Brierley Associates Engineering in Mining Industry

For more than a century, underground mining in Wyoming, historically the largest coal producer in the US, has created the potential for land subsidence. Roads, houses, businesses, schools, and other structures sitting atop abandoned mines are at risk of subsidence potential. Most recently, sinkholes threatening high-voltage transmission lines demanded fast response. The damage caused by a collapse or sinkhole can cost millions of dollars to repair. More importantly, land subsidence poses a dangerous risk to humans.

Wyoming's Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Division of the Department of Environmental Quality asked the consulting firm Brierley Associates to map subsidence hazards. To identify at-risk areas, the firm produced high-resolution drone-captured imagery, precise borehole surveys, and digital maps. Impressed with the result, AML contracted Brierley Associates to mitigate a handful of these areas across a southeast sector of Wyoming. 

Word spread about Brierley's successful mitigation projects, and AML continued to direct the firm to conduct mitigation activities in at-risk communities. The firm projected that the AML project load could be 40 percent higher than the previous year's load. AML management embraced the vision of Brierley Associates for GIS and encouraged the adoption of digital updatable maps in addition to the public outreach maps used for providing information about project locations, timelines, progress, road closures, and disrupted services. 

The firm realized, in addition to hiring more staff to cover incoming projects, it would require a more powerful geographic information system (GIS) to meet its mapping needs. More projects meant the GIS had to process more data. The objective to grow the firm's capacity included its ability to regularly apprise agencies about road closures and impacted utility services. Moreover, the GIS had to process and deliver information products to GIS analysts faster than before so they could map projects and send current reports to AML rather than waiting for a project close-out report. This enables AML and impacted communities to effectively plan and respond.  

Brierley Associates' GIS solution engineer, Harry Plendl, realized that before construction season started, he would need to upgrade the firm's ArcGIS Desktop in his office to an ArcGIS Enterprise solution that many people could use via web and mobile platforms. The integration of data, web apps, and GIS would connect workflows and streamline processes for efficient project management.

To meet the demands of a larger team and more projects, Brierley Associates decided to implement ArcGIS Enterprise and its configurable portal for sharing geospatial data and extending location intelligence to others. The scalable GIS powers advanced visualizations, analytics, and data management. Moreover, it runs Esri's suite of web and mobile applications and connects to ArcGIS Online for collaboration. 

"The solution was to stand up ArcGIS Enterprise portal so the data could be versioned, backed up, and served over the web for access," Plendl explained.

Since implementation time was short, the firm took advantage of Esri's Jumpstart Solution for ArcGIS Online, which enlisted the service of an Esri professional and provided an ArcGIS Online road map, data, tools, and workflows needed to achieve immediate success. The Jumpstart began with on-site support by one Esri consultant to install, configure, and administer ArcGIS Enterprise. 

"Investing in the Jumpstart Solution for ArcGIS Online enabled us to rapidly stand up an enterprise GIS that was ready to go before the construction season started," said Plendl. 

Brierley Associates quickly became self-sufficient in installing, implementing, and managing Esri software. Plendl soon created mobile data collection tools that could instantly digitize and stream data from the field to the GIS. 

ArcGIS Enterprise includes a portal that allowed staff to access and share maps and data on the web. In addition, the platform supported the ArcGIS Drone2Map application, which streamlines the creation of professional imagery products. Furthermore, staff quickly built web and mobile apps using GIS tools that connected workflows, which increased efficiency. 

"Workers used the ArcGIS Collector mobile app to capture field data and stream it to GIS. Analysts used the data to quickly identify the depths of the voids in the underground mine. Collector also helped us to bypass the task of converting paper work to digital spreadsheets by streaming data directly to the spatial database. The data collection workflow eliminated redundant, time-consuming processes." 

Plendl created a map showing where Brierley Associates has authority to mitigate subsidence risks within the communities. The map interface with the database enables users to access project documentation, exportable Excel tables, and simple analysis charts by selecting a location on the map or using its location search tool. The interactive map also allows users to print maps of their viewing areas. 

In addition, the GIS engineer created apps to enable engineers to deliver reports and updates to AML quickly. Designated staff now use GIS simultaneously and save projects to a multi-user versioned database.

The enterprise system increases data access, extends GIS to more users, and quickly delivers information for project management applications. Brierley Associates Enterprise GIS implementation and web applications for AML management have inspired the contracting and development of online community engagement maps to be released in the near future. 

The modernized GIS has improved efficiency by replacing paper-based workflows with integrated apps that save staff time and improve data quality.

Drone2Map replaces the hired drone imagery service and opens a new business opportunity for the firm that offers imagery services to its clients. 

Most importantly, ArcGIS Enterprise assists Brierley Associates in its work to mitigate hazardous areas so that communities are safer and have greater future opportunities.