Hope Gas (Hope) provides gas services to approximately 125,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in 35 West Virginia counties. As part of an acquisition, Hope transitioned its legacy geographic information system (GIS) to the latest Esri technology and ArcGIS Utility Network data model. Hope also needed an Esri solution to support field operations.  

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A map with blue and orange lines on a white background with information boxes on the left and right

Screenshot depicts selecting a leak class to place.

Challenge

To improve customer service and further promote safety, Hope required the implementation of a new mobile solution for documenting gas leaks and performing asset inspections that could run on Windows field laptops. The deployed app had a very tight timeline and needed to be implemented and deployed to the 150-person field crew within three months, including time for training and testing.

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A map interface displays streets and buildings, with colored markers and lines indicating gas lines and potential leaks

Screenshot depicts entering attributes for a leak.

Solution

Hope partnered with RAMTeCH on this project, which involved developing a GIS mobile application for viewing and collecting data using the ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET. The app uses the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF .NET) UI framework and was deployed on Hope’s Windows 11 field machines. One crucial aspect was the ability to operate offline so Hope’s crews could collect data without interruption in areas where there isn’t cellular connectivity.

Hope leveraged RAMTeCH’s Esri-based gMobileTM solution to deploy the mobile application. The app uses the ArcGIS Field Maps configuration, including Arcade expressions, allowing users to configure forms in ArcGIS Enterprise. By providing an underlying application platform, gMobileTM allows the rapid deployment of mobile applications, which includes common GIS functionalities along with specific workflows to meet unique client requirements.

This process allowed Hope staff to meet the compressed timeline to provide an app that allows users to perform mission-critical field tasks. The solution development and configuration work began in October 2023, with a round of field testing and training in December 2023. The production application was deployed on January 1, 2024.

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A map displays streets, colored lines, and points of interest

Screenshot depicts attributes completed.

Results

The gMobile™ solution was able to support the deployment of a built-to-purpose native Windows solution in a compressed timeline. Hope avoided unnecessary spend on mobile app software licensing by using a solution which utilized core Esri licensing. The gMobile™ solution supported rapid development, maintainability, and scalability while increasing Hope’s ROI. The proven methodology was designed to identify key business needs and align them with Esri’s software capabilities for business-focused deployments for Hope’s field staff. The application is designed to operate offline allowing field crews to collect data uninterrupted in areas without cellular connectivity. The solution provides continuous background data synchronization, keeping Hope’s field crews up-to-date in near real-time.

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Map with blue buttons and lines on green and yellow streets, and a text box reads Gas Leak open over Broadway and Nutter

Screenshot depicts leak placement completed.

Originally posted here.

Electric operations all over the world rely on business continuity. Lithuania's Energy Distribution System Operator (ESO) has long been a strategic user of Esri geographic information system (GIS) software for increasing the reliability of the utility’s electric operations across the country. ESO's services cover 1.8 million customers and spans a service territory of the whole of Lithuania, with 127,000 kilometers total length of the distribution network.

As part of an overall digital transformation strategy, ESO employees in the spring of 2023 integrated their GIS data in ArcGIS Utility Network with their advanced distribution management system (ADMS). This integration was crucial to ensure that ESO employees could easily maintain their data in their ADMS and that it would be compatible with industry-standard systems.

Challenge

Historically, ESO employees relied on geometric network and GE Smallworld as their integration platform for as-built documentation. However, as part of ESO's strategy, staff recognized the need for a more dependable, sophisticated, and standardized infrastructure service with the most current technologies. Utility leadership initiated a project to migrate the GIS data from the existing geometric network and implement a modern product-based integration with the ADMS. Using new technologies, such as ArcGIS Utility Network, would allow staff to maintain the data and provide a single source of truth.

Following the successful migration of their systems, ESO leadership prioritized finding an integration solution that would enable their staff to work from a unified interface. This required interoperability with the Common Information Model (CIM), a globally accepted way of describing and transferring electrical models. This makes it a popular choice for new integrations in the industry.

Lithuania's Energy Distribution System Operator (ESO) has long leveraged Esri GIS technology to ensure the continuity of their electric operations.

