GPS World

Author: GPS World Staff

  • Controlling coronavirus with a mobile app to trace contacts

    Controlling coronavirus with a mobile app to trace contacts

    A team of medical researchers and bioethicists at Oxford University published results in Science that offer further understanding of coronavirus transmission.

    The evidence is enabling several international partners to assess the feasibility of developing mobile apps for instant contact tracing in record time.

    If rapidly and widely developed, the mobile apps could help to significantly slow transmission rates and support countries emerging from lockdowns as restrictions are gradually eased.

    Partners include the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) and NHSX, a joint unit comprised of teams from NHS England and the UK’s Department of Health & Social Care.

    Critically, the researchers suggest a mobile app can help slow the spread of infection until vaccines and antiviral treatments become widely available.

    “We need a mobile contact tracing app to urgently support health services to control coronavirus transmission, target interventions and keep people safe,” explained Christophe Fraser, Oxford University’s Big Data Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, an a lead author on the Science paper.

    “Our analysis suggests that about half of transmissions occur in the early phase of the infection, before you show any symptoms of infection,” Fraser said. “Our mathematical models also highlight that traditional public-health contact tracing approaches provide incomplete data and cannot keep up with the pace of this pandemic.”

    The project is co-led by David Bonsall, senior researcher at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Medicine and clinician at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital. “The mobile app concept we’ve mathematically modeled is simple and doesn’t need to track your location,” Bonsall said.

    Anonymous alerts

    “It uses a low-energy version of Bluetooth to log a memory of all the app users with whom you have come into close proximity over the last few days,” Bonsall said. “If you then become infected, these people are alerted instantly and anonymously, and advised to go home and self-isolate.

    “If app users decide to share additional data, they could support health services to identify trends and target interventions to reach those most in need,” Bonsall said.

    The authors argue that a mobile app can reduce transmission at any stage of the epidemic: in countries or regions where the epidemic is just emerging, at the peak of the epidemic, or to support a safe transition out of restricted movement or lockdown.

    It could also help to reduce the serious social, psychological and economic impacts caused by widespread lockdowns. Critically, the researchers suggest a mobile app can help slow the spread of infection until vaccines and antiviral treatments become widely available.

    Good citizenship

    “A contact tracing app can foster good citizenship by alerting people at risk,” Fraser explained. “It can also help ease us out of confinement if we know we’ve not been in contact with anyone infected we can leave home safely, whilst still protecting our loved ones and avoiding a broader resurgence of coronavirus in our community.”

    Given the level of infection across much of Europe, the team believe ongoing development of a mobile app partnership across the union would massively reduce transmission and avoid a resurgence in the number of cases, providing an opportunity for all citizens using mobile contact tracing apps to contribute towards ending the epidemic. An app strategy could also be used by low- and middle-income countries, earlier in the epidemic, to rapidly control transmission and get ahead of the epidemic now.

    The Oxford team highlight that the mobile contact tracing app should still be combined with isolation of cases, tracing and quarantine of contacts, physical distancing, scaled-up diagnostic testing, decontamination and hygiene measures.

    As Bonsall explains “If the mobile app is widely adopted in any country, and combined with other critical interventions such as physical distancing and widespread testing, our models suggest the epidemic could be brought under control. This app is a tool for each and every person affected to contribute towards protecting their health services, supporting vulnerable people and simultaneously gradually releasing communities out of extended quarantine.”

    Rigorous ethical standards

    Today’s Science study highlights the importance of rigorous ethical standards underpinning the successful and appropriate use of mobile phone technology in addressing the coronavirus pandemic, including a number of ethical requirements needed to foster well-founded public trust and confidence.

    “With transparent and inclusive ethical oversight to ensure genuine public trust, it is possible to both save lives and protect civil liberties,” said Michael Parker, director of the Wellcome Centre for Ethics & Humanities and one of the paper’s authors.

