Latest Contributions by Pat_Hohl

Don't miss the latest - Link Here ArcGIS transforms operations management by presenting complete information and business intelligence. It provides full visibility into system management while at the same time giving staff the tools they need to work more effectively.  ... View more

Don't miss the latest - Link Here ArcGIS transforms operations management by presenting complete information and business intelligence. It provides full visibility into system management while at the same time giving staff the tools they need to work more effectively.  ... View more

My friend Dave asked me – “If you could have just one desktop program, what would it be?” The spreadsheet is perhaps the most flexible of all. After all, nearly everyone uses spreadsheets. They are great to store information, sort and add up the numbers. Click the chart button and understand the information better. Then, making it available to others multiplies the value. Capture information - understand it - share it. That’s a winning formula. Operations staff use spreadsheets every day for costs, schedules, and lists. Why is there no dedicated spreadsheet department? Because a typical user can do so much on their own – they don’t need to be a whiz to use the technology. OK, you might need an expert to write a tricky macro command. But, how often does that happen? Almost never. Spreadsheets provide obvious business value - so do maps. Location Awareness Every Operations Center has maps – they create understanding with location. It’s quite difficult to think of an operations activity that ignores place. Location yields perspective to operational activities and concerns. Utilities use maps—they naturally work better using awareness of location. The lesson for Operations is this - location technology is for everyone. It’s not just for the GIS team. It can be easily applied, much like a spreadsheet, to capture information - understand it - share it. Capture Information Staff need many types of data to form a complete operational picture – network details, SCADA, work tasks, weather, sensors, and crew locations. ArcGIS is a modern GIS. It goes far beyond traditional mapping bringing virtually any data together. It does this in ways that make sense for operations – by location. Understand it Rather than handling tasks as they “come off the printer”, coordinating around location adds real value. Leading utilities establish priorities with a greater understanding of the impacts and desired outcomes. They promote workforce efficiency by sharing the same information to all stakeholders. Share it As complexity increases and customer expectations rise, real-time situational awareness is becoming even more important. With complete data and fresh insights, a modern GIS presents a complete operational picture. It promotes collaboration. Convenient apps enhance awareness in the control room and the executive office. They help field staff and customers alike. Using GIS in these ways is transforming Operations Management - just like spreadsheets. Please join us for the Enhancing Operations Management With Location Technology webinar on August 19, 2020. Register here. This complimentary 60-minute event will explore how to combine data, support workforce efficiency, and maintain situational awareness. Don’t miss the live discussion with industry leaders applying these capabilities to uplift Operations Management at their utilities. ... View more

As ESRI gets ready to update the GeoNet platform, I'm wondering what would make it better for you?  This is a forum for the community at large. More blogs, polls, surveys, technical material, links, videos?  I'll try to help incorporate your ideas and needs as we go forward.  Thanks in advance for your input.   ... View more

Grid modernization is an idea that takes on classic utility challenges and new ones too. Many long-standing assumptions about generation, climate, and customers are changing. As a result, utilities are changing too. The US Department of Energy (DOE) established its Grid Modernization Initiative in response to changes in societal values. The DOE strategy addresses sustainability, security, reliability, resilience, flexibility and overall affordability. That last one is the real pinch point! Each of the goals is do-able on their own. However, taken together grid modernization is forcing utilities to implement novel and innovative responses. Answers lie beyond the reach of simply doing more of the same. Comprehensive solutions demand elegant new approaches to make changes in the right places. “Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push—in just the right place—it can be tipped.” ―Malcolm Gladwell How can elegant solutions be identified? Grid modernization is a transition to new ways of understanding, thinking, and working. Information powers them all (explore). Data, analytics, and modeling sit at center stage. And, as with most leadership efforts, nothing moves forward without crystal clear communication. Reflect on these areas when assessing grid modernization readiness. Customary design and planning tools rely on very simplified models of the power system. They use timeworn methods. Quite simply, they are not up to the task. The goals necessitate a real-world real-time view of the entire electric system, including customers. Many new devices are coming on-scene. Adoption must push beyond the proof of concept stage. Management