by Natalie Hunter, Secretary, NULCA Australia While utility locating is certainly not a new industry, many misconceptions remain about what can be achieved with the tools in a locator’s toolbox. The term ‘pipe and cable locating’ is a bit of a misconception for starters. An electromagnetic field (EMF) locator does not locate pipe and cables. It detects an electromagnetic field […]
Mapping & GIS
Keeping remote workers safe
Utility Journalist Mapping & GIS, Safety and Training, Sponsored Editorial 0Keeping remote workers safe and addressing duty of care requirements are critical concerns for utilities, as more than ever, staff are working in remote areas where there are no mobile or radio networks. Managing worker safety in remote areas can be costly and difficult, and operators are under growing pressure to improve efficiency while maintaining their focus on worker health […]
Augview awarded NZ’s top spatial award
Utility Journalist Digital Utilities, Mapping & GIS, News, Utility location 0Augview has taken top honours at the inaugural New Zealand Spatial Excellence Awards, receiving the Supreme Excellence Award and the award for Innovation and Commercialisation. The Award for Innovation and Commercialisation recognises products or projects that made a significant contribution to the industry through the introduction of a new idea, method, technology, process or application resulting in social, environmental and/or […]
How do you deal with conflation of datasets? – Derek, GIS technician at a gas utility Questions answered by Evan Bollard, GlobalPOS For the purposes of this column I will try to answer this from a GNSS perspective rather than a GIS one. Data conflation in a GIS sense is handled in many different ways and has been the subject of […]
ARENA to fund renewables mapping data
Utility Journalist Company news, Digital Utilities, Electricity, Mapping & GIS, News, Projects, Renewable Energy 0The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced up to $2.1 million in funding for National ICT Australia (NICTA) to develop an online national renewable energy mapping platform. ARENA CEO, Ivor Frischknecht, said the Australian Renewable Energy Mapping Infrastructure (AREMI) portal would be a valuable planning resource for the renewable energy industry. “NICTA is developing a comprehensive mapping platform that […]
SA Government receives prestigious award for GIS technology
Utility Journalist Land access, Mapping & GIS, News, Projects 0The South Australian State Government has accepted a prestigious international award for its innovative use of GIS. Communities and Social Inclusion Minister for SA, Zoe Bettison, said her department won the award for its use of geographic computer software to identify the most efficient ways to deliver its services to South Australian communities. “The Department used GIS technology to collect, access, […]
Smart mapping technology to revolutionise asset management
Utility Journalist Asset management, Company news, Electricity, Gas, Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, News, Water, Water and Wastewater Treatment 0New real-time technology could shave millions of dollars from the operational costs of Australian businesses, according to Esri Australia Business Solutions Manager, Doug van Gelder. Mr van Gelder, has advised leading asset managers how smart mapping technology is set to revolutionise the way organisations manage their infrastructure at the Asset Management and Maintenance Conference in Brisbane. Mr van Gelder said Geographic Information […]
GPS accuracy the key to Augview’s success
Utility Journalist Digital Utilities, Mapping & GIS, News, Utility location 0Augview is a GIS application that relies on accurate satellite positioning data for the application to be used effectively. Here, we look at the work Augview has undertaken to ensure the positioning data users receive when using the application is as accurate as possible. Augview users work in the fields of utility asset location and management, and as such have […]
What effect does the number of channels have on the operation of GNSS equipment?
Utility Journalist Features, Mapping & GIS 0Questions answered by Evan Bollard, GlobalPOS GNSS expert Evan Bollard says: All GNSS equipment requires a sufficient number of channels to perform the required observations. With the increasing proliferation of positioning satellites the number of channels available in a receiver could be a limitation for optimal productivity or robustness. In general terms, the more channels available on a receiver, the better […]
Improved connection, increased capability
Utility Journalist Asset management, Company news, Condition Assessment, Digital Utilities, Electricity, Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, News 0When looking to improve the capabilities of its staff in the field, Tasmania’s Aurora Energy turned to Motion Computing for a proven, tablet-based solution. Aurora Energy is a fully integrated energy and network business with complementary activities in telecommunications and energy-related technologies. With much of its business processes consisting of fieldwork including meter reading, pole and asset inspection and outage […]
Pressure and flow portal informs contractors
Utility Journalist Mapping & GIS, News, Pipelines, Water, Water and Wastewater Treatment 0Developers, consultants and contractors are now able to log in to a new South East Water portal integrating Google Maps to instantly and easily view pressure and flow information at no charge. In what is a first end-to-end solution for the water industry, the new system provides immediate results for single tapping pressure and flow information. “Currently consultants fill out […]
Water quality trial commencing in the NT
Utility Journalist Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, News, Sustainability, Water, Water and Wastewater Treatment 0Power and Water Corporation will soon begin an intensive monitoring program in Buffalo Creek and Shoal Bay to assess water quality as part of a timed wastewater discharge trial. The trial is part of Power and Water’s sewage treatment strategy aiming to improve the performance of the region’s wastewater treatment and disposal facilities. The aim of the monitoring program is to assess […]
How quickly should a GPS receiver achieve a real time kinematic (RTK) solution – with centimetre accuracy?
