Gainesville Regional Utilities continually expandsand refines its GIS into a fully digital and highlycapable system and a model for communities

IS at Gainesville (Fla.)Regional Utilities hasgone from an out-sourced system com-prised ofinfrequendy

updated paper maps to an in-house,fully digital system that consistsof a utility-wide GIS data-viewingapplication, survey grade GPSequipment, mobile GIS data view-ing, inspections and redlining, andan in-house work managementsystem tied to the GIS.

"So, yes, we've come a longway," says Steve McElroy, water/wastewater GIS administrator.Owned by the Ciry of Gainesville,GRU is Florida's frfth largest utilityand is unusually comprehensive,providing electric, natural gas,water, wastewater and telecommu-nications services to 89,000 retailand wholesale customers inGainesville and surrounding unin-corporated areas.

The water/wastewater department maintains 1,069 miles ofwater line, 129 miles of sewer forcemain, and 593 miles of sewergravity main. GIS has a clear roleto play in administering any bigutility's water and wastewater pro-grams. But GRU's initial GIS pushactually began in the electric

department in 1985, with an inde-pendent department initiative tobuild an Automated Mapping/Facilities Management (AM/FM)system on a mainframe computer.

By combining operational areaexpertise with enterprise-widedata availability, and by workingwith traditional support depart-ments like administration, GRUhas crafted an approach to GISthat serves all departments welland allows useful growth andevolution. The agency is doingsomething right: GRU recentlytook home the 2008 GeospatialInformation & Technology Associ-ation (GITA) Excellence Award, amajor industry honor that recog-nizes "dedication, insight and a

"'We don't really have a GIS departrnent,

Rodney DougherÇ (left) and KyleWheeler of Gainesville RegionalUtilities use the three-partTop ConGPS system to plot points and sur.vey water lines in the city.Wheeleruses the hand-held data collectorwhile Dougherty points the Prisminfrared receiyer at the roboticstation that is down the road,(Photography by Brad McClenny)

.81 ì

l0(ljf: lllATIR/f IfïlR

By Angus W Stocking, L.S.

just GIS specialists Iike myself that supportthe different operational areas."

Steve McEIroy

high degree of initiative in the out-standing application of geospatialtechnology."

Starting earlyAs early as 1988, facility maps

produced by this system were

being used in other departments,and in 1991 the mainframe systemwas migrated to an ESRI-basedsystem witl the goal of integrarioninto all departments.

In the words of supervisingengineer Larry W. Callis, the sys-

26 December 2OO8 mswmap com

At right,the robotic total stat¡on.Beloq LisaAdams, civil engineer-ing graduate student and GRUlntern, demonstrates how thePanasonicTough Book is used inthe field to show the survey thatw.rs done with the GPS system.

tem that has evolved is "an integralpart of nearly all utility functionsand can now best be described as asuccessful and robust partnershipbetween the operating depart-ments and the planning, informa-tion technology and administ¡ativedepartments."

McElroy notes that discipline-specific data la,vers are on'ned andmaintained by the operatinggroups, but all data is corporatelyowned and maintained, and avail-able to all segmens of the utilityand local government. "We don'treally have a GIS department, justGIS specialists like myself thatsupport the different operationalareas," he says.

Callis says the concept, design,development and funding of newGIS applications is centered withinthe operating areas. Deploymentis realized through a partnershipbetween the operating and infor-mation technology departments.

For the water/wastewater depart-ment, this meant [hat during themid- to late-1990s, much dme was

spent building digital asset andfacility plans, and working withinformation technology and otherdepartments to overlay these plansonto a common land base. By 2000,water and wastewater maps wereroutinely available and includedmaps and views like alignments,

facilities, manholes and conduits,and profile shees.

Getting prec¡seOne-foot contours and high-

resolution aerial photography areavailable throughout the system.Since then, the system has becomesteadily more comprehensive,sophisticated and useful. Thedepartment uses its own licenses ofESRI ATcGIS and ArcFM to updateand produce maps, along withcustomized scripts and editingtools to efficiently enter as-builtinformation.

Maps are now updated at leastweekly. To gather in-house anddeveloper as-built information, thewater/wastewater department has

its own robotic total station andsurvey-grade GPS RTK receivers.Custom ArcReader applicationsare used for enterprise-wide GISdata viewing. "All of our engineers,planners and scientists have access

to this system, which provides up-to-date GIS data viewing for any oftheir project needs," McEIroy says.

The ESRI-based system isextended with third-party sofrware.For example, Cityworks fromAzLeca Systems Inc., is used forwork and asset management, andties directly to the ESRI database

without duplication of data.And Bentley's WaterGEMS andSewerGEMS are used for networkmodeling, analysis, and design.The two programs integrate withATcGIS (one of their four supportedplatforms) and allow them toanalyze their water systems directlywithin A¡cGIS. "I don't deal directlywith this," says McElroy, "I justsupport the engineers and plannerswith any geodatabase issues."

lmproving processesCallis says numerous work

processes are improved or enhancedby the current GIS. They includerecord keeping, standardizing ofsymbols, standardizing of materialsand work practices, large- andsmall-scale project tracking, deveÌ-opment review, system planning,system restoradon and mainte-

nance, underground facility iden ti-fication and location, infrastruc-ture information dissemination,and vegetation management.