at scale depends on automation. Automation hinges on a digital twin simulation of the physical. Expanded models, adequate to support operational systems, are essential to reaching the goals. To ensure security and resilience, utilities must reduce vulnerability. The goal is to anticipate, prepare for, and effectively respond to emergencies. Threat locations, impacts, asset details, and weather forecasts must be understood in light of the overall electric system. Real-time measurements increase situational awareness. They provide inputs for decision support. This relatively new style of information is key when it is tied to assets and customers. The modern workforce can change how they work with a real-time view on their device of choice. Common power flow, operations, and control systems are often very conservative. Slow to change, many neglect today's brilliant computing techniques. Obsolete concepts break down when it comes to distributed generation, transportation electrification, and energy storage. Only a new information framework can handle the complexities of a modern grid. Atop the technical needs, is the necessity to communicate better with every stakeholder. Employees, regulators and customers want to see the plans and the progress. Colorful new visualization techniques can be used to communicate ideas more clearly. Information systems to support grid modernization must operate at scale. They will include more detail, external data sources, real-time inputs, and advanced analytics. However, changes to information technology infrastructure cause ripples. When I worked at the utility, I had to reject several interesting point solutions that did not fit well into the enterprise. Today, services-based architectures enable enterprise solutions to integrate well while respecting security protocols for both applications and data. Esri helps utilities address the information solutions critical for grid modernization. Location technology ties utility information together. ArcGIS Utility Networks enable elegant approaches to each of the above considerations. They do it in cost-effective ways. To see how location technology supports grid modernization, download our free e-book. ... View more

Everyone wants to return to normal from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Many wonder - What is okay at the current recovery stage? A group discussion about recovery took a turn for the worse. I asked - “Does anyone know what stage of recovery we are actually in today?” No one was confident in this simple yet essential information. Information feeding public health procedures was contradictory. It was not current or clear-cut. Utility safety, like COVID-19 recovery, rests on clear concise communication. Many accidents result from communication mistakes. Customers get dropped unintentionally by switching errors. Lineworkers are injured when they contact energized equipment. Misidentified equipment and out-of-date maps are two causes that sadly reappear again and again These are avoidable. Employees need current information to remain safe. When it comes to safety, you do not take someone else’s word for it. You check for yourself. You verify switching and blocking instructions with your own maps and resolve any discrepancies. I heard this every day over the utility radio. Field staff and dispatchers cross-checked each other and adjusted for any oversights. They all need the very latest network maps. For most of my career, I maintained one of the special circuit map sets – so I had the newest updates. These rode in my car in dedicated boxes right next to my hardhat and boots. I kept them up to date, just like the sets in the trouble trucks. However, even in the very best-case scenario, these yellowed papers were a full month behind.  This is the information age. Within arm’s reach, we have a device that puts all human knowledge in our hands. The real-time state of the electric system can be communicated immediately and securely to everyone that needs to know. Mobile apps put current maps in the field. Similarly, they also bring immediate updates back from the field. ArcGIS location technology shows field employees details of the equipment right where they stand. They can even see real-time data like equipment loads and temperature (example). Clear communication is vital in everything we do. For COVID-19 and utility work, current information steers proper procedures and safety. What if the map update time was reduced to zero with mobile apps? Every user would have live information to make the best decisions for safety and service. To find out how live location-based information helps help utilities operate safely, visit our safety industry page. ... View more

