GIS in Utilities: Research Opportunities

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GIS in Utilities Research Opportunities

• University of Redlands
• School of Business
• Research Series
• April 1, 2005

John C. Stager
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What are utilities?

• Electric
• Gas
• Water
• Sewer
• Telephone

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Why use GIS?

• Reduce costs.
• Improve customer service.

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GIS in a Utility
Source ESRI
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GIS as a value added application

• Three uses of GIS
• Decision making
• Economic development
• Demographic studies
• Vegetation management
• System planning
• Rate case studies
• Long-term capital planning
• Reliability centered maintenance
• Loss evaluation
• Enterprise communication
• Efficiency

Source Dangermond, J (2003). Building and
Enterprise GIS. The Utilities Project, Volume 3.
Redlands, CA ESRI.
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GIS as a value added application

• Three uses of GIS
• Decision making
• Enterprise communication
• Work order status
• Weather
• Safety
• Crew and vehicle tracking
• Communication of work division performance
• Outage reporting to the media
• Bad debt analysis
• Efficiency

Source Dangermond, J (2003). Building and
Enterprise GIS. The Utilities Project, Volume 3.
Redlands, CA ESRI.
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GIS as a value added application

• Three uses of GIS
• Decision making
• Enterprise communication
• Efficiency
• Labor internal or contract
• Materials and hardware
• Carrying costs
• Fleet

Source Dangermond, J (2003). Building and
Enterprise GIS. The Utilities Project, Volume 3.
Redlands, CA ESRI.
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Other areas

• Engineering and design
• Operational planning/switching analysis
• Permitting and notification
• Work scheduling
• Crew scheduling/Crew coordination
• Fault location
• Productivity measurement by location
• Meter reading and service
• Automated meter reading deployment

Source Dangermond, J (2003). Building and
Enterprise GIS. The Utilities Project, Volume 3.
Redlands, CA ESRI.
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Infrastructure-Macro
Source http//www.energy.ca.gov/maps
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Infrastructure-Macro (continued)
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Infrastructure-Complexity
http//www.puc.state.oh.us/website
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Planning
Climate Zones
Source http//www.energy.ca.gov/maps
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Infrastructure-Micro
Source http//www.city.surrey.bc.ca
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Infrastructure-Micro (continued)
Source http//www.city.surrey.bc.ca
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Service Classification

• GIS Map Classified by Type of Residential
  Customers in Pomprabsatrupai (Bangkok)
• http//www.esri.com/mapmuseum/mapbook_gallery/volu
  me16/electric2.html

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Asset Management
Source City of Leesburg, FL ESRI
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Work Management
Source Burbank Water Power ESRI
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Outage Management
Source PPL of PA ESRI
Source City of Anaheim ESRI
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Outage Management (continued)
Source Dominion Power (NC) ESRI
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Source PPL of PA ESRI
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Outage Management (continued)
Source City of Riverside ESRI
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Other Uses
Source County of San Bernardino ESRI
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Discussion

• How can GIS help the utilities?
• Forecasting-growth/load (usage)?
• Planning-power plants/wire infrastructure?
• Meter reading-automated/traditional/van-based/ubiq
  uitous computing
• Routing of service?
• Location based aids for service and customers?