    “The app should be opt-in, provide secure data storage and privacy protection, and be informed by public and user engagement at every stage of implementation. With these guarantees and, if widely installed by users across a country or regional bloc, a mobile app could even help to end the epidemic,” Parker said.

    Official apps only

    As mobile apps launch over the coming weeks and months, the Oxford research team urges people to support official apps, developed by trusted institutions, and their partners, such as the mobile contact tracing apps under advanced assessment in several European countries.

    Fraser concludes, “Our hope is to support communities with life-saving information as the pandemic worsens and help to release countries from large-scale isolation. The maths is clear: the more people that use a contract tracing app the better chance we have of getting ahead of this epidemic and eventually stopping it in its tracks. If a country reduces the epidemic growth rate to below zero, the epidemic will rapidly decline and eventually stop. Together we can make this possible.”

    Download results

    Results of a mobile-app-focused survey from a large representative sample of the UK population (1,055 respondents) conducted March 20-22 are available here. Other country surveys are also available for Italy, Germany and France, currently in each language.

    Explore the mathematical model of COVID-19 infectiousness in an interactive online tool.

    Image: wildpixel/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Image: wildpixel/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
  • Contingency Ops, GPS III SV02 receive Operational Acceptance from USSF

    Contingency Ops, GPS III SV02 receive Operational Acceptance from USSF

    A ULA Delta IV rocket carrying GPS III SV02 lifts off from Space Launch Complex-37 on Aug. 22. (Photo: ULA)
    A ULA Delta IV rocket carrying GPS III SV02 lifts off from Space Launch Complex-37 on Aug. 22. (Photo: ULA)

    The Space and Missile Systems Center achieved a major GPS milestone on March 27 with the Contingency Operations (COps) program and GPS III Space Vehicle (SV) 02, both of which received U.S. Space Force’s Operational Acceptance approval.

    COps is an upgrade to the current GPS Operational Control System to operationally command and control GPS III satellites. These satellites are the newest generation built by Lockheed Martin, providing precise positioning, navigation and timing information with three times better accuracy, and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capability than previous generations of GPS satellites.

    The first GPS III satellite, SV01, was launched on Dec. 23, 2018, and achieved Operational Acceptance on Jan. 2, 2020. USSF made SV01 available for use by military and civilian users for critical missions worldwide on Jan. 13.

    Operating in a trial period since October 2019, COps supports developmental testing of the GPS III ground and space capabilities. The trial period culminated in a fully mission capable rating from the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center’s Operational Utility Evaluation conducted on the new GPS III satellite and COps upgrade. This event successfully completed on Feb. 20.

    Subsequently, GPS Operational Control System and COps received the second GPS III satellite — SV02, nicknamed “Magellan” — which the Space and Missile Systems Center launched on Aug. 22, 2019.

    “The COps and GPS III SV02 Operational Acceptance marks another major milestone for the GPS enterprise and presents a clear picture that the Department of Defense is moving to the future,” said Lt. Col. Stephen Toth, 2nd Space Operations Squadron commander. “Of all the programs that will be delivered this year, there are few that carry with it as significant an impact to the warfighter and civilian users as this program will. This is truly a remarkable leap forward for the GPS enterprise and the capability it provides, and I couldn’t be more proud of the team that came together to make it happen.”

    Photo: ULA
    Photo: ULA
    A ULA Delta IV rocket carrying GPS III SV02 lifts off from Space Launch Complex-37 on Aug. 22. (Photo: ULA)
    A ULA Delta IV rocket carrying GPS III SV02 lifts off from Space Launch Complex-37 on Aug. 22. (Photo: ULA)

  • Analytics and drones detect trash in San Francisco Bay

    Kinetica simplifies active analytics with Kinetica Cloud

    Kinetica, provider of the Kinetica Active Analytics Platform, has unveiled the Kinetica Cloud. Enterprises can use the full capabilities of the Kinetica platform in an optimal cloud environment, which includes historical data analytics, streaming data analytics, location intelligence and machine learning.