Underground cable failures are the worst outages. Pick your least favorite place for corroded cables – direct buried, 1970’s cable in preassembled flexible conduit, or maybe collapsed ducts. These all turn fault locating and cable repair into a nightmare. With a grim outlook for permanent repairs, attention may turn to temporary measures. Anything to get the customers back in service! Those bring safety concerns. I have used traffic ramps, cable tied to trees, 24 hour guards, and jet turbine generators more than once. What practices and tools can help manage old cable and improve asset management? I recently visited a utility engineering office. A large paper map hung on the wall – the cable replacement plan. Millions of dollars! All in one region, faded yellow highlighter outlined the neighborhoods for replacement over the next five years. I asked why. Those areas were based on campfire stories. Tales of extended outages that “made it into the newspaper” years ago. Today that would be on Facebook. The focus on this region was based on hazy executive promises to “do something about it”. The plan was not even based on cable age - it was an enduring kneejerk reaction driving asset management. Obvious questions revealed opportunities for improvement: Is this the oldest cable? Not necessarily. Are other areas in need of work? Surely. Is this the best area to focus on? Debatable. What would be better? If the idea is to replace old cable, it would be better to determine where cables are oldest. That would at least be defensible when asked  - Why is the utility working there and not over here? What would be better? Age is not always the best indicator of asset health. Better yet would be to consider the current asset condition. Include the last periodic inspection, or data gathered the last time a crew did their safety inspection before normal work. Adding knowledge of past faults and historic failure rates would be very insightful. Definitely better. What would be better? Not all cables are used in the same way. Some extend to only a few customers – some serve critical loads. Radial sections have no switching options. Looped segments enjoy alternate feeds making restoration much faster and easier. Prioritizing work based on asset criticality and restoration effort would take cable replacement to a whole new level. Now we are getting somewhere! What would be better? Top it off with information about the environment. Soil conditions, imagery, weather, and customer demographics all bring new perspectives. Optimize the whole asset management process. Balance asset performance against cost, resources, reliability, and compliance. So much better! Wrap Up Enterprise asset management (EAM) systems handle many aspects of the asset life cycle. However, they are blind to the spatial relationship of assets between each other, outside influences, or customers. Understanding these connections is essential to optimized asset management. The data often rests in different systems – in silos. What is needed it to unite asset data with the network connectivity model, outages, customers, environmental factors. See all the data in one place – organized around location. It is the one thing in common. Most utilities already use GIS for asset management in some capacity. Yet, how they use it is changing. ArcGIS is a complete GIS. Complete means it contains all the elements needed to solve asset management challenges, not just make conventional maps. These capabilities unite asset information. Combining asset health data and real-time feeds show how the network is performing. With location as the centerpiece, a total view bonds maintenance, capital, and operational strategies to improve key performance indicators and business results. The next time you see an engineer go to look at the faded cable replacement map remind them it could be better. Optimize the process and get that information in a web browser, a phone app, or right in CAD. Use location technology. To find out how ArcGIS can help utilities optimize asset management, download our free e-book. ... View more

A Virtual User Conference The first ESRI virtual User Conference July 13-16, 2020 (UC) is now over. The theme, How GIS is Interconnecting Our World struck a chord with over 86,000 people. As the hundreds of on-demand demonstrations, technical sessions, user presentations, and partners unfolded, it was clear that understanding precedes action. Furthermore, the best way to gain that understanding is with what is arguably the most powerful technology in the world – GIS. Normally in San Diego, Esri would expect under 20,000 attendees. The virtual format opened the impressive content to new viewers and many additional people from customer organizations. 71% of participants were first-time attendees, and involvement from outside the US was significantly up over prior years. For the first time, users had ready access to virtually all the ESRI staff in every discipline at UC. This was a fantastic opportunity to answer every question and chat with experts. At the plenary sessions, everyone had a front-row seat! Jack Dangermond inspired viewers and showed several captivating videos that demonstrated how ArcGIS is being applied around the globe. The plenary sessions can be viewed on YouTube.   The virtual map gallery is publicly accessible and continues to be a big hit showing some of the best digital cartography at UC. Anyone can get a crisp ESRI T-shirt at the new online Merch Store without traveling to San Diego and waiting in line at the convention center. It wasn’t the same as a live gathering, but in some ways it was even better. How else could you get to every session you want to see? And, review it again later? Trends in GIS Reflecting on the week, several trends emerged. GIS applications are becoming dramatically easier, more powerful, and more available. The true power stems from frictionless access to virtually everyone – utility employees, executives, field staff, customers, regulators, and the media. Geospatial Hubs are organizing information sharing - improving relationships, collaboration, and cooperation. GIS systems are becoming more