energy has considerable experience with the deployment of end user applications into many departments with a wide range of users, delivering what is normally considered complex data. Our current approach, the use of a viewing tool enhanced with added functionality and procured under an enterprise license, has insured an efficient, economically feasible deployment method for deploying GIS. | ||
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