    Kinetica Cloud was adopted by the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI), which used the platform to detect trash in San Francisco Bay.

    “The San Francisco Estuary Institute uses Kinetica Cloud for high-performance computing and to manage thousands of high-definition images of the landscape, which our machine learning algorithm studies to detect trash,” said Tony Hale, program director for Environmental Informatics, SFEI.

    Photo: Thinkstock/Stockbyte/Getty Images
    Photo: Thinkstock/Stockbyte/Getty Images

    “With this more systematic way of monitoring when trash enters the landscape in uncontrolled ways, cities and governments that really care about the environment gain a remarkable resource to help them very quickly and effectively make decisions,” Hale said.

    “With Kinetica Cloud, organizations across industries gain invaluable business flexibility and agility to direct their mission-critical initiatives,” said Paul Appleby, CEO, Kinetica. “Kinetica Cloud gives customers the ultimate flexibility in a hybrid, multi-cloud environment, empowering them to determine where it is optimal to deploy Kinetica.”

    Organizations can use the Kinetica Active Analytics Platform on Kinetica Cloud without the complexity and wait times of deploying hardware systems and software.

    “As customers adopt active analytics, they want to start their initiatives quickly to gain insight from their data,” said Karan Batta, senior director, Product Management, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “We are very pleased that Kinetica Cloud is available for Oracle Cloud, allowing organizations to shift their focus away from infrastructure and towards bringing smart analytical applications to market faster.”

  • Esri provides mapping software for organizations fighting COVID-19

    Communities in need of resources can access location intelligence technology at no cost with six-month trial

    Logo: EsriLocation intelligence company Esri is making its software available to public and private sector organizations fighting the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    The COVID-19 outbreak has escalated rapidly across the globe, and with municipalities struggling to respond, Esri has built out resources to help organizations understand the potential impact of the disease on public health, as well as potential community risk areas and their capacity to respond.

    A COVID-19 GIS Hub site provides much of this essential data, including case locations and social vulnerability, that communities and health organizations can use to inform their response.

    To help public health agencies and other organizations jump-start their response, Esri is providing the ArcGIS Hub Coronavirus Response template at no cost through a complimentary six-month ArcGIS Online subscription with ArcGIS Hub. The template includes examples, materials, and configurations to rapidly deploy a local ArcGIS Hub environment. ArcGIS Hub is a framework to build a website to visualize and analyze the crisis in the context of an organization’s or community’s population and assets.

    “Esri has always prioritized assisting communities during large-scale emergencies and natural disasters,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “For the past 25 years, our Disaster Response Program provides data, software, configurable applications, and technical support for emergency operations. We consider it part of our mission to provide these services free of cost during this time of national crisis.”

    For more information on the complimentary software and the disaster relief support, visit esri.com/disaster.

  • A message from GPS World on COVID-19

    A message from GPS World on COVID-19

    Photo: myimages_micha/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Photo: MyImages_Micha/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    As a valued member of GPS World‘s family, we’d like to share with you a short update. COVID-19 is impacting all of us — individuals, businesses and communities — in unprecedented ways. GPS World continues to be here for you, and while working remotely, will deliver the same information resources across our print and web-based platforms. Consider bookmarking GPSWorld.com and GPSWorld.com/gps-world-coverage-of-COVID-19 or subscribe to GPS World‘s free resources, if you aren’t already receiving them.

    • Digital edition of GPS World magazine
    • GPS World‘s Navigate! weekly e-newsletter
    • GPS World‘s monthly e-newsletters, including Professional OEM+UAV, Defense PNT+Geointelligence, Survey Scene and Geospatial Solutions Monthly
    • GPS World‘s social media platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube

    Along with delivering the most relevant information GPS/GNSS professionals need to run their businesses, we will continue to share ideas and information to keep our industry moving forward. This moment in history affords us the opportunity to look at new ways to operate and stay connected with each other. With that said, we always welcome your inquiries, insights and ideas, so please reach out. We’d love to hear from you.

