Electric Energy T&D - Index

Electric Energy T&D - EE Magazine March / April 2009 - Index

The 2009 Automation/IT Leadership Series
Some have called such a system a spatial data
infrastructure (SDI) that provides highways
for serving and sharing large amounts of
geographic imagery and information. Such
a system is already emerging and being
useful in many settings from sustainable
development to climate change to emergency
response. As you know, a principal focus of
the current stimulus package is to develop
infrastructure. GIS already plays a valuable
role in designing modern infrastructure
from building roads to implementing energy
smart grids. A national system would simply
expand our common geographic knowledge
and be immensely useful to a wide range
of people and organizations as we face
infrastructure development in the months
and years ahead.
EET&D: How would you characterize the
role of utilities in this effort towards creating
a National GIS database?
Dangermond: There are four areas of
measurable change that have recently
occurred in the utility sector, resulting in
a transformation of GIS for utilities. These
areas are: 1) Wider use of GIS to support
their business; ) Integration with other
enterprise systems; 3) GIS participation in
organizational workflows; and finally, 4) A
greater need to use internal and external
information sources in day-to-day operations.
All of this has positioned an increasing
number of utilities as a rich and expanding
source of quality GIS data that can help
create the foundation for such a system.
EET&D: Let’s briefly address these items
one at a time, starting with how utility GIS
proliferation helps utilities support their
business. Also, I suspect that ‘integration
with other enterprise systems’ – your second
point – is probably related to that answer,
so it would probably make sense to discuss
both of these together.
Dangermond: Yes, I think that’s a valid
perspective, but I want to let Bill take that
one on, since systems integration is one of
his strong suits.
Meehan: Utilities have historically
segmented their work and their information
systems have tended to follow these
segmented processes. Today, utilities need
to have access to information from a variety
of sources presented in simple to understand
ways. Our industry now demands accurate and
current information. We can’t be checking in
the field every time we need to change out a
switch because we have discrepancies in our
many systems. Integration allows utilities to
discover things they could not see alone in
a single system. That’s what makes GIS so
exciting for utilities; it provides them with
new knowledge so they can make better
decisions.
EET&D: I have some ideas about what you
mean by ‘GIS participation in organizational
workflows’, but rather than guess, how would
you characterize the levels and types of
participation?
Dangermond: We have worked hard
with our customers to understand their
workflows and evolved our spatial technology
to enhance those workflows. A very simple
example is how a utility handles street light
outages. Several users have implemented a
system that allows customers to go online
to report a streetlight out by pointing at a
map showing where the damaged light is in
relation to where they are. Sometimes this is
accompanied with a phone call. This saves
the investigative costs and fundamentally
changes the workflow for everyone.
Customers and the utility discover exactly
which light it is. The utility then creates
the work order, integrates the work order
with other work the repair crew is doing,
optimizes the work route, notifies the supply
chain and accounting systems, and keeps
track of street light repair to report to the
regulators. The GIS plays a pivotal role in
that workflow.
EET&D: And finally, most utility people
would agree that there is indeed ‘a greater
need to use internal and external information
sources in day-to-day operations‘. What, in
particular do you have in mind for how a
National GIS might play into that scenario
and vice-versa?
I March-April 2009 Issue
Dangermond: The most obvious need is
during times of great national stress. This
could be a natural disaster, a financial crisis
or a terrorist action. During these times we
need ready access to information to deploy
first responders, to identify where jobs are
being lost or where to deploy relief materials.
Information is needed to plan and prepare
for these events in creative ways so when
these crises hit, we will be ready. Bill, is
there anything you’d like to add to that?
Meehan: Utilities and governments
spend enormous time and energy building
information. Yet they may not have either the
resources or the knowledge to maintain the
data. An electric utility, for example, needs
to know about vegetated wetland delineation
near its transmission right of way, yet they
really have no way of knowing when its
characteristics have changed. Having ready
access to the National GIS where information
is gathered from the people who created the
data would provide timely and easy access to
that kind of information.
EET&D: Most Americans – and indeed
people around the world – have been closely
following the Obama administration’s
economic Stimulus Plan. Now that it has
been signed into law, how will a National
GIS provide help or support this massive and
potentially far-reaching plan?
Dangermond: A National GIS is uniquely
capable of providing unity to the Stimulus
Plan. As a cornerstone program, it will enable
leaders to achieve the greatest results for each
taxpayer dollar spent. With initiatives such
as Imagery for the Nation, The National Map,
and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure,
federal agencies including USGS, Census
Bureau, NOAA, DHS, and DOI have already
formed the foundation for a National GIS.
Moreover, a National GIS will immediately
create high tech jobs and engage hundreds of
private firms while supporting infrastructure
improvements and energy initiatives.
EET&D: What is the present role of GIS,
and how would that change as a result of
having a National GIS if such a database
were to be created?