USING GIS TO FOSTER DATA SHARING AND COMMUNICATION SEAN MURPHY IVS BURLINGTON, VT

TOPICS TO BE COVERED BASIC OVERVIEW OF GIS UTILITIES AND GIS DATA SHARING CASE STUDY: ASSETGIS

IVS INFORMATION AND VISUALIZATION SERVICES FOUNDED IN 1995, STAFF OF 8 SPECIALIZATION IN PROVIDING GIS PLATFORMS TO SMALLER USERS

SO, WHAT IS GIS? The complete sequence of components for acquiring, processing, storing and managing data (Star and Estes, 1990) It is a configuration of computer hardware and software specifically designed for the acquisition, maintenance and use of cartographic data, (Tomlin, 1990) A set of computer tools for collecting, storing, retrieving, transforming and displaying spatial data from the real for a particular set of purposes, (Borrough et al. 1998) A system of hardware, software, data, people, organizations and institutional arrangements for collecting, storing, analyzing and disseminating information about areas of the earth.

Geographic Information Systems GIS technology = “computer system for capturing, managing, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data which is spatially referenced to the Earth Uses spatial databases to capture real world information

WHAT DOES THIS MAP SHOW?

FEDERALLY OWNED LANDS

WHAT DOES THIS MAP SHOW?

Percent of population that buys salsa

Generally speaking, you use a GIS to: Map out features of interest Explore spatial relationships Discover patterns Some Examples of GIS in action…

VIEWSHED ANALYSIS VIEWSHED ANALYSIS

LAND USE CHANGE LAND USE CHANGE

3-D VISUALIZATION / TERRAIN ANALYSIS 3-D VISUALIZATION / TERRAIN ANALYSIS

CUSTOMER PROJECTIONS CUSTOMER PROJECTIONS Source: UC Berkeley GIS Center

SITE ANALYSIS SITE ANALYSIS

Introduction to Data Spatial data generally falls into three major categories: vector data image data raster data Most common for utilities are image and vector

Image Data Image themes do not have attribute tables, but their display can be manipulated with the Image Legend Editor. Image theme formats supported by ArcView are TIFF, TIFF/LZW, ERDAS, BSQ, BIL, BIP, RLC, and Sun rasterfiles. Supported image data sources include satellite data, digital aerial photographs, and scanned data such as base maps.

Vector layers either represent: –Points (no dimensions) –Lines, or “arcs” (1 dimension) or –Areas, or “polygons” (2 or 3 dimensions) Introduction to Vector Data

Data Accuracy Issues Scale Production Time G.I. = G.O.

WHY GIS? BETTER MANAGEMENT OF DATA BETTER SERVICE TO CUSTOMERS BETTER FORECASTING EFFICIENCY THROUGH SINGLE PLATFORM

UTILITIES AND MAPPING Workers need to find their way to equipment (e.g. transformers, poles, etc) and customers Maps used to show current inventory Staff also utilized analyze events (e.g. outages, surges) and plan for growth

DIGITAL MAPPING Maps originally hand-drawn, notes added manually CAD drawings represent earliest digital representation of data Automated Mapping / Facilities Management (AM/FM) enhanced map production process

EVOLUTION OF GIS IN UTILITIES Followed “New technology” infiltration model Often result of frustration as mapping grew more complex Sometimes wanted to use maps for more than engineering Staff turn-overs or advancement

ATTRACTION OF GIS FOR UTILITIES Move beyond drawings into information Ability to manage edits and data on individual entities Integration of spatial and tabular information Multiple users can access same datasets, with GUIs customized to meet their needs

CASE STUDY: UTILITY GIS UtilityGIS evolved from previous work related to asset management for towns IVS designed AssetGIS for one town, whose manager was on local utility board Recognition of need to maintain, update and visualize critical network areas

KEY CONCEPTS FOR ASSETGIS GIS-based Asset inventory and reporting tools –GASB-34 –Other reports as necessary Flexibility Easy to use at affordable price

KEY BENEFITS Ability to maintain and update inventory Long term “diary” of field conditions Reporting functions all for exporting Customer Querying

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE? Growth Analysis: Link existing network with data such as demographics, land use Capital Planning: Evaluate condition of system versus replacement costs over time Work Order Status Rate Evaluation

END PRODUCT: EFFICIENCY Decreased time spent tracking down info Decreased reliance on rule-of-them analyses Optimization of Tasks versus Crew Deployment Increased ability to anticipate field conditions due to reliable reporting