    Sincerely,
    Marty Whitford
    Publisher & Editorial Director

  • Cesium to collaborate with Smithsonian to stream high-resolution 3D models online

    Streaming 3D geospatial technology company Cesium will support the Smithsonian Institution by streaming 3D models of massive objects in its collection, such as the Space Shuttle Discovery. The models will be streamed over the internet in high resolution for the first time.

    The collaboration is part of the Smithsonian’s Open Access Initiative. Through the initiative, the Smithsonian will release about 2.8 million 2D and 3D images, public collections metadata, and institutional research data sets as Creative Commons (CCo) for any purpose, such as education, research, commercial endeavors, creative reuse, computational analysis, and innovative explorations.

    “The Smithsonian Open Access Initiative aligns perfectly with Cesium’s vision to make the world’s collection of data more useful and accessible,” said Cesium CEO Patrick Cozzi. “We are proud that our technology will give researchers, educators, and the public the ability to study 3D models in the Smithsonian’s collection in the highest resolution detail from anywhere in the world.”

    Cesium Stories enable 3D storytelling

    Cesium Stories enable creation and sharing of 3D geospatial presentations on the web, without requiring any writing of code. An intuitive interface enables story creation using Cesium’s 3D world terrain basemap, the user’s own 3D data, or a combination of multiple datasets, fused into interactive scenes. Learn more here.

    Making massive high-resolution 3D models shareable begins at the intersection of Cesium’s core competencies of computer graphics, 3D data and open standards. With Cesium, glTF models are converted to 3D Tiles, an open specification developed by the company and adopted by the Open Geospatial Consortium (“OGC”) to make sharing massive amounts of 3D data as simple as sending a link.

    Cesium develops, supports, and promotes open standards with organizations like the OGC and The Khronos Group to advance technology, encourage collaboration and fuel cross-disciplinary innovation.

    The Space Shuttle Discovery — on display at the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia — is one of the largest objects in the Smithsonian’s collection. It is more than 122 feet long and weighs more than 4.5 million pounds.

    Now, a shareable, high-resolution 3D rendering will enable anyone to rotate, zoom in, and study its details from anywhere in the world.

    Explore the 3D model at www.cesium.com/smithsonian.

  • GNSS key to farm of the future

    GNSS key to farm of the future

    Photo: Kamada Kaori/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Photo: Kamada Kaori/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    GPS World spoke with Guillermo Perez-Iturbe, Trimble’s marketing director – agriculture, about the challenges for farms in adopting precision agriculture, including time, cost and connectivity issues in rural areas.

    What technical challenges are faced in applying GNSS?

    GNSS technology is at the center of precision agriculture and is one of the key enablers for the farm of the future. GNSS helps boost productivity, environmental sustainability and economic competitiveness.

    Trimble’s GNSS agriculture solutions provide reliable, accurate positioning that can be tailored to meet specific needs, including different crops (broadacre vs. row crops) and activities (such as tilling, planting or fertilization). Trimble’s portfolio connects farming operations and includes guidance and steering; grade control, leveling and drainage; flow and application control; irrigation; harvest solutions; desktop and cloud-based data management; and correction services.

    However, one of the challenges to fully realize the benefits of the future farm is connectivity. Typically, ag customers are in rural areas, where the available communications infrastructure to support Wi-Fi or cellular data communications varies widely. This can impact the ability to share information between field and office as well as between machines in the field.

    But connectivity challenges have a lower impact on GNSS positioning. For example, farmers can leverage satellite-delivered corrections provided by Trimble RTX correction services using a compatible GNSS receiver and subscription service. This plays an important role in areas such as rural North America, Latin America and Australia. In many areas in Europe, farms can utilize a virtual reference station (VRS) for precise GNSS. There are also farms globally that operate their own GNSS reference networks or base stations to support accurate, high-precision, real-time positioning.

