GIS Manager Kenny Ratliff, Oldham County Water District, collects utility data. (Photo: Eos Positioning)
Across North America, the use of high-accuracy GNSS technology has proliferated among water and wastewater service providers. Water utilities are saving time, cutting operational expenses, and definitively improving the accuracy of their asset management systems by capturing survey-grade location data.
Oldham County Water District serves more than 8,300 residences with 369 miles of pipeline in rural Kentucky. In 2001, the utility digitized its assets for the first time. In 2016, they decided it was time to improve the assets’ accuracy. GIS Manager Kenny Ratliff deployed ArcGIS Collector, iPad 2 mobile devices, and the Arrow Gold GNSS receiver by Eos Positioning Systems. As a result, OCWD was able to more quickly arrive exactly at the location where meters were to be replaced. With the savings of time, labor and fuel, OCWD cut the cost of installing each water meter by half, from $212 to $111.
Other water utilities are using GNSS technology to improve the office-to-field workflow, accelerate deployment of new systems, and map buried pipelines.
WaterOne found itself stuck in the past. The independent public utility knew that its workflow for collecting geospatial data was broken.
WaterOne serves a 272-square-mile area on the Kansas side of the Kansas City, Missouri, metropolitan area, which has a population of 420,000, 145,000 metered accounts and 2,685 miles of water pipes. The survey/geospatial staff consisted of three analysts, two editors, one programmer and one GPS collector. By 2016, less than 40 percent of the water features had been captured with GPS.
The staff was using legacy GNSS handhelds — operators had to return to the office every night and physically download their data.
Besides being time-consuming, the operators would become frustrated by the antiquated system. Sometimes the handhelds wouldn’t sync to the computer, or files for download would be hard to find. Also, the GNSS handhelds had a tiny screen, making it difficult for operators to see background data in the field. The handhelds’ limited computing power meant the entire water system couldn’t be loaded onto it.
WaterOne turned to a new workflow using Panasonic ToughPad tablet computers and Eos Positioning Systems’ Arrow 200 RTK GNSS receivers mounted on a range pole (see photo).
The Arrow 200 receiver connects to the Panasonic ToughPad via wireless Bluetooth link. The ToughPad has a Verizon SIM card for internet connectivity, used for two purposes:
Connecting to the Missouri Department of Transportation RTK network to receive RTK corrections for centimeter accuracy;
Connecting to the WaterOne ArcGIS server in real time from the field.
Whenever the field tech collects data, the data syncs up with ArcGIS server. This eliminates the task of having to physically download the data at the end of the day.
The new workflow also provides near real-time updates to WaterOne’s geospatial information system. This means that if five techs are in the field collecting data, they can each see the map updated in near real time.
The ToughPad tablets have a large, sunlight-readable 10-inch display. The large displays combined with the new data-collection software allows the field techs to view the entire GIS water system on the tablets. The field tech can now “see” all of the water system assets — pipes, valves, fittings, hydrants — around them. This significantly improves productivity over the legacy GNSS handhelds.
Street maps and aerial photos were loaded on the ToughPad to give the field techs a choice of background data to view.
The result? Compared to the 1,767 GPS points collected in 2016, the WaterOne team has collected 5,770 just in the first four months of 2017.
Like thousands of water utilities across the U.S., the City of Sebring, Fla., Utilities Department is tasked with providing a safe and reliable water supply, while managing all the dispersed assets of the water distribution and wastewater systems. This means regularly locating, mapping and inspecting assets to maintain service levels and operations.
This City of Sebring storm drain runs down the center of a street. (Photo: TerraGo)
When Sebring evaluated this approach, the city received a quote for geographic information system (GIS) software that was more than $30,000 and bids for surveying services that were as high as $300,000, which didn’t include the mobile tools to collect the data or integration with the existing CAD system.
“We could see the traditional GIS and GPS approach was going to eat us alive cost-wise,” said Mark Kretz, water plant operations, Sebring Utilities.
Sebring Utilities then researched mobile products to see if other organizations had field success using iPads and iPhones to do the work. Sebring still needed to achieve survey-grade accuracy — sub-meter, centimeter-level in some cases. This is impossible with an iPhone or iPad out of the box, which delivers 5 meters at best.
Installation of a storm drain in Sebring. (Photo: TerraGo)
Some tasks, such as mapping an underground valve, need sub-foot or better accuracy. Other tasks, such as locating an aboveground valve, could be seen within 3 to 5 meters, so just the iPad would work.
Mark Kretz, Water Plant Operations, City of Sebring, conducts water asset inspections and maintenance. (Photo: City of Sebring)
CAD integration. Sebring also needed to be able to utilize computer-aided design (CAD) diagrams on its mobile devices to identify and locate valves and other assets in the field. In the past, the utility relied on printed CAD drawings, a cumbersome and costly solution. Plus, with time of the essence when containing a leak, workers wanted on-demand access on their mobile devices.
With the multitude of assets from fire hydrants to valves to sewers, the data collection and maintenance work varied greatly. Sebring needed a way to create custom forms and workflow processes, and be able to modify them over time or create new ones when needed.
In the end, the city opted to deploy TerraGo Edge on iPads. With TerraGo Edge, Sebring was able to integrate with GPS receivers that pair to iPads or iPhones via Bluetooth because the product is fully integrated at the software level with Apple-certified GPS receivers. This enabled the city to cut costs, bring surveys in-house and improve response times for repairs. TerraGo Edge also delivers custom forms, CAD diagrams and survey-grade accuracy.
“On a day-to-day basis, the biggest benefit is that we get the ease of use of an iPad, and didn’t have to buy and use proprietary GPS handhelds, which are more complex and vastly more expensive,” Kretz said.
CAD on iPhone with TerraGo Edge. (Image: TerraGo)
Edge benefits
Cost savings of 90 percent over traditional GIS and GPS systems
The City of Sebring, Florida, has deployed TerraGo Edge for utility asset inspection and management. According to a TerraGo press release, using its software has enabled the city to cut costs, bring surveys in-house and improve response times for repairs.
Like thousands of water utilities across the United States, the City of Sebring Utilities Department is tasked with providing a safe and reliable water supply, while managing all the dispersed assets of the water distribution and wastewater systems. To do this, Sebring needs to constantly locate, map and inspect the assets to maintain service levels and operations.
To avoid the high cost of traditional GPS technology and services, Sebring researched mobile products to see if other organizations had field success using iPads and iPhones to do the work. They found TerraGo Edge could deliver custom forms, CAD diagrams and survey-grade accuracy.
“The deployment of TerraGo Edge saved the City of Sebring the expense of a traditional GIS and GPS solution, as well as the cost of surveying services, which could have run over $300,000,” said Mark Kretz, Water Plant Operations. “On a day-to-day basis, the biggest benefit is that we get the ease of use of an iPad, and didn’t have to buy and utilize proprietary GPS handhelds, which are more complex and vastly more expensive.”
