Gas and Pipeline Blog

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.

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.

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.

Pressure zones are foundational to the engineering and operation of pressurized pipe networks. Understanding a pressure zone has differing meaning across an organization responsible for managing a pressurized pipe network. The Utility Network provides a unique capability to enable organizations to understand their pressures zones.

Within the world of documenting new construction projects for utilities, there is a common practice that is needed but very inefficient. This is the practice of using AutoCAD to document the construction project and ArcGIS to document the current as-built state of the entire utility system. The problem with this dual documentation workflow is that the AutoCAD editor and the ArcGIS mapper perform the same data edits. The ArcGIS for AutoCAD plugin provides a solution to this redundant data entry.

In Roman times, March 15th was the deadline for settling debts. Today in the United States, March 15th is the deadline for submitting annual reports for gas distribution and transmission companies to the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). 

Officially, PHMSA estimates that the time required to gather the data needed to complete these forms is 16 hours for Gas Distribution and 47 hours for the Gas Transmission and Gas Gathering form. This is achievable with a well-attuned geospatial dataset such as an ArcGIS data repository organized with the Utility and Pipeline Data Model (UPDM). If your data is poorly organized, this effort can take several months.