Solution

ESO employees first implemented ArcGIS Enterprise, a complete GIS software system that helps users manage, map, visualize, and analyze their data. Staff then deployed ArcGIS Utility Network, a configurable system that leverages ArcGIS Enterprise for advanced asset modeling, analysis, business integration, and communications.

“ArcGIS Utility Network provided a network model more aligned with the principles of CIM and eased the integration between the GIS and ADMS,” said Andrius Mackevičius, Head of Network Data Management at ESO.

ESO leadership chose Similix, an Esri partner, to ensure their ArcGIS data in their ADMS was CIM-compatible. ESO employees utilized the CIM Adaptor for ArcGIS. This licensed software provides a versatile solution for aligning data and business processes across business units and systems. For users, data can easily be exchanged without modifying the underlying data models in source systems. Key to ESO's leadership was the adaptor’s ability to seamlessly work with standard ArcGIS services like Utility Network Export Subnetwork Service.

The CIM Adaptor’s user-friendly interface allows ESO users to easily map or connect the information from one system to the other with a drag-and-drop function . Additionally, the adaptor includes a rule engine that facilitates data transformation in a way that is useful for the users. ESO employees will be able to also use the CIM profile information in the adaptor to run future simulations for planning purposes in power network analysis applications.

Similix's CIM Adaptor with ArcGIS Utility Network work together to monitor for network changes and automatically export full feeders—a group of electrical devices that are connected—when changes are flagged. This automated system provides ESO employees with up to 1500 changed feeders daily, ensuring timely data updates in the ADMS.

ESO employees also wanted to ensure that the CIM Adaptor didn't negatively impact their ADMS and operations in the control room during implementation. Equally, it was important to ensure that feeders imported from the legacy GIS geometric network and feeders from Utility Network could coexist [FL2] in the ADMS. To meet this challenge, the CIM Adaptor stores existing IDs from the ADMS as attribute values in the Utility Network. This approach ensures that when the CIM Adaptor exports changed feeders to ADMS, it continues to use the same IDs for assets like transformers, saving operators time and allowing them to focus on operational tasks.

Similix's solution was easy to implement and train staff on. They also provided ESO with CIM training so staff could maintain the solution.

“Integrating GIS and ADMS using Similix CIM Adaptor is a best-in-class example of creating value from upgrading to ArcGIS Utility Network,” said Jesper Vinther Christensen, CEO at Similix. “With a product-based CIM integration, ESO has a robust platform to leverage network information to ADMS and other systems for the future.”

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Diagram of Esri Utility Network to CIM Integration to Electric Model Assets and Connectivity to GE PowerOn ADMS

ArcGIS Utility Network data is fed into the Similix CIM Adaptor for ArcGIS; seamlessly aligning data and business processes without the need to modify underlying data models.

Results

ESO leadership values the new, robust, and configurable integration from Utility Network to ADMS. This integration, along with the benefits of Utility Network, has streamlined workflow processes and eliminated steps. ESO employees can continue maintenance or updates as new business requirements arise.

Additionally, ESO can trust Similix with new releases that meet future Esri standards. The CIM Adaptor lets ESO use the product for new CIM-based integrations. For example, it could enable Utility Network and network analysis systems in the future. ESO is exploring integrating GIS into other parts of the organization, like planning for networks and grids.

“Implementing ArcGIS Utility Network with CIM Adaptor has been a game-changer for ESO, as it has allowed us to establish a centralized system based on GIS and easily exchange network data from GIS to ADMS via industry standard format without any additional platforms” said Virgilijus Žukauskas, Head of Network Operation Division at ESO. “By integrating these technologies, we have enabled enterprise-wide use, ensuring that nearly every employee can access and utilize the system for their daily operations.”

Originally posted here.

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A professional and technical visual representing the convergence of electric utility grids and GIS, now including a central concept of two diverse people in professional attire shaking hands to symbolize collaboration. The image features a stylized, modern power grid network with transmission lines and substations. Overlaid on this network are vibrant, semi-transparent data visualization layers including heat maps for congestion, topographic contours, and digital icons representing spatial intelligence and power system analysis. The aesthetic is futuristic and precise, with a dark blue and teal color palette.

I have been fortunate to have had some remarkable influences in my career. Two stand out.

