Gas and Pipeline Blog

Field crews and first responders need both an immediate visual aid and an automated warning to inform them of these safety zones. A mobile application with an interactive map, such as ArcGIS Field Maps is ideal for this need. Recent enhancements to ArcGIS Field Maps now enable client side notifications based on that mobile device location awareness.  This is called geofencing.  With geofencing the same field technician can have their mobile device vibrate, make sounds and have a banner notification appear on the mobile device when they approach the safety zones.

Within pipe utility organizations, automating the documentation of steel pipe construction has been a challenge. Lookup tables can store information about steel pipes, valves, and fittings, that the organization knows prior to construction. With automation, these lookup tables are used to simplify the field worker experience by automatically populating what is already known about the steel asset.

Today’s mobile sensors, when combined with a nearby mobile device and the correct mobile GIS application on the mobile device, create a wonderful opportunity to transform tasks and workflows performed in the field. This transformation can overcome, if not eliminate, the inefficiency inherent in today’s incompatible workflows.

Esri’s Utility and Pipeline Data Model (UPDM) 2021 is available now. This release includes enhancements to keep up with changes in industry practice, regulatory requirements, and previous implementation feedback.

The natural gas industry’s drive to a lower or net zero carbon footprint is focused on actions that generally can be organized in three groups: (1) reducing methane emissions from operations, (2) reducing methane emissions from customer consumption, and (3) embracing new sources and uses of alternative lower carbon fuels.

Risk to the organization is typically summarized as a cost, with the unit of measure being monetary ($). This cost is much more than simply the expense to the utility to have the construction group replace the identified deficient section of pipe.  When a pipe section fails, it impacts the people and facilities near the location of failure.

Talking to someone about Tracking and Traceability is typically a discussion centered on a checklist of functional capabilities. Although this is a very important discussion to have, too often the discussion ends when the checklist of desired functionality ends. What is missing is the discussion of how much productivity can the organization gain by replacing legacy processes with a digital process.

In this blog article we will discuss how to configure and automate the data capture of the pressure test. Pressure test documentation has historically been a critical piece of information that too often is relegated to the bottom of the document pile, filed at the back of the cabinet, boxed, warehoused, and eventually misplaced never to be found again. If you are responsible for managing or determining a pressure zone’s maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP), then this frustrating reality most likely results in a palm slap to your forehead.

In this blog article, we will divulge how to configure and automate asset data capture.  This is a configuration of ArcGIS Field Maps which can be applied to the documentation of both plastic and steel assets across the gas pipe network.

Until recently field as-built data capture capabilities didn’t really meet the modern workflow needs of high-performing gas utilities. Recent technological breakthroughs such as low cost - high accuracy GPS antennas, mobile computing devices, and a new generation of mobile data collection applications makes field as-builting a cost effective possibility. These breakthoughs are reshaping how gas pipe construction information is gathered, populated, and managed.