Many Utilities Rely on Geospatial Technology as the Nucleus of Their Operations. It extends from field and operations staff to other departments, and is relied upon as the corporate plant record for assets. It is also perceived as the innovative technology source to stimulate new profitability and competitive strength.

Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) is glad to partner with T&D World magazine to share our knowledge about innovations in geospatial technologies. This year, we intend to cover the following topics in our quarterly report: GIS integration with radio-frequency identification; sensor technology and real-time geospatial applications; implications of increased data accuracy and availability and reduced data latency; enabling collaboration and data sharing with e911 systems and operations; and the changing roles of the utility including social responsibility.

Historically, GIS applications in the electric utility domain centered on operations, mapping and physical asset management. As geospatial technology has matured, expanded in scope and entered new markets, it has integrated with other enterprise systems. Next I'll describe several geospatial technologies and share how they relate to the utility industry.

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

Utility professionals are aware that GIS is rapidly changing. Here are eight major GIS applications employed by utilities nationwide:

1. Real-time facility inventory and maintenance update in the field. One trend is the use of wireless-enabled devices featuring update capability of enterprise GIS facility data via forms or edit screens and the creation of facility maintenance or inspection records.

2. Underground locating and damage prevention. Mobile devices with facility maps and data, optionally with GPS capability, are used to correctly locate and identify existing underground facilities.

3. Location-based services for outage management system (OMS), automated vehicle locating (AVL), vehicle routing and crew dispatching. Wireless mobile content services provide location-specific information to mobile users moving from location to location. OMS provides data and visual content that aids in the restoration of power loss and management of utility crews and vehicles; AVL involves visual, real-time vehicle tracking; vehicle routing involves the calculation and display of the most efficient travel routes; crew dispatching involves managing the movement of utility crews to efficiently transfer them to specific locations to perform work.

4. Automated design including voltage drop, line sag, compatible units and GIS integration. Automated design applications provide a graphical method to create facility designs with automated processing of various engineering and structural calculations required to meet utility construction standards.

5. Broadband-over-power-line (BPL) mapping and data attribution. BPL is the use of power-line-carrier technology to provide broadband Internet access through ordinary power lines. A computer (or any other device) with a BPL modem would simply plug into any electrical outlet in an equipped building to have high-speed Internet access. Mapping and data attribution refer to the entry and subsequent retrieval of BPL “networks” and associated attribute data using GIS technology.

6. Visual age analysis of field facilities. Utilities can perform graphical age analysis or coding (by color and/or symbology) of different types of utility facilities by their age or how long the facilities have been installed in the field.

7. Data migration and consolidation (M&A fallout). As a result of increased merger and acquisition activity in the utility industry, the need to address the combination or migration of existing GIS data, applications and systems between multiple utilities is becoming more common.

8. Transmission line siting and ROW management. Utilities can use GIS technology to visually display proposed sites and routes for transmission lines and corresponding ROW, along with existing installed utility facilities in the field, including land-based backdrop and legal parcel data attributes.

ANYTHING GOOD IS WORTH SHARING

As geospatial technology is integrated with other technologies and the Internet, along with the wireless nature of existing equipment and software, synergies are created. These synergies are the foundation for future growth and usage of geospatial technology. The movement has begun, and I'd encourage you to join with the flow. A good first step would be to attend GITA's Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference. See www.gita.org/gis for conference information.

Michael W. Cerkas is the technical team manager for GeoAnalytics Inc. in Wisconsin and chair of GITA's Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference. He has worked in the technology and utility industries for almost 30 years. mcerkas@geoanalytics.com