The first was my college professor, Homer Brown. He taught power system analysis using computers. What made him unique was that he wasn't just teaching algorithms; he invented one of them, the Z-Matrix method for short-circuit analysis, which is still used today. Homer sparked my fascination with power system modeling and the idea that computers could help us better understand how the grid behaves. Later, I ended up teaching many of these same algorithms.

The second influence was Esri President Jack Dangermond. Jack's vision was that GIS was never really about maps. It was about understanding relationships and helping organizations make better decisions. For me, those organizations became electric utilities.

For most of the industry's history, power system analysis and GIS have lived in separate worlds. Engineers built models to understand power flows, fault currents, and system reliability. GIS provided geographic context. The two occasionally met when network data was exported into engineering software, but that was about it.

Today, that separation no longer makes sense.

A New Approach

The industry is facing a fundamental shift. The grid deals with a stampede of interconnection requests driven by renewables, battery storage, data centers, electrification, and artificial intelligence infrastructure. At the same time, utilities are facing an onslaught of wildfires, flooding, severe storms, and extreme heat. The grid is becoming more stressed, more interconnected, and more difficult to plan.

Traditional approaches are struggling to keep up.

For years, interconnection studies focused on a simple question: Can this project connect to the grid?

That is still important, but it is no longer enough.

A better question is: How does this project influence the grid, and how does the grid influence the project?

Consider a large solar facility. Its output may flow across transmission lines hundreds of miles from its point of interconnection. Some of those facilities may already be congested. Others may cross regions vulnerable to wildfire, flooding, or extreme weather. Likewise, a large data center may create impacts far beyond the substation where it connects. Its demand may influence transmission loading, generation dispatch, and reliability conditions across an entire region.

These relationships are real, but they are often hidden inside engineering studies and planning models.

This is where I believe GIS, along with its GeoAI capabilities, and traditional power system analysis can come together in a transformational way.

Electricity Does Not Flow Along a Single Path

One of the most useful concepts in transmission planning is the Power Transfer Distribution Factor, or PTDF. PTDFs help us understand how power actually moves across a network. They remind us that electricity does not travel along a single path. It spreads across the system according to the network's connectivity and electrical characteristics.

Utilities have used PTDFs for years to understand congestion and transmission impacts. What GIS brings to the table is the ability to place those electrical relationships into geographic context.

A transmission line several hundred miles away may carry a meaningful portion of a generator's output. A transformer in another state may become a limiting factor for a proposed data center. A wildfire-prone corridor may be critical to delivering power between a resource and a load center.

Those are not just engineering relationships. They are geographic relationships as well.

Using GIS, utilities understand geography. They know where assets are located. They know where development is occurring. They understand environmental risks.

What has been much harder to visualize is how electrical influence spreads across the network and intersects with those geographic realities.

By combining load-flow analysis, PTDFs, GIS, and the ArcGIS Utility Network, utilities can begin to see those relationships in entirely new ways.

This is where GIS’s GeoAI capabilities and ArcGIS Utility Network become interesting. They can help identify patterns, dependencies, and risks that may not be obvious when information is scattered across multiple systems and reports.

Imagine combining transmission analysis results with interconnection queues, congestion history, asset condition data, weather forecasts, wildfire risk, flood exposure, and land-use trends within a common geospatial framework.

Suddenly, questions become easier to answer.

Which facilities are most critical to a project's success? Which environmental risks threaten key delivery paths? Which future projects may compete for the same transmission capacity? Which constraints are likely to emerge before they show up in a formal study?

Supporting the Future Grid

The future grid will be shaped by interactions between generation, load, transmission, geography, climate, and infrastructure risk. Understanding individual projects will remain important, but understanding how those projects influence one another across the network may become even more important.

Homer Brown helped me understand the physics of the grid.

Jack Dangermond showed me how geography can help us better understand the world.

The next step is bringing those two ideas together.

When electrical and geographic intelligence converge, utilities gain a new perspective on the grid, not simply where assets are located, but how they influence one another. One great example is a large transmission operator (which I am not permitted to name) that has integrated real-time EMS data into its GIS within the control room. Dispatchers value the ability to view their operations in a geographic context. While they do not dispatch directly from the GIS, it enables them to uncover insights and relationships that would not be apparent from the EMS alone.