interconnected creating a geospatial infrastructure to address business and societal needs and create value. GIS is becoming more real-time, connecting sensors, the IoT, and remote sensing. This boosts situational awareness from the control room to the service truck in the field. Geographic science is gathering more knowledge. It helps understand more data inputs and greater complexity. Most importantly, it applies additional knowledge to solving real problems and meeting strategic business objectives. New Developments It would be impossible to capture all the exciting new developments. Here are a few that caught my special attention:   ArcGIS Pro is more tightly connected to Autodesk tools like BIM360. Users can now connect to CAD data stored in the cloud, use CAD within GIS, and even push CAD updates to GIS including #UtilityNetworks. Non-spatial objects in ArcGIS Utility Network accurately model complex fiber networks, conduits in duct banks, and other forms of connected information. Deilson da Silva explains this starting 6:25 in this video. ArcGIS LocateXT extracts location information, text, and dates from unstructured documents and adds it to maps. Think about MSWord, email, csv, txt, pdf files, and all the useful information they contain in your organization.    ArcGIS Pro Time Series Forecasting Advanced tools ingest space-time data like energy usage and use machine learning techniques to make accurate predictions about the future.   ArcGIS Analytics for IoT – Suzanne Foss explains how to work with big data, data in real-time, or near real-time, to drive insight and take action.   Video Game visualization engines are being used for stunning immersive visualizations like wildfires.   Field Operations got a lot of attention from utility users with new capabilities and the streamlining of workflows in the new ArcGIS Field Maps.   Site Scan for ArcGIS is taking off as a cloud-based solution for automated drone flight planning, and image processing and analysis, that leverages the existing GIS. Drone image data immediately available throughout the organization. It can be published on a map to ArcGIS Online to communicate and share. ArcGIS can now work with stacks of imagery to perform trend analysis, prediction, and change detection. Wrap-up  Thank you for being our customers and business partners. Esri was founded to help solve some of the world's most difficult problems. We support our users' important work with a commitment to science, sustainability, community, education, research, and positive change. Please consider joining the Esri GeoConX event in the fall. The 2020 GeoConX Conference is going virtual. The world's largest and leading utility and telecom GIS conference will be an immersive virtual experience for the GIS community. Let’s all look forward to the great work we will review together next year at UC in 2021. ... View more

Global Pandemic The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic is affecting everyone. People and utilities adopt new behaviors – almost daily. They ask themselves not only “how do we get through this?” But also, “What good can be harvested?” Staying close to home, my wife and I went for a long walk on Sunday afternoon. We have taken two more since then. When we come out of this trying time, some new actions will stick– like more Sunday afternoon walks. In a way, it has been beneficial to be forced to think differently about quality time together. We saw the value in doing things in a new way. We will keep this habit. Utilities Adjust The Edison Electric Institute said, “a large percentage of a company’s employees (up to 40 percent) could be out sick, quarantined, or might stay home to care for sick family members.” A workforce deficit of 40 percent would challenge long-standing comfortable work habits and patterns. Utilities cannot close their doors. They must maintain safe operations. Moreover, what if a storm hits? Utility staff are resilient. We serve our customers – every time. We rise to the occasion. My engineering staff started asking about working from home in the 90’s – it never really caught on. Now, just like that - employees are working from home. Field employees are each taking a separate vehicle to worksites and working staggered shifts. Some are taking company vehicles home and reporting directly to their first job rather than to a central meeting point. It makes sense. Limiting virtually all gatherings and meetings tests our conceptions of communication and collaboration. And, it just blows up the paperwork culture. Employees are not able to turn in paperwork in the same way. Some are using the postal service to deliver their papers to the home of the person that handles it next. Sub-optimal at best! Mail service is being disrupted in some countries upsetting this seemingly simple paperwork workaround. Locating Improvements In their personal lives, utility employees shop, file taxes, bank, pay bills, and enjoy entertainment electronically – remotely. Could a utility do more things like this – of course. What value could be added to workflows? Plenty! Entering data directly at its source, without paper, delivers several benefits. Errors drop and throughput increases. Less handling cuts out delays in data entry. Timeliness of information skyrockets. The entire organization enjoys a real-time view of activities improving management and business decisions. Most utilities rely on GIS in some way. However, some