    What are the remaining obstacles to adoption?

    There is little resistance to the technology per se. The performance and value of precision farming are well known. Adoption rates can range from 80% to less than 40%, depending on geographic location, farm size (small family or large corporate farm), types of machines or crops, and etc.

    Obstacles can come from multiple forms. For example, in some parts of the world farm staff may lack the skills or qualifications needed to operate the systems efficiently. To lower the barrier to entry, Trimble has designed intuitive user interfaces and displays based on an Android operating system. In some regions, taxation and import restrictions hinder attempts to implement GNSS into precise farming. There are also business-related issues. For example, a smaller farm must prioritize its investments, and improving or repairing a planting machine might be more important than installing GNSS technologies.

    What does VerticalPoint RTK offer?

    Trimble developed VerticalPoint RTK Grade Control to help farmers mitigate issues in water management and land forming. It provides centimeter accuracy in the vertical component. This accuracy level enables the precise grading needed to provide shallow flow and slow water movement.

    When using VerticalPoint RTK, the GNSS rover receives and combines data from multiple reference stations to develop precise vertical measurements. It provides high confidence and can be used for grading, levees and berms, tile applications, and ditches. For larger-scale land forming based on precise terrain mapping, machines using VerticalPoint RTK can reduce the number of passes needed to bring the land to the designed grade and shape.

    Do you have any other RTK services for precision ag?

    The RTK technology used in Trimble agriculture solutions is consistent with RTK across other segments (construction, surveying, mapping and more). The differences are in the application and location, where we provide a variety of receivers, user displays, machine interfaces and software to produce accurate, reliable performance. The activities can range from tillage and grading to planting, adding inputs such as fertilizer or weed control — all the way through harvest. It is just a matter of talking with the farmers to understand their operations; we can then select and integrate components to optimize the solution.

    As part of this, farms using Trimble RTX correction services can choose different levels of service based on their needs. This approach enables farmers to achieve (and pay for) only the accuracy they need. For example, some basic tillage operations can use RangePoint RTX with good results. Other applications, such as fertilizing row crops, may require the 2.5-centimeter accuracy provided by Trimble CenterPoint RTX corrections service.

  • SimActive speeds stockpile measurement with drones

    logo: SimActiveSimActive Inc., a developer of photogrammetry software, released an enhanced workflow in Correlator3D to accelerate stockpile measurement. The new capability allows users to automatically assess multiple volumes within the same project and output comprehensive reports.

    If the same area is regularly flown, the new workflow also allows easy comparison of volumetric values to assess differences in time. In addition, change detection can be performed to precisely quantity variations in topography.

    “Facilitating volume calculation reduces the associated costs for our clients,” said Louis Simard, CTO at SimActive. “Our new workflow is thus a definite advantage for users in multiple industries, including mining, forestry and construction.”

  • Bluesky awarded lidar contract to map Wales from the air

    This image of Wales is color-coded to show the relative height of the land. (Image: Bluesky)
    This image of Wales is color-coded to show the relative height of the land. (Image: Bluesky)

    Aerial mapping company Bluesky International has been awarded a contract by Natural Resources Wales, on behalf of Welsh Government, to capture a high-resolution laser mapped aerial survey of the whole of Wales.

    Working alongside Natural Resources Wales and the Welsh government, Bluesky will capture the data at a resolution of 2 points per metre before processing and delivering lidar data for more than 20,000 square kilometers of rural and urban landscapes.

    The Bluesky lidar data will be employed in a range of policy areas including flood modeling, forestry management, coastline monitoring, urban planning and archaeological conservation.

    In addition to use internally by Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales, the lidar data will also be made publicly available in due course, via Welsh Government’s Lle Geo-Portal website and Bluesky’s Mapshop.