That may be one of the most important opportunities GeoAI brings to the future of utility planning.

For more information on how GIS can transform the grid, visit the GeoAI and ArcGIS Utility Network websites.

Veitur Utilities, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland, is the country’s largest multiutility provider, delivering electricity, drinking water, district heating, and wastewater services across the southwest region. Operating more than 7,600 kilometers of power lines and managing thousands of assets across diverse networks, Veitur has made geographic information system (GIS) technology central to its digital transformation strategy.

Working with Esri partner Similix and Icelandic distributor Samsýn, Veitur has migrated its electric network to ArcGIS Utility Network and integrated GIS with key enterprise systems to create a unified operational view. The platform now serves as the company’s information backbone—supporting asset management, field operations, network modeling, and communication across all business areas.

“GIS provides us an overview and information. It is the engine and integrated to many workflows,” said Valdimar Kjartansson, former GIS manager at Veitur and current consultant with GeoForm. “It’s a very important communication and collaboration tool—and an important part of streamlining procedures and achieving Veitur’s strategic goals.”

Veitur crews working in the field.

Challenge

Veitur’s legacy environment consisted of multiple disconnected databases and workflows, with teams often needing to reenter the same information across systems. This fragmented data landscape limited situational awareness, created inefficiencies, and made it difficult to maintain accurate asset records.

The utility’s unique operating context also demanded high data reliability and rapid access to network information. Located between two tectonic plates, Iceland faces frequent volcanic and seismic activity—with 11 eruptions in just four years between Reykjavík and Keflavík Airport. Infrastructure resilience depends on understanding the precise location, connectivity, and condition of underground and aboveground assets.

“Who hasn’t received data of poor quality and spent a lot of time making it useful?” Kjartansson noted. “Or had to open multiple systems just to access the information needed? These were the challenges we faced before our GIS transformation.”

Veitur set out to establish a single, integrated platform capable of supporting all utility domains, improving data quality, and connecting GIS with systems such as ADMS/SCADA, work order management, and field data collection.

Solution

Veitur began its ArcGIS Utility Network journey in 2019, focusing first on the electric distribution system. The GIS team, supported by Similix, conducted extensive data migration and data cleansing to transition from legacy models to the ArcGIS Utility Network framework. The process involved converting existing datasets, correcting topology, and building accurate connectivity across thousands of network elements.

A key focus was the development of subnetworks—the logical building blocks of ArcGIS Utility Network. Veitur created more than 8,500 subnetworks, representing the electrical hierarchy from 13 primary substations and 960 secondary substations down to street-level cabinets.

“[ArcGIS] Utility Network is built on subnetworks. It requires accurate topology, data cleansing, and accuracy for connected assets,” said Kjartansson. “It’s a lot of work—but it opens a whole new door of future opportunities.”

Veitur crews working in the field.

The team used ArcGIS Field Maps to inspect and document 7,700 street cabinets, integrating real-time field data into the GIS database. ArcGIS Dashboards provided live progress tracking, enabling managers to monitor the inspection and redrawing of assets directly within the platform. New substations are now designed natively in GIS, ensuring positional accuracy from the outset.

GIS has since become a central integration hub for Veitur’s digital ecosystem. The company has built bridges between ArcGIS and external systems, such as

• GE PowerOn ADMS/SCADA for operational monitoring.

• Work order management for outage and repair coordination.

• 3D visualization tools for spatial context and design.

• Smart meter data streams for consumption and performance analytics.

One integration enables users to transition seamlessly between systems. “A broken asset is selected in the GIS, the work order system appears, the form is filled out, and the information is now accessible to the whole organization in a dashboard,” Kjartansson explained. “The user almost doesn’t notice the transition.”

Customer outages and issues are displayed in this dashboard through GIS–work order integration.

Veitur also employs ArcGIS Dashboards and ArcGIS Enterprise Sites for operational oversight and internal communication—displaying valve status, pipe leaks, cable statistics, and project progress in real time. The result is a collaborative digital environment where spatial data drives daily decisions across departments.

“It’s amazing that we can have all our pipes, cables, and everything mapped and visualized,” said Kristin Huld Thorvaldsdottir, manager of Digital Transformation. “We can use the same system to support many people across the company and make their jobs easier and more flexible.”

