GeoWorld

GeoWorld August 2011

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customer information, operations, hydraulic modeling and SCADA. GIS has grown through time to become a key component in the information-technology (IT) infrastructure. As such, BWS staff rely heavily on GIS to support their daily activities. "There are parts of the water system that are over 50 years old," explains Daryl Hiromoto, BWS opera- tions manager. "Leaks and main breaks do occur, and, when they happen, we have the tools and expertise inhouse to resolve problems quickly with limited dis- ruption to service. The GIS helps us locate assets, trace through water pipes, identify affected customers, warn us if there are critical facilities in the area, and restore water service quickly and efficiently." Pro-Active GIS Monitoring Given its critical nature, the BWS GIS team strives to ensure maximum uptime for its enterprise GIS. If the GIS isn't running, some BWS staff can't get their jobs done. "As a foundation of our information-management strategy, GIS must meet or exceed the same reliability, responsiveness and performance expectations as the rest of the IT systems," says Ellen Hirayama, GIS program manager. "We can't be the last to know if our systems are down, because everyone has come to rely on the base maps and water-system information delivered by GIS." Lyann Okada, GIS Web manager, agrees. "We sup- port our field crews with live, up-to-date map products and tools," she adds. "If for some reason those aren't available, we hear about it." To maximize GIS uptime, BWS adopted a practice of rigorous, proactive management for its enterprise GIS. Staff routinely monitor key aspects of the GIS technol- ogy stack (e.g., ArcSDE (SQL-Server), ArcGIS Server, nightly batch processes and scheduled tasks, etc.) to be forewarned of potential trouble. In so doing, the GIS team is confident that the systems are well positioned to support any event that threatens the delivery of water to Oahu citizens. Enterprise GIS at Work Main-break events aren't an everyday occurrence in Honolulu, but when they happen, they require full attention and offer a chance to see enterprise GIS in action. Three core GIS tools are employed to support BWS staff: 1. Honolulu ON-line Utilities (HONU)—A Web-based map viewer and data management application built on the Esri ArcGIS Server Silverlight Web API framework. HONU is available across the organization to provide real-time access to water-system infrastructure data, operations information (pump, valve, hydrant status) and work activities. 2. Mobile Asset NOtebook (MANO)—An ArcEngine- based mobile application deployed to more than 100 field-crew members. MANO provides GIS view, query and navigation tools as well as a number of workflow-based lThe Honolulu BWS relies on XMF Alerter to be forewarned of potential trouble in the enterprise GIS technology stack. AUGUST 2O11 / WWW . GEOPLA CE . COM 15 lA figure illustrates the BWS GIS, which aids a variety of services and needs in Honolulu. tools that help mobile staff do their jobs, including work- and asset-management integration, redlining, isolation and out-of-service notifications and digital- media (photos, videos, audio, etc.) management. 3. GIS/Maximo (GISMO)—A fully integrated mapping system embedded in the work- and asset-management (IBM/Maximo) application. GISMO is used by planners, schedulers, troubleshooters and dispatchers to manage all aspects of work at BWS. "Our GIS is mission critical—it is central to every- thing we do," says Leo Ikehara, GIS lead. "Proactive monitoring of our system components, from SDE to ArcGIS Server to mobile clients, helps us support our staff and meet our service-agreement levels. XMF Alerter allows me to identify and fix problems in the GIS before any user ever knows about it." Proactive monitoring has been a key factor in the ongoing success of the BWS GIS and remains a cor- nerstone for growing GIS activities in Honolulu.

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