    “Historically, lidar data has been acquired over Wales at various points in time from the 1990s onwards,” said Paul Isaac, project manager at Natural Resources Wales. “However, since these datasets have been collected for different reasons a patchwork of data exists that is inconsistent in terms of capture technology, coverage and resolution. Also, many of the high-altitude, mountainous areas have not been captured at all resulting in key habitats and ecosystems remaining unmapped.”

    “This pattern of largely uncoordinated acquisitions would likely have continued with different programmes and projects funded from various sources,” he added. “Therefore, rather than different public sector bodies securing data individually — leading to inefficiencies and discrepancies — Welsh Government proposed to capture one consistent dataset to cover the whole country. A further key driver for the projects is the wider economic benefit as organizations and individuals will no longer have to fund separate data capture.”

    Bluesky was awarded the National Lidar for Wales contract following a formal tender process with responses evaluated on technical ability as well as price. All tenders were required to provide a detailed methodology of how they would complete the project to the published specification.

    “Bluesky was able to provide evidence that they could provide the required services at a competitive price,” Isaac said. “Bluesky also showed they had extensive experience in this field having successfully delivered a number of related projects.”

    “We are delighted to be working with Natural Resources Wales on this nationally significant project,” said Rachel Tidmarsh, managing director of Bluesky International. “As a team, we have great experience delivering large scale projects of this nature to the required specification and timescales.”

  • GeoComm provides GIS for California’s Next Generation 9-1-1

    Photo: sturti/E+/Getty Images Plus
    Photo: sturti/E+/Getty Images Plus

    GIS company GeoComm is partnering with Atos Public Safety LLC on its contract with the State of California to transform the state’s 9-1-1 system.

    The upgrade will turn the state’s system to a broadband communication platform. The upgrade will give California — a state with a population of 40 million, more than many countries — the ability to intelligently route, manage and deliver a broad array of real-time information to 9-1-1, including text messages.

    The change also allows for an exchange of information within the 9-1-1 centers to reduce response time, enhance situational awareness and increase first responder safety.

    GeoComm, in partnership with Atos, will serve as the State of California’s statewide Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) GIS data services provider.

    Reliable and up-to-date GIS data is critical in NG9-1-1 to ensure accurate routing of 9-1-1 calls in an Emergency Services IP Network (ESInet). GeoComm’s public-safety GIS solution will power the underlying GIS data quality delivered through the Atos NG9-1-1 IP network and the regional networks as the authoritative NG9-1-1 GIS data for the state.

    In August 2019, Atos was awarded a five-year, $198 USD million contract with the State of California to transform the state’s 9-1-1 system to leading-edge broadband communication platforms that advance emergency services for the public, 9-1-1 professionals and first responders.

    “Access to a secure, reliable NG9-1-1 IP network will have a tremendous impact on the effectiveness of communications between emergency callers and first responder resources within communities,” said Phil Rotheram, Atos. “Atos Public Safety has been entrusted to migrate some of the world’s most mission-critical environments and we are happy to partner with GeoComm in the State of California for the critical statewide GIS element,”

    “GeoComm continues to be recognized throughout the country as the leader in NG9-1-1 GIS solutions and services,” said Erik Loberg, GeoComm vice president of product management. “We are honored to be working with Atos Public Safety LLC and the State of California for this exciting NG9-1-1 transformation project as the state migrates its 9-1-1 network, advancing emergency services for the public, 9-1-1 professionals, and first responders.”

  • 1Spatial announces mobile platform for spatial data collection

    New product enables collection, correction and confirmation of spatial data in the field

    1Spatial LMAP logoThe new Location Mobile App Platform (LMAP) by 1Spatial enables easy and flexible spatial data collection in the field. Leveraging existing expertise in data management and data quality into a mobile app platform delivers an easy to use user interface, flexibility in integration and in-built validation based upon business rules.

    LMAP can be configured to provide a solution to any number of spatial data challenges facing businesses and has been made available to offer complete integration and configuration flexibility to customers. Utilities, for instance, have geographically dispersed assets and the need for quality-driven spatial data editing via a field-based workforce.

