With key staff set to retire in 2022 and no GIS platform, city staff in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, needed to digitize the city’s critical power, water, sewer, and storm sewer infrastructure. The main goals were to preserve and consolidate valuable institutional knowledge, enhance public safety, accelerate emergency response, and support the city’s growth and development.
Assisted by civil engineering company Banning Engineering and Trimble distributor Seiler Geospatial (both Esri partners), Lawrenceburg began a citywide project to collect utility mapping data and create a GIS-based principal utility map. A major objective in this effort was to support effective maintenance, planning, and decision-making by city employees and officials. With support from Lawrenceburg staff, data collection and GIS platform creation were completed in less than a year.
To create a high-accuracy GIS platform from the ground up, technicians used ArcGIS Field Maps, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Experience Builder, and Trimble DA2 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. The technicians paired these receivers with the Trimble Catalyst GNSS positioning service to cost-effectively collect data and build four new GIS databases.
Capturing Every Detail
Because Lawrenceburg’s utility teams had no GIS platform before this, they relied instead on Google Earth and paper maps with pins designating maintenance holes. City staff wanted to capture details digitally and create a comprehensive GIS to ensure strong customer service and optimize asset management.
Staff from Banning mapped power, water, sewer, and storm sewer utilities within the city’s 5.5 square miles (about 14.2 square kilometers), including hilly and flatland areas that drain through a levee system that protects Lawrenceburg from Ohio River flooding. After consulting with Seiler Geospatial, city staff selected the Trimble DA2 receiver and Trimble Catalyst GNSS positioning service for their accuracy and efficiency.
“The city required centimeter-grade accuracy for the water, sewer, and storm sewer systems, which we don’t normally do,” said Banning vice president of GIS and transportation services Mark Butler. “The only way to get all the information into a map efficiently was to use a combination of the cloud, Esri ArcGIS Field Maps, and mobile tools, combined with a highly accurate [GNSS] unit.”
The GIS mapping initiative began with the Banning team and subconsultants equipped with iPad devices and Trimble DA2 GNSS receivers capturing utility infrastructure information. DA2s recorded each asset’s precise location, which was sent to iPad devices, where it was saved along with detailed asset attribute data recorded using Field Maps. For each geographic point, such as a utility pole or maintenance hole, attribute data could include the asset’s horizontal location, identification number, and vertical elevation. Technicians also digitized crucial maps and documents. In addition, staff from Banning created a Field Maps schema, customized with the type and granularity of data to be collected.
While the DA2 provided scalability via Trimble’s Catalyst subscription service, which uses smartphones or tablets as mapping tools, Field Maps combined map viewing, data collection, asset management, and location sharing into a single app. These two tools combined for an effective, accurate, and user-friendly solution for the project’s mobile GIS needs.
This workflow saved an estimated month of time compared to if the data had been gathered and entered manually. It also unlocked the city’s ability to use slope data to create a hydraulic model to pinpoint potential weak points in the city’s stormwater system. City staff expect the data to help prioritize capital improvement projects as conditions change over time.
Cloud-Based Cooperation
To help ensure close collaboration, Field Maps recorded in real time what field technicians did each day. To provide easy access to this data, staff from Banning created an executive dashboard in ArcGIS Experience Builder that showed key information, such as how many poles or maintenance holes had been mapped, and a live view of the master GIS utility map as it was being created. Utilities directors, the mayor, city council, and anyone else connected to the project could view dashboards and maps on a browser at any time.
The dashboard also integrated additional data such as weather and key contact information. Further, the team set up an issue-tracker map to foster collaboration between the city and the engineering team, along with an ArcGIS Online group account where Banning staff and city workers could access all the maps. Transparency helped avoid miscommunication and kept the project moving forward.
One measure of the project’s success was how easy it was for utilities staff to manage the city’s GIS after the project concluded. Banning’s hands-on training and knowledge-sharing built trust in the data quality and the data-collection process.
“We brought the city folks along and taught them how to use the DA2 every step of the way, so they understand how to use it,” said Butler. “The city is in a good position to keep their utility system up to date, and the executive dashboard was so popular, everyone continues to use it as a handy reference to quickly answer questions.”