still view this as a “Maps and Records” responsibility - not grasping its superior communication principles. A modern GIS plays a critical part in communication. It pushes and pulls information specific to each person’s role and interest. Even external stakeholders like customers and local governments get exactly what they need. And, it does all this while addressing hardware and data security in a comprehensive manner. Common Communications Using GIS Assign and close work assignments Examine current conditions and reference information Consume status dashboards Access public-facing web maps and apps Collect data Navigate and track locations   Communication is essential – it is the foundation of leadership. These resources bolster every utility employee. For example, the call center sees the current status of daily work. They also understand large project progress, and storm response. Mobile communication tools that rejuvenate existing workflows also scale up readily for emergency response. Utilities that see GIS this way use it to drive their tabletop exercises. All emergency staff practice with the same tools they will use in actual conditions (see an example). Because they are straightforward, foreign crews easily use them too.  Wrap-Up COVID-19 impacts are increasing daily and likely to affect utility work for some time. Utilities are reaching for ways to keep employees and customers engaged. They need ways to manage information without handing papers from one person to another. Customers want to know what is happening. Employees need to get information without walking down to the wall map in the conference room or a co-worker’s cubicle. ArcGIS is a fully modern GIS. It has wonderful communication capabilities that can be stood up very quickly. These help organizations adapt to changing conditions. The next time you take a walk at your home office, consider how advancements in communication could result in permanent improvements to existing workflows. To find out how a modern GIS can improve communication, visit the electric utility page.  ... View more

I recently attended the first meeting of a new summit, Utility GIS Applications, in Atlanta, Georgia. This vendor-neutral event was led by utility representatives to showcase how GIS is transforming utilities. Topics focused on mobile applications, data collection, asset management, and outage restoration. Special thanks to Brandon Raso from Puget Sound Energy. Brandon did a remarkable job chairing the program. The format was unlike any other conference I have attended. During the two days, the group never separated; they met over breakfast and stayed together for breaks and lunch. This provided continual quality time for in-depth conversations. With an attendance of about 40, the atmosphere was ripe to network with others that share interests and struggles. While most attendees represented electric utilities, several from gas and water contributed markedly to the content. Here are my top four observations: Community—Utility GIS professionals are hungry for a greater sense of community to share and learn. Large utility events often make it tough to add more than a couple of new connections to your LinkedIn network. In Atlanta, a fun icebreaker enabled everyone to meet early in the program. Even the introverts enjoyed the format that started personal conversations with like-minded people. Periodically, discussion questions provided a change of pace at each table. Each table reported its conclusions to the entire group, providing additional perspectives and enhancing the conversation. Data capture—Presentations shed new light on the state of the art for technologies like GPS units, drones/imagery, and lidar—even lidar surveys inside manholes! These capabilities integrate tightly with GIS, enabling rapid and accurate data collection. Good data directly supports activities like enhanced asset and vegetation management. Mobile applications—The original mobile solution—the "tree killer" paper map—is still alive and well. Modern mobile apps clearly represent the low-hanging fruit for utility work. They can improve data completeness, accuracy, and timeliness while updating antiquated workflows. Fieldworkers do not want heavy, ruggedized laptops; maybe they never did. They expect intuitive phone/tablet apps that work like the apps they use in their everyday life. Everyone agreed that these tools must make the work experience better to avoid their being used as truck wheel chocks. User involvement—A clear theme emerged from the stories of success and failure. New technology represents a big culture change for users. They want to understand the why and have input. Intentional change management pays huge dividends. Early and continual user engagement is fundamental to ultimate success. The voices of experience repeatedly claimed that bringing food really helps those meetings with field staff! Modern GIS capabilities line up very well with the changing needs of a modern grid. Utilities face similar technical challenges and yet often address them differently. This stems from their goals, system characteristics, information systems, and resources. There is no need to reinvent the wheel; a wide variety of proven GIS solutions exist to meet every need. Today, location-aware apps are prevalent across modern society. Even individuals with very little disposable income routinely rely on them. We treasure our smartphones that provide efficiency, accuracy, and convenience based on location. Someone commented that they gave up trying to outsmart their iPhone and now simply leave the location services setting on all the time. Why? Because the apps do not work right when it's turned off! Nothing works right without location—very profound. Utilities consider the location of assets, employees, weather, customers, work, traffic, and more. This makes GIS the ideal platform to gather all types of data and understand its business value, simplify communication, and create situational awareness. To find out how proven GIS solutions can address utility challenges, visit our electric industry webpage. ... View more