    LMAP helps guide users to capture the right data at the right time and, crucially, make sure that the data is right first time.

    “We have a host of great customers and always strive to create solutions that make all parts of data collection easier,” said Sarah Gadd, product manager at 1Spatial. “We know that our clients love the reliability and power of our patented rules engine and want to bring that to the field. Simple and powerful apps tailored to our customers’ needs is our next big step in delivering spatial data quality to every stage of the data journey.”

    For more information and for a demo of LMAP, join 1Spatial for a free webinar on March 10 at 2 p.m. GMT. Register here.

  • Are your sewers GIS-ready?

    Are your sewers GIS-ready?

    By Emily Constantine Mercurio

    Our nation’s sewers are under critical examination now more than any other time in history. The act of collecting sewage and stormwater, transporting it to the treatment system, and processing waste is no doubt a feat of science and engineering that we take for granted in the developed world.

    Sewer infrastructure is a critical public asset whose importance in modern life cannot be overestimated, and to keep things running properly takes round-the-clock maintenance and operations. It’s only when the system fails or floods that we fully appreciate our dependence on it.

    At last count, there are at least 16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment systems (also called Publicly Owned Treatment Works, or POTWs) in the United States, providing sewer service for more than 245 million people. Additionally, about 860 communities have combined sewer systems (CSS) that serve about 40 million people.

    These CSS capture both sewage and stormwater before the combined mixture is treated and either reused, recycled or discharged to the environment. In wet weather events, untreated waste and stormwater can escape capture due to overfilled combined storm sewers, known as combined sewer overflow (CSO). These CSO events can spill sewage into rivers and streams, creating a major source of water pollution across the country.

    To make matters even more complicated, the effects of climate change and increased rainfall in some areas have created new challenges to our nation’s sewer infrastructure.

    Additionally, federal and state regulations like those for municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) that discharge untreated runoff into the environment have added new demands of our publicly owned entities that manage these systems.

    A map of the continental U.S. depicting POTWs, from the EPA Facility Registry Service’s Wastewater Treatment Plants Dataset. (Screenshot: CivicMapper)
    A map of the continental U.S. depicting POTWs, from the EPA Facility Registry Service’s Wastewater Treatment Plants Dataset. (Image: CivicMapper)

    The impact of sewer overflow is especially felt in the eastern United States where the combination of aging infrastructure and increasingly frequent and severe rainfall events have presented significant challenges in the capture, handling and treatment of sewage.

    With some eastern cities receiving record rainfall in the past few years, it’s now more important than ever to understand our sewer infrastructure, including: where it is, who is responsible for it, when it was installed, how it is networked, and what are its defining characteristics. These data are essential for performing maintenance, for planning growth, and for undertaking new construction projects. The need for better understanding, visualizations, and communication of sewer data assets is a perfect use case for Geographic Information Systems.

    The Case for Mapping Sewer Networks

    There are many moving parts to a sewer network. Representing each manhole, sewer line, pump station, inlet, and outlet within a unified map requires expertise in the art and science of mapping. Spatial data from a breadth of sources like engineering drawings, as-builts, CAD datasets, spreadsheets, field surveys, sewer cameras, flow meters, and aerial imaging have traditionally been the go-to datasets for constraining the topology, attributes, and capacities of sewer networks. Additionally, new kinds of data procured from emerging geospatially-enabled technologies like subsurface robotic pipe inspections and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) provide a glimpse of where sewer map data will come from in the future. For POTWs and their stakeholders, information from both old and new sources can synergistically come together in a GIS as part of a greater asset management program.

    Creating a unified map of sewer infrastructure from many data sources requires time and effort to construct proper geospatial data topology, correct directionality, and accurate attributes. These undertakings are greatly supported by the development of data models, workflows, tool sets, metadata, and documentation that will make it easier for workers to maintain sewer data now and in the future. The added bonus of developing these data for use in a GIS is a highly valuable and functional data asset that can be used to inform operational and business processes at every level of the organization.

