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How to realign distribution networks to new land bases with adjust.IT

By November 4, 2015December 22nd, 2015District Heating, Energy, Telecommunications

we-do-IT is Globema’s technology partner when it comes to improving asset location accuracy through conflation. we-do-IT’s adjust.IT solution increases the efficiency of network management, optimization and performance by improving the location accuracy of your business’ network asset information.

When our customers ask for improving the spatial accuracy of the GIS through conflation – realignment network assets to higher accuracy land base and aerial photography we are recommending to use adjust.IT

Marek Gondzio from Globema said during the Smart Geospatial Solutions Conference 2015.

Their key requirements are: complete the conflation without “freezing” or locking users out of the GIS, realign the assets without creating conflicts with changes from other users, shift assets that were in a design as well as those in Top, maintain an audit record of all changes made to the network

The adjust.IT product and conflation methodology offers some key advantages over other approaches for conflation

  • adjust.IT is off the shelf software for Smallworld GIS. This provides the user the ability to perform the conflation using internal resources. Alternatively after the larger conflation effort is completed the network alignment can be maintained over time using adjust.IT. As new land base is purchased or provided by developers a utility/telco can use adjust.IT professional or adjust.IT lite to realign the network to the new land base.
  • No extended freeze of the database is required. We understand that you cannot lock out large sections of the GIS for weeks or months at a time. We have developed a process where the freeze for the area being adjusted can be as short as 48 hrs.
  • Preservation of connectivity model. The adjust.IT conflation process cannot break topological connectivity. This is critical for applications that are dependent on the connectivity model provided by the Smallworld GIS. The adjust.IT process conflates or shifts geometries that are in the same location by the same amount. This ensures that endpoints of lines are never separated.
  • Adjustment of assets in a design state. We understand it is not possible to close out all existing design work so that the data can be shifted. The adjust.IT product manages this requirement by applying the adjustment in the design alternative. Designers do not have to close out their jobs prior to conflation. Designers do not have to stop work in area while it is being conflated.
  • Prevention of database conflicts. If you have completed a data capture project with Smallworld GIS you will be aware that conflict management and avoidance is a key challenge. We can adjust massive volumes of data and not generate a single conflict. This is critical for successfully merging adjusted data with other user changes.
  • Project management. The area to be adjusted is divided into adjustment Jobs which are then managed in a job lifecycle from initiation to delivery into the production database. This aspect allows accurate measurement and scheduling of adjustment activities.
  • All adjustment is performed in Smallworld GIS. This greatly reduces the time required to complete the adjustment and QA/QC process. The effort and time normally associated with the export and import process is completely avoided.

  • Automation of adjustment. This significantly reduces the manual labor associated with traditional rubber sheeting approaches.
  • Transactional rollout process. The delivery of adjusted data is managed using the adjust.IT application. This process is transactional and can be wholly undone in the event of hardware or network failure. The process has defined gates where go / no-go decision can be made.
  • Rules based adjustment. The adjustment of assets can be controlled through rules such as maintain T-offs at 90 degrees.
  • Object specific rules. In addition to the standard rules object specific adjustment criteria can be defined. This can be useful for objects that have a complex drafting standard or specific layout requirements.
  • Quality management. The results of adjustment can be formally assessed and accepted or rejected.
  • Reporting and audit history. A complete record of the location of assets and how they are shifted is maintained in a database. This is critical for maintaining tractability of changes that are made to object geometries.
  • You see what we see. By performing the adjustment in the Smallworld GIS issues can be quickly resolved. Operators can see the adjustments we have performed, place flags and provide feedback. As no import or export process is required the issue identification and rectification cycle is very short.
  • Deliveries Calibrated to external Systems. We are able to calibrate the volume of data that is rolled out as part of a delivery to minimize impact on external systems.
  • Proven Methodology. Solution employs a methodology that has been successfully implemented by other large utilities in USA, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – significantly reducing the risk of the ‘unknown’.
  • Does not stop work in progress. Our approach prevents database conflicts and allows you to continue to work while the adjustment process is underway. This greatly reduces the impact of the conflation project on the business
  • Adjustment of Current State and Designs. adjust.IT provides the unique capability to adjust assets in the Top version of the Smallworld database and all sub alternatives. The end result is that all assets in a design state are brought into alignment at the same time. This significantly reduces the effort for designers and database administrators.
  • Unmatched Data Accuracy. Traditional rubber sheeting and network adjustment methods use a small number of shift vectors to represent the shift, often leading to inaccurate shift results. The adjust.IT product can capture the required number of shift vectors to accurately model the shift, producing consistently accurate results.
  • Product based solution. adjust.IT is commercial off the shelf software that can be used ongoing to maintain the accuracy of assets mapped against the land base. Adjust.IT has been successfully implemented at 14 Utilities in North America and proven to work with OMS, DMS and mobile applications such as FieldSmart.
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