With the addition of more customers and more service facilities and equipment, the old mapping system became more obsolete with each addition, explained Steven Weber, coordinator of development for the new Geographic Information System (GIS) for the utility. "When we couldn’t fit the new subdivisions into the old maps, we started looking into GPS to help map the facilities."

The goal was to create a GIS that included the location of every piece of equipment the company owned.

Collecting Data with GPS
Reliance Decimeter System, a field asset management tool, from Thales Navigation was selected to provide accurate data for the tens of thousands of points.

Northeastern REMC’s GPS technicians and Pathfinders, the GPS service contractor, used Reliance devices, such as the Reliance GPS receiver mounted in a vehicle or on a bicycle or carried in a backpack, to collect data on each of the 60,000 points.

Whether driving, riding or walking, the technician occupied the point as close as possible, and if necessary, shot an offset with a laser range finder and electronic digital compass. He then entered those measurements, as well as attribute data, into the Reliance system while collecting the point with the GPS receiver. At the end of the day, the data was downloaded into the home base GIS.

Automated mapping tool AutoCAD Map was used in conjunction with GenMap software by Gentry Systems, which provided an interface between AutoCAD MAP and the company database.

"From the Reliance GPS, we downloaded an ASCII text file into AutoCAD Map, a task supported by GenMap’s import function," Weber said. "The system then combined coordinate and attribute information into an AutoCAD block. Each point is now designated by a symbol that can be clicked to access point attributes. For example, each customer on the map is represented by a meter symbol, with attached attribute data such as name and address, and even information about the transformer serving that customer."

Windmil, an electrical modeling and analysis software from Milsoft, was used to integrate all data seamlessly from Reliance to the mapping and engineering analysis systems.

Weber advises other companies to look for GPS equipment that is user-friendly.

"It should only take a day and a half to train someone on the system," according to Weber. " At that point, he’s ready for the field."