Page 8 - West Virginia

Are You Updating Your Utility GIS Data?
By Chris Akin, GISP President, Paratum Solutions
Utilities are critical infrastructure for today’s society. They supply water to our homes, funnel wastewater and sewage away to be treated, distribute oil and gas across vast distances, and supply the electric energy we need just to keep the lights on, and keep the Internet streaming to us so we can watch the next episode of “Forged in Fire” on Netflix.
Those utilities are buried in the ground during construction and all too often are forgotten about until it’s too late. Exact utility locations can quickly get lost over time until an excavator with
a backhoe or just a new homeowner driving in a post to build a fence, unfortunately, discovers the line the hard way.
Up to 10,000 gallons of water can
be lost in just a few hours when a standard half-inch pipe breaks. A single gas line hit causes a service disruption to entire neighborhoods
or communities. Damaged sewer
lines release raw sewage and foul smells, facilitate mold and bacterial growth, and may have more severe consequences such as foundation cracking and settlement or even sinkholes. A slight cut could sever
a fiber line rendering the internet
to nearly every monitor, sensor, and medical device in a hospital completely cut off. And I might also not ever find out who made the best broadsword!
Utility companies have turned to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to better centralize, document, and refine the location of their underground utility infrastructure. A GIS makes a company’s data centralized, shareable, and accessible, meaning everyone
across an organization has access to authoritative, accurate information at all times, whether in the office or in the field. Accurate utility GIS information can then be given to Texas811 to improve an organization’s data in
811’s “call before you dig” system.
The data can also be shared with
contractors, line locators, and other key stakeholders, thereby ensuring a common operating picture of the site’s utility network before any digging or construction begins.
Utility GIS data is only accurate if
there are standards and procedures
in place to ensure the data is built correctly, updated regularly, and reflects the actual as-built utility information. Utility owners need to focus on three key time frames for ensuring accurate utility information:
1. When new utilities are built or acquired;
2. When utility locations changes or are identified; and
As utilities are exposed, discovered, or marked by line locators, utility owners have a golden opportunity to collect accurate GPS locations for previously installed lines.
institutional knowledge to record these utilities. Additionally, as companies merge and acquire new infrastructure, those utilities must be added to the existing database in order to ensure a complete utility data set.
As utilities are exposed, discovered, or marked by line locators, utility owners have a golden opportunity to collect accurate GPS locations for previously installed lines. Even small segments of accurate lines can improve overall data quality tremendously. The GIS system can update those line locations and immediately share that to all key stakeholders.
Utilities are continually removed, abandoned, or sold to other organizations. If the GIS data is not updated accordingly, nonexistent utilities will continue to show on the map. Engineers, excavators, and line locators will be looking for ghost utilities that no longer exist. Planning, construction, and field time may all be delayed due to the inaccurate information.
Mobile tablets with site-wide maps of accurate utility GIS data have replaced the days of rolled-up, dated paper plans covered in redline markups. However, an organization’s digital data can also get out of date if the utility owner is not thinking and planning for utility updates. Newly built or acquired lines must be added to the database, and conversely, lines that are no longer active within the utility system must
be removed or marked as abandoned, whichever is appropriate. Utility operators must consistently focus on collecting and improving the location information of existing utilities, especially when lines are identified through targeted locate efforts or exposed during construction activities. Highly accurate utility information will continue to support WV811’s effort to work with utility owners and excavators to reduce line strikes, facilitate damage prevention, and promote public safety. After all, we all want to be able to go home at the end of the day and watch
a bladesmith make a beautiful, twisted Damascus Bowie knife.
6 • West Virginia 811 2024, Issue 1
3. abandoned.
When utilities are sold, removed, or
The best time to document the utility location and other information is the day of construction. A high-accurate GPS device can record the utility location to a subcentimeter level. Unfortunately, locations were not often gathered for older utilities during construction, so we must rely on as- built documentation, digital files, and