On January 28, 2020 over 13,500 utility professionals gathered in San Antonio TX for the annual Distributech conference to learn about the latest innovations in the electric utility industry. This year Distributech was huge and the action never let up. The Esri booth flooded each day with visitors learning ways to geo-enable the modern utility – using the complete ArcGIS platform to accomplish digital transformation. Two themes rose to the top – Grid Modernization and Field Mobility. Visitors enjoyed demonstrations in the following areas: Asset management, Safety first, Customer engagement, Grid Mod, Network management, Analytics, Field operations, Innovation, Real-time/IoT, and Emergency management. The demonstration theater seemed to run almost non-stop drawing crowds and often filling the adjacent isle addressing such topics as: Esri - Maps and Data for Utilities, ArcGIS Utility Network,  Seeing your Business Holistically and in Real-Time, Enabling your Field Workforce with Apps, Leveraging drone Imagery for Mapping Inspection, Utility of the Future SAP/Critigen – Integration of Spatial Data using SAP HANA and ArcGIS UDC – Moving Utilities from a Reactive to Proactive Reliability Approach, Utility Network Migration – Getting Down to the Details EPOCH Solutions – EpochField: Field Work Management Made Simple DataCapable – How Dominion has Transformed Safety and Reliability, How Central Hudson Gas and Electric has Transformed Safety and Reliability with a New Platform 3GIS – Avoiding Fiber Deployment Roadblocks, Accelerating Speed to Activation Critigen – EAM, ADMS, OMS, Design, Esri’s Utility Network, Mobility, What should we do first? Business Partners Bring Advanced Solutions Esri had a very large business partner presence. Critegen, Cyclomedia, DataCapable, EOS Positioning Systems, Epoch Solutions, SAP, UDC, and 3GIS all presented solutions in the Esri booth. In total, 44 Esri business partners exhibited this year demonstrating the heightened interest in real-world solutions. Numerous companies expressed a desire to form new partner relationships to leverage with wide-spread adoption of ArcGIS in utilities worldwide. A formal press release announced an exciting new partnership. Electric, gas, and water utilities will now be able to leverage both ArcGIS Utility Networks and the Open Systems International, Inc.(OSI) monarch operational technology (OT) platform as they become more tightly integrated. "Many of our utility customers are adopting new Esri technology, such as ArcGIS Utility Network Management, which provides advanced network modeling capability," said Bahman Hoveida, president and CEO of OSI. "We are very excited about our partnership with Esri, as it will enable us to provide the best technical solutions to our joint customers, leveraging the latest functionality ArcGIS Utility Network Management provides." Presentations Esri’s Bill Meehan presented to an engaged audience on why Field Mobility is more than just giving maps to field workers! Bill discussed ways to improve entire workflows with accurate data, and awareness/ access for everyone. Leading utilities are using ArcGIS mobile solutions to improve KPIs in every corner of the business. Remi Myers shared about Analyzing Lightning Events to Improve Electric System Reliability. Remi hit on some very popular themes of Network Management, Big Data, and Analytics. He processed over 600,000 lightning strike data points in a live demo that identified broken grounds on a utility’s transmission system – impressive! Make Plans to Join Esri Next Year Make plans to join us next year when Distributech will return to sunny San Diego on February, 9-11, 2021. Continue the Conversation Got information overload? The Esri Industry Solutions Team curates the best material for our users - Follow @EsriElectricGas on Twitter for the latest! Sign up for our newsletter. ... View more

The 2019 GeoConX meetup held at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, saw the largest number of utility and telecom GIS professionals ever gathered to share their work, collaborate on new projects, and discuss new ways of leveraging GIS and location intelligence to support utilities.  The theme was: Geo-Enabling the Intelligent Enterprise.   GeoConX 2019 had its highest registration ever with 1,192 attendees from 414 different companies,  a 25% increase over last year. This year’s conference also included the AEC Summit to kick things off and concluded with the Water Summit.   The event kicked off with a half-day opening plenary session featuring geospatial thought leadership from Jack Dangermond, CEO of Esri, along with ArcGIS user presentations and ArcGIS technology updates.   