Webinar - "Pipeline Data Management for 2024 and Beyond"

[GregoryRomero]

We hope you enjoyed the webinar, "Pipeline Data Management for 2024 and Beyond."

You may watch the recording here: https://mediaspace.esri.com/media/t/1_wbze1mcc 

Pipeline operators worldwide are modernizing their enterprise GIS systems. We are witnessing an increasing number of these operators adopting ArcGIS Pipeline Referencing (APR) and ArcGIS Utility Network capabilities as fundamental elements of their GIS modernization efforts. Esri development teams are continuously working to further advance linear referencing and network capabilities in the core Esri platform. 

In this webinar, we showcase some of the significant enhancements specific to the pipeline industry that have been implemented since our last update. We discuss different implementation patterns available in the leading industry data models and demonstrate various techniques and approaches to help you initiate your GIS modernization journey.

The topics covered in this webinar include:

• Event Editing Tools in Pro
• Dynamic Segmentation Analysis and Editing Tools
• New Data Loading Tools in Pro 3.2
• Updates to the Esri Solution Templates
• How to get started with APR and/or the Utility Network

For further information or questions please leave a comment on this community post or contact the following Esri staff:

Tom Coolidge: tcoolidge@esri.com

Jeff Allen: jeff_allen@esri.com

Questions and Answers from the Live Session

• Q: Can we track the progress during the pipeline construction phase (Excavation, welding,...., etc)?

A: Yes, we often see these additional linear events configured within APR. Any point or linear event can be modeled as a feature class, and so long as the core event fields are present, it can be added to the APR configuration via the associated APR toolbox administrative tools.

• Q: Will the performance enhancement hot fixes be available in ArcGIS Pro 2.9 X?

A: Not currently. Pro 2.9.x has moved into mature support in the Network Management Release Plan (https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/utility-network/announcements/whats-new-with-the-network-m...), which means there are no planned patches for this version of Pro at this time.

• Q: How much of the REST API functionality from the partner slide is available with offline datasets in the ArcGIS Maps SDKs for .NET, iOS, and Android? If not 100%, is Esri working toward getting full APR functionality in the Maps SDKs with offline replica mobile GDBs?

A: Currently the Pipeline Referencing options showed work in a connected environment via REST. The team did do work in 2023 to support taking an offline replica of LRS data from an LRS service to do event collection and update (https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/production/location-referencing-pipelines/offline-even...). This offline replica can be brought back to the enterprise gdb via the sync service and will ensure the events are synced with the current version of the routes they’re associated with.

• Q: I know this is an APR presentation, but a lot of those enhancements Nathan just talked about, are many of those shared with the Roads and Highways extension as well, and have similar patches created for 3.1 later this year?

A: Yes, all the capabilities shown for Pipeline Referencing are also available for Roads and Highways as they share the same code base in Enterprise and Pro. The Pro 3.1.5 patch and Server 11.1 hot fix is available to both sets of users to see the performance improvements to the LRS editing and GP tools.

• Q: With the mention of rules existing at the server level, have you seen integrations with asset management systems like SAP and Maximo making edits on the feature service?

A: Yes, utilizing these web services is our more modernized approach to systems integration. Specifically, as it relates to SAP, these APR services can be used to populate SAP LAM (Linear Asset Management) records. SAP / GIS integration often is a much larger conversation in most companies and tends to lead us to master data management and data governance discussions.

• Q: Are you planning to make the Utility Network and Pipeline Referencing features available in ArcGIS Online?

A: We have been working with the ArcGIS Online team to build some of the foundational capabilities to support Pipeline Referencing in ArcGIS Online. This work is ongoing, but once the foundational capabilities are present, our team can begin to build some basic features into ArcGIS Online. We’d encourage you to follow up with us to help us understand the types of workflows you’d like to see supported in ArcGIS Online.

• Q: Are there bulk loading capabilities? such as loading point events based on XY (or stationing/measure)? from a spreadsheet or other source?

A: One option to do this would be to leverage the Append Events Geoprocessing Tool to get your data into APR, however right now it only supports route/measure as the way to locate and load events. Before using this tool, we would need to transform data from XY to Route/Measure before using the Append Events Geoprocessing tool. Another option would be to utilize the REST endpoint for geometryToMeasure and combine it with Append Events to bulk load data.

• Q: Will there be a widget built for experience builder where you can click on a route and get the station/measure at the location? Similar to the drop pin get measure feature in Field Maps?

A: Yes, one of the widgets that will be available at the Enterprise 11.3 release will be an LRS Identify widget. This widget will allow you to click a route location on the map and get back the route, measure, time, and other attribute information.

• Q: Can you choose between the measure and Engineer Station when looking at the linear measurement of the line?

A: Yes, there are a couple of ways to visualize this. You can leverage labeling techniques using Arcade expressions to display and translate between different values of linear measurements of lines. In addition, another option could be to leverage the Translate tool in the Location Referencing ribbon, which allows you to translate measure values between networks as well.

Thank you for your time and attention. Be on the lookout for additional pipeline webinars.

Warm Regards,
The Pipeline Team