Results

By centralizing its utility data within ArcGIS, Veitur has created a unified, enterprise-grade asset database—a “database of needs,” as Kjartansson describes it—that supports network management, asset management, field operations, and collaboration across teams.

The benefits are both strategic and operational, and include

• Improved data quality and accuracy: Cleansed and verified topology ensures reliable network tracing and analysis.

• Real-time visibility: Integrated dashboards and live field updates keep teams synchronized.

• Reduced duplication: Eliminating redundant data entry has saved time and minimized errors.

• Enhanced planning and resilience: GIS supports proactive maintenance and disaster preparedness—critical in Iceland’s volatile natural environment.

Customers can view maps of upcoming and active construction projects on Veitur’s website.

“We used to just react when something went wrong,” said Thorvaldsdottir. “Now the demand is to plan ahead, be proactive in maintenance, and use our data to make smarter decisions.”

Veitur is also leveraging GIS for public transparency and coordination. Interactive maps show upcoming construction and maintenance projects, enabling residents and municipalities to anticipate disruptions and plan collaboratively. The utility’s next steps include extending ArcGIS Utility Network modeling to water and wastewater systems, deploying smart meters along with real-time analytics, and exploring the use of AI as well as simulation for hazard and service continuity planning.

“Veitur is preparing for future natural hazards,” said Kjartansson. “Could [ArcGIS] Utility Network, smart meters, and AI provide live views of the network and simulate different scenarios to minimize service disruption? That’s the direction we’re going.”

Veitur’s GIS transformation illustrates how an ArcGIS Utility Network implementation can evolve into a comprehensive enterprise platform—enabling integration, automation, and intelligent decision-making. The foundation laid in the electric network is now guiding digital innovation across all utilities, ensuring that every asset, process, and insight is connected through GIS.

“GIS is not only capable of telling you where,” Kjartansson concluded. “It provides you with the information you need, wherever you are in the organization.”

Originally posted here.

Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO), a cooperative energy provider, delivers wholesale electric power to 13 member-owned electric cooperatives and associations across 58 counties. Headquartered in Cedar Rapids, CIPCO operates a diverse energy portfolio, including natural gas, coal, wind, solar, and hydro, ensuring reliable and cost-effective energy for rural communities.

Committed to innovation and operational excellence, CIPCO leverages advanced technologies such as GIS to enhance system reliability, optimize asset management, and inform strategic planning. With a strong focus on resiliency and grid modernization, CIPCO leverages spatial analysis to guide infrastructure development and streamline outage response.

Crews working on a CIPCO transmission substation in Southern Iowa.

CHALLENGE

Before implementing a GIS solution, CIPCO relied on traditional tools like paper maps to manage assets across rural service areas. This approach posed limitations during severe weather events, particularly in areas with limited cell coverage. Locating damaged equipment and coordinating storm response required significant time and effort, which impacted the restoration speed. Infrastructure upgrade decisions were traditionally based on the age of power lines, which provided a general framework, but didn’t reflect real-time asset conditions, contributing to potential oversights where more immediate risks were present. This approach lacked the precision needed for proactive maintenance and resource allocation. The limitations of paper-based workflows and age-based planning underscored the need for a spatially driven system to improve visibility, responsiveness, and long-term infrastructure resilience.

“The real challenge during storms was pinpointing where the damage occurred. Another challenge was that our rebuild decisions were primarily based on the age of the lines, typically those 50-60 years old, rather than considering additional risk factors.” – Luke Carson, GIS Specialist, CIPCO.

SOLUTION

To modernize infrastructure management and storm response, CIPCO implemented ArcGIS, incorporating Survey123 for field data collection and dashboards for real-time visualization. In rural areas with limited connectivity, crews capture location data, photos, and descriptions offline, then sync the information when service is restored – enhancing both response times and situational awareness.

Dashboards provide office teams with live field insights, enabling more effective prioritization and resource allocation. The system also helps identify recurring issues and monitors lines without static wires, which are vulnerable to lightning. These spatial insights support a proactive maintenance approach and more strategic infrastructure planning.

CIPCO crews performing repair work.