Highlights from the plenary included our local “host” utility – Southern Company’s use of GIS across gas and electric business units with over 4,800 named users. They easily share information and increase operational efficiencies while also bringing new business to Georgia. Energy Queensland made a fascinating presentation on their Look Up And Live application which is routinely reducing accidents and saving lives in Australia.   Undoubtedly the most unique part of the plenary was a fun “magic show” by Esri’s Bill Meehan and Brian Baldwin demonstrating the capability of real-time IoT sensor integration in ArcGIS (no actual magic required).  The opening session really set the energy for the rest of the week and there was a lot of buzz around improving common utility workflows. Here are a few highlights from the week. Peer Connects  Connecting with peers is what GeoConX is all about. Each of the various peer-connects sessions were well attended with excellent discussions of timely topics. Esri Technical Sessions Esri staff engaged attendees with technical presentations on a long list of interesting topics. These included: Utility Network, Machine Learning, Understanding Customers with Business Analyst, Gas, Electric, Administration Tips & Tricks, System of Engagement, and System of Insight.   User Paper Sessions Throughout the week, many users of Esri’s ArcGIS shared how they are Geo-Enabling their Intelligent Enterprises. There were so many good presentations it was often difficult to decide which one to attend. Here is just a sampling of the Sessions:   Gas – Integrating Enterprise Systems, Improving Data Quality, Risk and safety, Improving Field Facility Data, Field Operations, Asset Management, Improving Data Quality,   Electric – Emergency Management, Utility Network Migration, Utility Networks in Production, Grid Modernization, System Operations, Field Mobility, Asset Management, Field Operations and Analytics.   Tech Updates, Hands-on Learning Lab, and Data Health Check Numerous new updates to Esri technology were shown at GeoConX and following the positive feedback of the hands-on learning lab last year, the lab was brought back this year and even more Esri products were available for attendees to try out and play with, and training courses were available for attendees to work through while at the event. The Data Health Check-up team took appointments to review and analyze customer GIS data, focusing on features and attributes and made specific recommendations.    New Tech Highlights: Machine Learning Tools– An update to the machine learning tools in ArcGIS was shared in a session that focused on spatial tools for classification, clustering, and prediction. Some of tools shown were Random Trees, Density-based Clustering, and Geographically Weighted Regression. Also, show was the integration of ArcGIS with external machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow and Scikit Learn. Image detection for detecting features in imagery, such as poles and sidewalks, gained a lot of interest from fiber planners. Field Apps– The demonstrated Esri field apps showed how you can coordinate field activities using Workforce, how to efficiently get to the location of work using Navigator, how to gain spatial awareness and mark up maps using Explorer, how to accurately locate, capture and inspect assets using Collector, Survey123, and QuickCapture, and how you can improve accountability and enhance situational awareness using Tracker and Operations Dashboard. Sensors, Big Data, and Analytics– Highlighted in this session was the ability to track field personnel as sensors, consuming their location with GeoEvent Server for visualization, geofencing, and storage for improved field operations and increased safety. GeoAnalytics Server was highlighted to help with the analysis of large collections of sensor data. Finally, a new Esri product in development was introduced: ArcGIS Analytics for IoT. This is a SaaS product that combines capabilities of GeoEvent Server and GeoAnalytics Server into a scalable, cloud-based product. Business Analytics– New updates to ArcGIS Business Analyst were shown in a session that highlighted ways to improve customer engagement leveraging Esri Demographics . A crowd favorite was the improved dynamic infographics that can be configured and generated from apps across ArcGIS.   GeoConX Expo Throughout the week, attendees had the opportunity to meet with Esri teams, including solutions engineers and product managers in the GeoConX Expo. Esri staff and representatives from over 60 Esri Business Partners presented solutions and answered questions. The floor was very active and fun this year with great snacks and a conversational tone that many really enjoyed.   Join GeoConX Next Year! This year’s GeoConX was another great meetup for utility GIS professionals, and we look forward to keeping the conversation going throughout the year, and seeing everyone at GeoConx 2020 in Denver, Colorado.  Be sure to stay engaged with the community on GeoNet and follow us on Twitter @EsriElectricGas and on LinkedIn. ... View more