As in any GIS implemenation,achieving buy-in was critical. Callishad a definite plan for buildingcooperation. "We achieved andmaintainecl buy-in by peer groups,corporate support groups and seniormanagement through continuousproject championship by a senioroperations manager," he says.

"We also periodically showcased

existing and envisioned methods ofGIS, with specific emphasis onreal-worìd applications that wouldenable improvements to operatinggroups' effectiveness and efñciency,"Callis says. Also important werean adequate budget and staff,trust of GIS staff by senior manage-ment, improved network resources,and improved relational database

technology.

CITED FOREXCELLENCE

The Excellence Award that

Gainesville Regional Utilities

received from the Geosoatial

lnformation & Technology

Association (GITA) is a presti-

gious honor.

GITA is a nonorofit educa-

tional association whose roots

go back to the late I 960s, when

a group from the Public Service

Company of Colorado was one

of the first utilities to develop

an automated mapping/facilities

manatement system. The suc-

cess of that early system led toa seminal 1978 conference and

an association named AM/FM

lnternational. ln I 998, the group

adopted its current name.

GITA has given its Excellence

Award since 2002. lt recognizes

organizations that implement

geospatial technology in out-

standing applications, especially

multifaceted applications that

influence the totality of large

institutions.

mswmas.com Dece^nbe'2008 27

By thinking about buy-in fromthe beginning, and by includingtraditional support departments,like administration, in GIS plan-ning, GRU has avoided many ofthe turf wars that often accompanybroad new technologies.

By leaving update and designof new GIS features to operatingdepartments, while also reþing onthe information technology depart-ment to implement new features,GRU has captured the strengths ofits unique mix of utilities, in addi-tion to the traditional strengths ofGIS. Both orientations have beenkeys to the growth of GIS at GRU.

Keeping it all togetherBecause the GIS has developed

over time, mostly in-house, GRU isstill discovering new uses for thetechnology and new ways to inte-

grate it into daily operations. Fieldaccess, for example, is still evolving.

"Our IT department has set upseveral hotspots at strategic loca-tions throughout our service areaand that lets freld crews downloador upload data via a secure FTPclient," McElroy says. "As far as

a dynamic system that pushesdata both ways on the fly, we don'thave anything like that yet. Someof our field guys do use a remotedesktop connection via Sprintbroadband cards."

Still, when full field accessarrives, it will likely be perfectlytailored to GRU's needs in a waythat an ofÊthe-shelf system nevercould be.

Similarly, the utility's CCTVsetup is not yet integrated with theGIS, though McElroy has beenthinking about it. GRU uses

Granite XP software fromCUES Inc. to store and organ-ize video data.

The fact that hands-onoperators rather than out-

side consultants make theintegration decisions

means GRU ends upwith the system thatis right for theagency at the time

i and is not beinghurried into decisions that don't

[o be made yet.Looking ahead,water/wastewater

t is focus-on mobile appli-

tions. "We've justmented GO! Sync

pbook from TCnology for field

ns, primarilyresponse, and

says. "We're right in the middle ofconfiguring and optimizing theapplications, and we've gone livewith a few individuals."

And McElroy adds that themanagement team is hoping an

which provides up-to-date

of their project needs."Steve McElroy

enterprise asset-management sys-

tem will come online within fiveyears or so. "That will be a massiveproject, and is still in its infanc¡"he says. "Ultimately, we're plan-ning on the system, which will runon SAP, being tied into our GIS."

BenefitsCallis estimates rhe benefits

from GIS implementation at $3million. He can't put hard num-bers to everything, but he doesknow, for example, that reducingthe manual mapping sta-ffis saving

$360,000 per year, and he purs theannual figure for improved projectplanning at $25,000.

But he's also quick to list intan-gible benefrts. Superior customerservice is "priceless," and he likesthe "trust by field personnel inthe completeness and accuracy ofour mapping products." Otherhard-to-quanti$r benefits includefewer network outages, marketingapplications, and better accuracyand detail for mid- and long-termplanning.

Having learned by doing,GRU's home-grown GIS expertsare busily giving back to the GIS

community in their regions byaddressing local groups. Staffmembers presented on Land BaseLayer Maintenance to the AlachuaCounty GIS Users Group, and onProper Procurement and QA/QCof Digital Orthophotogrammetryto the Alachua County PropertyAppraiser. By taking leadershiproles, they're raising the bar forgeospatial information and prod-ucts in their region.

GRU's sense of satisfactionwith its own GIS is palpable. Thestaff is proud of the recognitionfrom GITA, but the tremendouslyimproved utility of the systemmeans even more. "Demonstrated,measured and continuous successhas enabled GIS to evolve from anoperating departmental effort inthe mid-1980s with a grand vision,to that of an invaluable corporateresource of toda¡" Callis says.

And the really nice thing is thatthe GIS will only get better withtime. i

@ ffim-svstems lnc.

www.azteca,com

Bentley Systems, lnc.8OO/BENTLEYwwwbentley,com

CUES lnc.407t894-0t90www.cuesinc.com

MORE INFO:Jack Goff uses theRTK real-timekinematicto plotpoints'

@ Fo?,11,,-,r,,wwwesn,com

TCTechnology760t929 8345www.tctechnology.com

ining," McElroy