Automation of TV Inspection Sewer Data
A detailed review of the automated systems available on the market was conducted. This review demonstrated that there was no system available on the market that met all the specific requirements identified by Halton users.
The main objective of the proposed automated system was to ensure that there was current, consistent, reliable, and functional data available and accessible to support the decision making process.
To meet this objective the requirements of the new system were identified and documented. The needs identified for the new system were to:
- Allow all approved staff the ability to order and track new CCTV reports;
- link the data to GIS (Geographic Information System) data;
- identify pipe deficiencies in a consistent manner;
- estimate the pipes remaining service life;
- identify upgrade/replacement options;
- prioritize work order activity;
- schedule further inspection or evaluations;
- link to the Systems Operations group Work Order Management, and
- provide for remote access of the information to outside field staff and district offices.
Intranet Based Document Management
The first step in streamlining the existing manual process was to scan all of the relevant or current paper reports (over 16,000) that were stored in separate district offices located throughout Halton. The industry standard JPG file format was chosen and used for the scanned file format. A database structure was also developed that allowed Halton to record the pertinent attribute information associated with each report. This information consisted of the following:
- The date of the inspection;
- The location of the survey (including street names and the municipality);
- The contractor that carried out the survey inspection;
- Linkage of the documents to actual pipe ID’s in GIS; and
- Capture pipe material and survey lengths.
This attribute information was collected and entered in an MS Windows based application developed with Visual Basic. The input application ensured that all of the required data fields were populated before any data was uploaded into the main system. Once the scanned images were available, and the required data fields were populated, the input application had the ability to automatically upload the renamed report image files. The newly obtained report information, along with image names, was then populated and made available in a centralized multi-user database system. Access to the scanned reports and data was made available by developing a custom intranet based application. This Web based application was designed to query and report on the available reports based on street names and municipality name. A component based on ESRI’s Internet Map Server was developed to allow users the ability to navigate an interactive map of the Region. To accomplish this task the user simply selects a sewer pipe on the map,
and the available reports are displayed.