In his book The Road Ahead, Bill Gates said, "We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction." We are already seeing increased complexity in electric distribution circuits. If Gates is correct, we will see much more in the coming years. Electric utilities historically operate their distribution systems in sections called circuits. This blog series looks at some important characteristics of the circuits of the future and how they may differ from those of the past and the present. These differences are acting to convert our familiar circuits into a network that relies on electronics and data for routine operation. Are you setting your system up for success in the face of these changes? Part 1 of this blog introduced some fundamental differences between circuits and future networks. Part 2 examined why networks must be capable of being split into smaller parts. This final segment will consider the network's greater complexity and its need to handle rapid changes. Greater Complexity The sheer volume of electric system devices is going through the roof—microgrids, distributed generators, smart inverters, sensors, and automatic switches all bring greater complexity. These devices are more sophisticated than most of the circuit devices commonly in use today. Arguably the most common device on a circuit today is a fuse—a skinny piece of wire that, as its sole operation, burns up! An important insight is to realize that most circuits, on their journey to become a network, are starting from a very low level of sophistication. Sophisticated devices have more connection points, bypass functions, and test provisions. In addition, they are often configurable, integrate with communication systems, and exchange parameters with other devices and systems. These parameters help govern equipment settings, price signals, and protection from harmful conditions. Much of this complexity is linked to modern electronics that consume data in real time. Smaller network pieces and sophisticated devices complicate routine operating decisions. Formerly simple manual operations, like opening an overhead pole switch, will be initiated remotely with the use of a new and vastly more sophisticated switch. Instead of simply verifying adequate electrical capacity and switching from one circuit to another, operators will need to understand how each of these changes affects the entire network. I investigated several high-voltage accidents while working for utilities. Two of the worst injury accidents had their root cause in misidentified energized equipment. In tight spaces, like substations or underground structures, complexity brings the need for more equipment which takes up precious working space. More equipment and less space makes safe operation that much more challenging. To work safely, the data and information systems supporting these new networks must also accommodate their greater complexity and detail. Rapid Changes Traditional circuit layouts tend to be static, changing only for specific tasks or between summer and winter configurations. Dispatch and field personnel often have them nearly memorized. A gray-haired supervisor may confidently tell a new apprentice, "That transformer is on circuit number 121—it feeds from Buckingham substation up on the hill," speaking on the assumption that the circuit's characteristics remain constant. Self-healing capabilities such as reverse power flow and the use of automatic switches and microgrids can all change networks rapidly and without much warning. They can alternate in response to different conditions in a short period of time. Traditionally, to alert employees, such changes are announced over the operation's two-way radios mounted in work trucks. Advanced network changes may occur with little or no human interaction, and without radio announcement. This real-time operating paradigm sparks different work procedures and safety concerns because such rapid changes were not normal in the past. Staff are not used to their circuits changing quickly. They are accustomed to referencing their relatively static maps. Historically, a period of weeks to apply map updates was acceptable. But now, last month's map products from the Maps and Records division will be simply inadequate to meet the real-time operating needs of new networks. All users, in the office and the field, will need more detailed information in near real time. Wrap-Up Is there a time coming when we won't even think of circuits at all? Probably, but not in the immediate future. For decades, circuits were the only source of power to the distribution system. Today, every rooftop solar installation is another source to consider. The circuit at the substation may not be the only source on the network, but it will certainly remain important for quite some time. Many of the standards necessary to implement a smarter network are still under development. Given all the forces acting to change circuits into networks, prepare for a continuous evolution of equipment and capability. When you don't know exactly what will be required, flexibility is a key strategy. New functions will continue to be added, improving our ability to optimize distribution operations for power quality, cost, and reliability. Grid modernization and circuit evolution also mean a great deal of physical work, building networks and systems to support them. Because networks of the future will be controlled with electronics and data, the underlying information models and systems will be foundational to success. Like Bill Gates said, "Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction." The ArcGIS platform is specifically designed to help utilities model and operate these new complex and rapidly changing networks. For more information on how the ArcGIS platform helps electric utilities manage advanced networks, visit our site. ... View more