    An organization’s data represents the outcomes of some of the mostly costly investments and operational endeavors undertaken by that entity. When big or important projects are completed, it is the data collected during the work that lives on after staff turnover and retirements. With respect to mapping sewers, many POTWs already have much of the data they need to put into a mapping system, whether it be in a CAD file, on paper, or living in a spreadsheet. GIS liberates these data so that it becomes a living product and enables them to be leveraged in powerful ways and across multiple operational areas.

    Implementing a sewer GIS increases the return on investment of data, creates a platform for data sharing across other systems, and sets the stage for innovation and efficiency improvements.

    While creating and maintaining a sewer GIS might sound like a big-ticket item, modern mapping tools are making it more cost effective than ever before. Competitively priced software licensing, open-source GIS technologies, cloud computing, and in-browser processing can lower the costs of geospatial application development. Further, establishing geospatial data pipelines and application programming interfaces (APIs) can reduce the time needed to condition data before they are ingested into mapping systems and across multiple software platforms.

    Taking sewer GIS to the next level with network tracing

    One of the most exciting applications of a sewer GIS is the capability to perform network tracing. These traces can show the locations and direction of wastewater flow from any point within the system and are commonly performed by POTW engineering personnel. The ability to perform a sewer network trace within a GIS is valuable for several reasons.

    An example of a network trace map. (Image: CivicMapper)
    An example of a network trace map. (Image: CivicMapper)

    The trace helps operators and engineers better visualize the contributing sources to main sewers that collect wastewater from the many lateral and branch sewers that service buildings, businesses, and homes. Enabling this capability in a GIS environment makes it more accessible to other personnel, and especially those working on site. Allowing POTW easier access to network tracing through a GIS helps teams across the organization stay informed on what addresses are connected to which sewer mains, facilitating better communication and collaboration on maintenance and expansion projects.

    The network trace can operate upstream to locate which buildings might be contributing to problems downstream. From any manhole or service location, the sources of industrial or commercial waste violations or exceedances can be better identified through upstream sewer tracing. The ability to query any point along the sewer network and constrain the sewershed from that point saves time and resources of field personnel when diagnosing problems and finding solutions.

    Sewer systems are vital, publicly funded resources yet most people know very little about the way their homes and businesses connect to this system. Inviting the public to view a unified and continuous map that represents their sewer network is a great learning resource and facilitates increased awareness and familiarity with the work of the POTW.

    Once such example is the Flush-It web application. This app allows the public to interact with an engaging map that shows the path their flush takes on its way to the treatment facility. The tool was built on open source geospatial technology and uses a unified, topologically correct sewer data set as the backbone of the network trace. Applications like these are also great for educating students on the importance of science and engineering on daily life.

    The Flush-It web application, built on a sewer network GIS dataset. (Image: CivicMapper)
    The Flush-It web application, built on a sewer network GIS dataset. (Image: CivicMapper)

    The process of building a GIS of networked sewer map from a set of historic and disparate set of data sources might seem daunting for many POTWs, but the benefits of doing so profoundly outweigh the headaches.

    This type of mapping system saves time and money in the long run by ensuring that the best and most current data are shared across multiple operational units and opens up new pathways for innovation and outreach.

    As cities continue facing the complications of aging infrastructure and a changing climate, there is no better time than the present to modernize sewer data and use this amazing data resource to both protect communities and equip them with the information needed to tackle future challenges.

    Emily Constantine Mercurio is the CEO and co-founder of CivicMapper. Emily grew up in Pennsylvania’s coal country, and at a young age became interested in geoscience, maps, and the interplay of nature and human activity. Her career has centered on creating innovative, data-driven, and tangible solutions to support decisions at the intersection of our natural and built environments. She leverages more than 25 years of experience with Earth science data and geospatial technologies for leading the development of CivicMapper’s products and services. Emily has a Ph.D. in Geology and is a licensed professional geologist.