Quick Facts
LOCATION
Pennsylvania
MARKET EXPERTISE
Oil & Gas
SERVICES
- Program management
- GIS Mapping
- Surveying
- Engineering
The client delivers efficient and affordable natural gas services across Pennsylvania. Their extensive pipeline network requires continuous infrastructure information updates to meet government regulations and ensure reliable energy services for their customers.
Project goals
Public utilities have been around for more than 100 years and have endured mergers, acquisitions, and many other changes. This results in a constant battle of data inaccuracies and operational challenges. A more robust solution was needed – one that could provide a reliable, single data source to be used across all functions. Our client required an updated plan for mapping and monitoring their distribution network. This included GIS documentation of all meter stations, curb boxes, and service lines within their territory, or approximately 660,000 sites and roughly 5,400 miles of underground service lines. Having this data mapped allows our client to respond more rapidly to severe weather and outages. Gas Operations can use the additional data to take a more surgical approach against any safety concerns. This allows utility crews to locate shut-off points quicker and more accurately and with reduced impact on surrounding service areas, benefiting both customers and employees. Customers may also see financial benefits due to the utilities potentially lowering future maintenance costs.
Outcomes
Using customized equipment and the ArcGIS Field Maps mobile application, our team was able to gather GPS positions at an accuracy of +/- 1 foot, collected pertinent information about each site, attached photos, and uploaded the data in real-time to the project’s web-based mapping portal. Our team also created intuitive operation dashboards to perform quality control, track metrics, and monitor progress. This process ensures the highest quality product is delivered to the client while maintaining strict schedules and contracted budgets.
Due to the largely urban and residential nature of the work, specialized safety training and processes were developed and implemented to inform our field data technicians performing the work. Technicians identified potential areas of concern during the mapping project, allowing the client to take corrective action ahead of a safety incident. The product is a robust data center, which gives a new perspective on our client’s gas network, allows better relationships within the GIS system, and provides more opportunities to continuously improve gas operations.
By combining expertise in survey, data mapping and engineering, our teams have supported our clients’ needs in natural gas distribution mapping. Perfecting program workflows along the way, we’ve been helping our clients find new ways to get more value from the mapping data.
