Gas and Pipeline Blog

High-level workflow about loading ILI data into ArcGIS.

Starting a GIS or IT project with a gas industry specific data model, lays a foundation for the project to have adherence to the numerous regulations and standards of the natural gas industry. Not any gas industry specific data model will do the job. A desired gas industry data model is one that is maintained. One that has the financial backing and community input to stay current with these never-ending changes. Such a data model is the Utility and Pipeline Data Model (UPDM) provided by Esri.

Learn about new functionality available in the latest release of these products.

On every asset inspection is a set of questions about what asset is being inspected. These questions ask the utility mobile worker to enter information such as AssetID, size, and material. These are nuggets of data that the organization already knows. This type of redundant data entry can be eliminated.

Modern utilities face a wide range of goals and challenges that require strategic allocation of resources. Prioritizing how and where to use these resources requires careful analysis of all available information. By integrating both network information and community-focused insights, utilities can ensure their plans are equitable and resilient.

Identifying potential locations of cross-bores, tracking where inspections have occurred and are occurring is a location problem. A location problem that ArcGIS, its analytical and inspections capabilities are well suited to handle.

Field data collection on paper forms has always struggled with defining a location. Too often, the top portion of a paper field data collection form asks the mobile worker a series of questions to describe where they are located. These questions ask for imprecise location descriptions such as state name, county name, city name, service area, construction project area, street name, and property number. Leveraging the device’s understanding of location is a great first step in eliminating vague location questions.

Gas utilities and pipelines operating today in this energy transition era need to answer more questions than ever from stakeholders about their pipe networks and how they operate. That makes pipe network modeling and GIS data management increasingly important.

What data belongs in a GIS? This question gets asked frequently by persons deciding which enterprise information system should manage a specific dataset. This article explores four questions that can provide a defensible answer to this fundamental question.

Correctly mapping a buried pipe network is difficult. Everyone in your organization depends on the information to be “right.” The geometry must be right, the location must be right, the attributes must be right, and the connectivity and flow must be right. The mapper is the person within the organization typically responsible for creating and maintaining this information. ArcGIS provides the tools and capabilities available to help mappers create the pipe network information correctly the first time.