RESULT

CIPCO’s GIS implementation has significantly enhanced its ability to identify and address infrastructure needs. Real-time field data collection enables faster, more accurate responses and supports data-driven capital planning. By leveraging GIS insights, the utility can prioritize system upgrades and analyze flashover outage data to pinpoint areas impacted by copper theft.

“We use Survey123 and its underlying Excel infrastructure to capture location points, outage statistics, and compute different values. Leading to a creation of two different dashboards, one displaying transmission line stats and the other for substations.” – Luke Carson, GIS Specialist, CIPCO

GIS now plays a central role in CIPCO’s strategy to improve reliability while maintaining cost-effectiveness. CIPCO makes more informed investment decisions – targeting high-risk areas such as lightning-prone lines and regions vulnerable to material theft.

BENEFIT

Implementing the GIS system significantly improved reliability, efficiency, and long-term planning. Despite recent extreme weather events, the utility’s average service interruption is just 0.2 hours – or 12.5 minutes – per customer, reflecting measurable gains since adopting a data-driven approach to better target infrastructure planning. With ArcGIS and Survey123, field crews can report damage in real time using precise location data, photos, and notes, enabling faster and more accurate response times. These insights help target line upgrades and replacements more effectively, ensuring capital investments are directed more strategically, whether upgrading lines with static wires or targeting rebuilds with data-driven analytics. Beyond internal improvements, the GIS platform also opens opportunities for enhanced collaboration between utilities, which could lead to even faster outage response and shared insights for stronger, more resilient grid operations.

NEXT STEPS

Looking ahead, the utility plans to expand its use of GIS to support a more integrated, real-time operational environment. While in the very early stages, one initiative involves linking GIS with SCADA data to enable live updates on system status and breaker operations. Currently, only half of the utility’s substations are fully owned and operated, while the rest are maintained by a separate entity – making outage coordination more complex. Critical updates like breaker trips are currently shared with integrated system utilities via daily email.

To streamline coordination, the utility is working to incorporate adjacent utility data directly into its GIS where available, with the long-term goal of creating a unified map that displays both internally and externally operated substations. This comprehensive view will offer a more accurate, current view of the entire network. Additionally, plans are underway to leverage GIS for broader applications, including tax parcel mapping and pole inspection workflows. These enhancements are designed to improve decision-making, accelerate response times, and support more strategic infrastructure planning. As adjacent utility data sharing improves, the utility anticipates even greater reliability and collaboration, not just internally but also across partner organizations.

“The GIS team equips CIPCO with tools that enable data-driven analyses, which enhance system reliability and reduce costs.” – Terry Fett, Director, Engineering & Operations.

Originally posted here.

When organizations need to tell important geospatial stories, standardize disjointed processes, or implement extensive new systems, Esri partners have the expertise and tools to make those jobs easier. Find out how Esri partners Datastory, Arup, and UDC contributed geospatial solutions to help rehabilitate a struggling downtown; bring along the electric vehicle revolution; and modernize two utilities’ geospatial infrastructures, laying the groundwork for other utilities to follow suit.

Telling the Compelling Story of a Historic City with Modern Promise

In 2019, InVictus Development—a development firm that builds affordable, multifamily housing and rehabilitates historic commercial properties—completed 56 affordable housing units in northern Selma, Alabama. Throughout the development process, InVictus cofounders Paula Rhodes and Rick Cavalieri visited the city frequently, and while they knew Selma as a city of profound historical significance, they were surprised by its untapped potential. Many of downtown Selma’s iconic structures—with scenic views of the Alabama River and the Civil Rights Movement landmark the Edmund Pettus Bridge—were buckling due to years of neglect.

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A page in an ArcGIS StoryMaps narrative showing the exterior of a building in Selma and information about the property

InVictus Development’s vision is to renovate buildings in a way that reflects their historical significance while attracting retail customers and residents to the downtown district.

In collaboration with members of the Selma community who were pioneering redevelopment, Rhodes and Cavalieri further invested in Selma’s future by purchasing and optioning several downtown buildings. Their vision was to renovate the buildings in a way that reflects their historical significance while modernizing them to attract retail and residential customers to the downtown district. Because traditional investment metrics would not favor investing in Selma, the challenge InVictus faced was how to tell potential investors a compelling experiential story about Selma that was grounded in data-driven evidence.