Utility Journalist Features, Mapping & GIS 0Question from Peter, Brisbane Questions answered by Evan Bollard, GlobalPOS GNSS expert Evan Bollard says: This is the proverbial ‘how long is a piece of string’ question. Based on my experience, it depends on the type of equipment being used. In general terms the first thing is that the receiver must be capable of carrier phase observations and be looking to fix […]
LNG network operations contract awarded
Utility Journalist Condition Assessment, Contracts awarded, Digital Utilities, Gas, Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, News 0Motorola Solutions has been awarded a contract to manage and support network operations for QGC’s liquefied natural gas project in southern Queensland. The five-year $10 million managed services contract will see Motorola Solutions manage and operate the communications network for the project’s main gas compression sites: the upstream control room in Chinchilla and, from January 1, 2015, the midstream LNG […]
GIS reveals path to enhanced utility vegetation management
Utility Journalist Asset management, Electricity, Land access, Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, News 0One of the United States’ leading vegetation management (VM) experts, in partnership with GIS specialist Esri Australia, has advised Australian utilities on how cutting-edge mapping technology will help them meet new tightened industry regulations. Head of Vegetation Management at the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) Anne Beard helped reshape the organisation’s VM practices, after the worst blackout in US history […]
The evolution of GIS
Utility Journalist Asset management, Digital Utilities, Features, Land access, Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, Stormwater, Water, Water and Wastewater Treatment 1How the past is creating the future for SA Water’s GIS project Geographic information systems (GIS) have become integral to almost every aspect of the operations of public utilities around the world. As one of the first utilities in Australia to fully capture and store its entire network on a GIS, South Australia’s SA Water began their project almost 30 […]
EOI: data integrity project
Utility Journalist Asset management, Digital Utilities, Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, News, Open tenders and opportunities, Water 0Sydney Water Corporation (NSW) is currently seeking expressions of interest for pre-qualification from suitably qualified providers to assist in developing a scope of work to complete a network and real estate assets management program. Submissions close 9.30am Sydney time, Thursday 15 May 2014. For further information or application details see the tender webpage.
Questions answered by Evan Bollard, GlobalPOS Even though this may at times be considered more of a GIS question, it is very relevant to the operation of any GNSS receiver to ensure the correct datum is selected during use. If it is not set to collect data on the correct datum, or does not define what datum the data was […]
Questions answered by Evan Bollard, GlobalPOS From an application point of view it is necessary to consider what accuracy is required from the results and what productivity level is acceptable for the application. GNSS receivers come in many forms and many things determine their performance. Currently, using small receiver chips embedded in consumer devices such as smartphones can be very […]
Our Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Expert is Evan Bollard. Evan has over 30 years of experience in the specification, implementation and use of GNSS equipment in all types of high accuracy applications both real time and post processed. He is a surveyor by profession and has been involved in the development of major machine control applications from concept through […]
Questions answered by Evan Bollard, GlobalPOS Most people know of the existence of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and what a great tool it is. Not as many know about the other Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), of which GPS is one specific constellation. GPS was developed by the USA. Other countries have developed or are developing their own systems. […]
Surveying the broadband superhighway at road speeds
Utility Journalist Features, Mapping & GIS, Projects, Telecommunications, Utility location 0By Anthony Emmerson, Operations Manager – Infrastructure, Taylors The Taylors NBN journey started in July 2010. The NBN project was in its infancy. A trial rollout had begun in Tasmania and the project was gaining some media coverage, however the coverage was largely political and few in the mainstream business community had started to turn their heads in the NBN […]
Questions answered by Evan Bollard, GlobalPOS Generally speaking this is covered by the acronym PNT (Position, Navigation and Timing). Depending on the application it is usually one or more of these outputs that is required to be generated. This data is usually integrated with other sensors or data to serve the desired purpose. It can be used to map existing […]
Questions answered by Evan Bollard, GlobalPOS GIS and GNSS are increasingly being used as an integrated part of the management process in the utility sector to improve productivity and reliability. To operate effectively these GIS data sets need an appropriate level of accuracy in the 3D position of features on or in the ground. As well, a measure of the […]
GIS ensures meter upgrade runs smoothly
Utility Journalist Digital Utilities, Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, News, Water 0GIS systems have been vital in enabling the smooth running of a significant project by TasWater to upgrade Tasmania’s residential water meters. The Tasmanian Water and Sewerage Corporation (TasWater) has partnered with mapping technology specialist Esri Australia to manage the installation of automatic meter reading (AMR) technology to Tasmanian residents. TasWater’s Spatial Information System Administrator Luke Paine has revealed the […]
ERP mobility: enabling the spatial enterprise
Utility Journalist Asset management, Digital Utilities, Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, Utility location 0By Emil Vulin, Principal Consultant at we-do-IT In a digital age, mobile devices are becoming the primary point of contact between an individual (be it a customer, partner or employee) and an organisation. This is especially important for large organisations like utilities, where staff may work in a variety of locations in the field but must be able to communicate […]
Carlson Software available from GlobalPOS
Utility Journalist Digital Utilities, Mapping & GIS, News, Utility location 0Carlson Software is built on both AutoCAD® and IntelliCAD® (built-in), allowing its users to choose their CAD platform. Carlson Software currently runs on AutoCAD and AutoCAD Map versions 2000-2014. From data collection to design and drafting, to estimating, through stakeout, to machine control, you’ll find complete, interactive software solutions with Carlson, allowing you to skip rework and data conversions. Carlson […]
High tech mapping of Qld electricity network
Utility Journalist Electricity, Maintenance, Mapping & GIS, News, Powerlines 0Ergon Energy is using ROAMES (Remote Observation Automated Modeling Economic Simulation) to map its vast regional Queensland network in a move that will transform its asset and disaster management capability a spokesman said. Chief Executive Ian McLeod said ROAMES is using two specially modified Cessna aircraft fitted with laser scanners and digital cameras to map, photograph and inspect Ergon’s 150,000 […]
Balancing act: future-proofing Australia’s electricity network
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