Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/41362
Diary of a Water-Main Rupture The following example shows a main-break event from the perspective of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS) GIS team. It highlights the technology and illustrates how the GIS team uses pro-active moni- toring to ensure the GIS is ready when called upon. 7:00 a.m. Water-Main Rupture It's 7 a.m. in Honolulu, and the morning commute is in full swing. A motorist is driving down her residential street heading toward H1 freeway. But the entrance to the freeway is blocked by what looks like a crater in the middle of the road, filled with mud, water and broken pavement. Water still is gushing down the roadway, so the motorist assumes correctly that a large water main has broken. She dials 411, and her call is quickly transferred to BWS. A customer-care representative answers the call, listens to the motorist, and quickly opens an Incident Report, gathering pertinent information from the caller, including detailed location information. Enterprise GIS The Honolulu ON-line Utility (HONU) enterprise map viewer provides comprehensive mapping tools for the customer-care representative. The viewer is supported by map cache and real-time overlays of water-system and work-order information. Using color-coded displays, enhanced mouse-overs, "auto-overlays" that identify service areas, neighborhood boundaries and maintenance districts, and rapid data lookups, BWS operators assess the situation in real time and accurately complete requisite incident reports. In addition, HONU includes capabilities that help the customer-care representative see existing work orders and service requests so the incident won't be recorded multiple times. 7:30 a.m. Troubleshooters Dispatched The Incident Report is quickly reviewed by BWS dispatchers who decide they need more onsite infor- mation before creating a work order and sending BWS work crews to the site. Troubleshooters are dispatched to the water-main rupture site. The troubleshooters are equipped with specialized BWS mobile GIS software, MANO (Mobile Asset Notebook). The troubleshooter launches MANO, zooms to the location of interest and displays the underlying water- system infrastructure to identify features that may be responsible for the leak. The troubleshooter determines that the water on the road is indeed coming from a ruptured main line. The rupture is documented using a "BWS MediaPack" that enables the troubleshooter to link all forms of digital media (photos, videos, audio, as-builts, customer- service records, notes, etc.) to a single location on the map. The MediaPack is submitted to BWS head- quarters for review by work planners, who will use this and other data to formulate a strategy for fixing the water-main rupture as quickly as possible. Enterprise GIS MANO provides a range of GIS capabilities tailored specifically to the needs of BWS field crews. It oper- ates in "connected" and "disconnected" environments and automatically synchronizes data among field units and the BWS enterprise GIS. MANO's integrated MediaPack system is used to communicate actual field conditions to office person- nel to support informed decision making. MediaPacks present a comprehensive view of the incident through pictures, video and other media types. 9:30 a.m. Work Order Created and Crew Dispatched After reviewing the MediaPack data and other infor- mation, BWS planners create a new work order and locate it on a map using the integrated work-management GIS (GISMO). Crews then are assigned to the water- main rupture. To understand the impact of their work, field crew lEnterprise redlining promotes collaboration and data maintenance through shared map sketches. 16 GEO W ORLD / AUGUST 2O11 leads use tailored water-network isolation tools avail- able in their mobile GIS to create out-of-service maps and reports. The analysis results in PDF reports that include hydrant outage information for the Honolulu Fire Department as well as lists and maps of affected critical-care facilities (e.g., hospitals) as well as affected businesses and residential dwellings. Infrastructure Management