InVictus turned to Datastory to help highlight the history, progress, promise, and opportunities available in Selma for real estate investors and current and future residents. Working with stakeholders, the team at Datastory leveraged ArcGIS StoryMaps to shine a light on what makes Selma forward-thinking and unique and invite viewers to learn about specific opportunities to invest in and engage with the community. The resultant ArcGIS StoryMaps narrative, which leverages an array of data from Esri and public government sources, is filled with stunning data visualizations. Creative analytic outputs include measurements of tourism that are derived from human movement data compiled by another Esri partner, SafeGraph, and a visualization of people’s live-work patterns gleaned from US Census Bureau data.

The powerful presentation encourages people to connect with InVictus and join the community of Selma to help lead it into the future.

Improving Site Selection Methods for EV Charging Stations

One of the key barriers to achieving widespread electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the United States is that there is no nationwide network of charging stations. To scale up EV infrastructure quickly and cost-effectively, special attention needs to be paid to where curbside public charging stations are built.

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Four maps of an area showing suitable locations for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in green and yellow and unsuitable locations for EV charging stations in orange and red

Charge4All employs a breadth of geospatial data to determine the most suitable sites for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.

Currently, many site selection methods are ad hoc and done on a case-by-case basis. To give decision-makers access to consistent site selection methods, pertinent geospatial data needs to be available in a centralized, online location.

Taking on this challenge, global built environment consulting firm Arup collaborated with Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and three leading energy utility companies to assess the curbside EV charging infrastructure landscape in Southern California. From these findings, Arup developed a geospatial site suitability platform called Charge4All that offers a unique approach to assessing the suitability of potential EV charging station sites.

Charge4All leverages ArcGIS Pro, ModelBuilder, ArcPy, and ArcGIS Online and features color-coded maps that display a breadth of geospatial data—including needs in dense areas with multiunit dwellings—to determine locations that are suitable to host EV charging stations. By zooming in on GIS-developed smart maps, decision-makers can see details down to the curb to determine a potential site’s proximity to existing electrical infrastructure and different types of roads.

The goal of Charge4All is to help elected officials, utilities, and community leaders choose the most effective and equitable locations in which to install EV charging stations. The level of detail available on the platform, which can include street-level views, enables users to prioritize certain sites before conducting in-person inspections, saving organizations time and money.

After launching Charge4All in Southern California, Arup is now partnering with officials in other cities across the United States to help them explore how to expand EV charging infrastructure within their communities.

Standardizing Gas Utilities on a Common GIS

Energy company AVANGRID, which operates in 24 US states, has two primary lines of business: Avangrid Renewables and Avangrid Networks. Avangrid Networks is composed of eight electric and gas companies in the northeastern United States. Until recently, two of these companies—Southern Connecticut Gas (SCG) and the Berkshire Gas Company (BGC)—were not using GIS to spatially manage their assets and networks.

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A gray map of an area with utility lines drawn in light blue and red

An isolation trace app enables staff members at Southern Connecticut Gas (SCG) and the Berkshire Gas Company (BGC) to identify which customers and critical facilities will be affected by an outage so that they can create temporary gas shutoff points to reduce the impacts of the outage.

To better align SCG and BGC with their cosubsidiaries, AVANGRID chose UDC to help transition them to GIS from computer-aided design (CAD) mapping systems and lay the foundation for implementing ArcGIS Utility Network. One of AVANGRID’s goals for the project was to define a common GIS Utility and Pipeline Data Model so that it could eventually use that to standardize all Avangrid Networks gas companies.

Focusing on data conversion and app development, UDC worked with SCG and BGC to leverage their existing geospatial technology investments—including ArcGIS technology and ArcFM software from Esri partner Schneider Electric—to create a complete distribution-level GIS with spatial locations for gas utility assets. Schneider Electric provided product support for its Session Manager extension (which allows users to run through approval processes prior to posting to a geodatabase), consulted on tracing features, assisted with setting up the environments, and helped create workflows.

While implementing the utilities’ GIS infrastructure, UDC also digitized and converted their gas data, mapped legacy data sources in Utility Network, and developed integrations and web and mobile apps. These simultaneous efforts enabled SCG and BGC to continue with normal business operations while seamlessly transitioning to a comprehensive GIS.

