How Magnolia River Leverages Technology-Based Solutions to Help Gas Utilities Meet Tracking and Traceability Requirements for Pipeline Construction
CHALLENGE:
For more than 20 years, Magnolia River has been providing utility clients with technology-based solutions to help them increase efficiency and maintain compliance. These are not just solutions we provide our clients but are also the same ones we incorporate within our own operational workflows. So, when it came to implementing PHMSA’s requirements for Tracking and Traceability in pipeline construction projects, Magnolia River was more than prepared to assist our clients.
Well before these guidelines were released from PHMSA, Magnolia River was working with their clients to verify compliance from start to finish on pipeline construction projects by providing real-time documentation and GIS data collection, active project QA/QC, and delivery of final project data in digital GIS format. Digital compliance has always been the standard at Magnolia River.
Many utilities face common challenges in maintaining project documentation, such as file and photo management, incomplete information from the field, inefficient file storage, and logistics of file transfer and central storage.
GIS can play a critical role in a gas utilities’ ability to meet the requirements of Tracking and Traceability, resulting in the need for accurate, reliable, and accessible data for their system. ASTM F2897 provides the specification to meet these needs. Barcoding assists in eliminating user entry error, but can also prove challenging to combine spatial data and barcode collection.
SOLUTION:
Employing a combination of products from GeoCurrent, the technology division of Magnolia River, with Esri and Trimble technology, Magnolia River has the capability to deploy a comprehensive field-to-office Tracking and Traceability solution for natural gas installations and replacement projects. Using ESRI’s FieldMaps and Magnolia River’s FieldLogIQ software solution, which is a real-time construction project tracking application, our comprehensive field-to-office workflow is helping several utilities maintain compliance on pipeline construction projects.
RESULTS
On a recent replacement project, Magnolia River was tasked to inspect over 16 miles of distribution main and collect tracking and traceability documentation as well as GPS data throughout the project. Magnolia River’s team deployed ArcGIS Portal, FieldMaps, and FieldLogIQ to manage maps and users, collect GNSS data, and maintain documentation in real-time on this project.
Harnessing the power of ArcGIS Pro and FieldMaps, Magnolia River utilized Arcade Scripts to decode ASTM F2897 barcodes. ArcGIS Pro and ESRI Portal were used to deploy collection maps to field users. Trimble R2 receivers were connected to mobile devices and used to acquire sub-foot GNSS accuracy.
Description automatically generatedUsing the ESRI FieldMaps application, users were able to access their mobile device camera to scan the ASTM barcodes and successfully decode into attributes on the point. This data was submitted to the database in real-time where GIS Analysts could perform QA/QC measures and digitize the pipeline in GIS, speeding up the process of data digitization and eliminating a backlog of data.
To manage documentation, project reporting, and maintain deliverables, FieldLogIQ was deployed to both field users and the client stakeholders. Field users entered critical project data in real-time including install footages, materials, pressure tests and other project-related information, which in turn, was rolled up into dashboards to provide on-demand reporting on project status.
Capturing the GPS points along with project documentation in real-time allowed for active back-office QA/QC and GIS data editing in parallel with field data collection. This resulted in significantly reducing the turnaround time for the transfer of final project deliverables once pipeline construction was completed.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR GIS SOLUTIONS FOR TRACKING AND TRACEABILITY HERE.