SCG went live with its GIS production environment in September, and BGC is scheduled to follow soon. The two utilities will now use GIS to support gas operations, emergency planning, outage management, asset replacements, new business expansion, and more. Traces implemented using the new network management system will aid with leak surveys, outage management, and network analysis within the companies’ Synergi Gas engineering software from Esri partner DNV. Because of the configured network traces, staff members at both utilities can more effectively manage risks and outages without having to build as many models or conduct a lot of analyses.

The initial implementation of Utility Network at SCG and BGC is intended to be the template for all other Avangrid Networks subsidiaries as the product is rolled out across the enterprise. UDC is assisting Avangrid Networks in training users on the new web and mobile apps, ArcFM, ArcGIS Pro, and specialized add-ins that enhance utility workflows.

“This implementation is important to AVANGRID because it lays the foundation for our future,” said George Porto, IT GIS applications manager at AVANGRID. “It was a unique opportunity for us to learn about [ArcGIS Utility Network], and we are confident that it will help us be successful when we migrate our other electric and gas companies in the not-too-distant future.”

Originally posted here.

Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company (LG&E and KU) serve over 1.3 million gas and electric customers across Kentucky and Virginia. LG&E and KU rank high in customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. To continue this tradition, LG&E and KU have been investing in geographic information system (GIS) technology and smart design to create more efficient workflows that will power their mobile computing initiatives.

Challenge

LG&E and KU’s legacy GIS had been hampered by incomplete and sometimes inaccurate data for many years. This impacted their ability to efficiently create the designs and associated network improvements that are necessary to address customer needs in their rapidly growing service territory.

As part of their continuous drive to improve, LG&E and KU also needed better information to take to the field to support advanced mobile applications. This high-quality data would also be critical to support next-generation applications used to manage their smart grid of networked infrastructure. Because the utilities have many designers accessing GIS data daily, it was necessary to change the process while minimizing disruption to the business.

Partner

Spatial Business Systems (SBS), an Esri partner, has been a longtime provider of GIS and smart design solutions to LG&E and KU. SBS’s Automated Utility Design™ (AUD) software has been productively used for many years at LG&E and KU for distribution design. When it became time to add an improved geospatial dimension to this system, LG&E and KU reached out to SBS to assist in integrating Esri’s GIS utility solution.

Solution

LG&E and KU replaced their existing GE Smallworld GIS with Esri ArcGIS Utility Network. As established users of AUD integrated with Smallworld GIS, designers now needed to access improved data from their Esri system. SBS Utility DataHub™ (UDH) was efficiently reconfigured, leveraging the ArcGIS service-based architecture to perform seamless access without custom coding or disrupting design workflows.

LG&E and KU took advantage of Esri’s ability to provide rich basemap data and networked infrastructure to enable users access to significantly more accurate information and efficient design tools. The robust search functionality of ArcGIS also empowers LG&E and KU to provide this data to personnel in the field to support better construction processes.

ALT

White utility trucks from KU and LGE with staff in hardhats

LG&E and KU's crew ready to begin the day

Results

Users have been able to continue their critical daily business functions of providing network enhancements to the LG&E and KU community without impacting productivity or incurring costly change management. They now have more comprehensive data including information-rich basemaps and a utility network model that allows them to perform trace activities and other network-related functions. All these capabilities will continue to improve their design business workflows, leveraging the power of ArcGIS and Utility Network. The end users appreciate having access to better data because it produces higher-quality designs and reduces time spent researching information. Most importantly, LG&E and KU can now leverage Esri’s GIS for its powerful field applications as well, such as ArcGIS Survey123.

"With the support of Esri, a world leader in GIS technology, we were able to break this large-scale project down into manageable pieces with a phased approach," said Dean Snyder, acting director of IT development and support for LG&E and KU. "There's no question the pandemic impacted this particular phase of the project that began in January 2020, but the entire project team, including employees from our IT and operations areas, rallied to adapt and push through the challenges. Working closely with each line of business, I'm confident the product we delivered will provide enhancements in our ability to integrate and analyze data [and] manage certain work processes, and it will offer benefits for years to come."

Originally posted here.