{"id":578702,"date":"2023-03-14T17:29:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T00:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcwatch&#038;p=578702"},"modified":"2023-04-04T11:50:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T18:50:58","slug":"new-jersey-utility-goes-mobile","status":"publish","type":"arcwatch","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcwatch\/new-jersey-utility-goes-mobile","title":{"rendered":"New Jersey Utility Goes Mobile"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":8132,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[423862,465131,13602],"tags":[424992,465551,434431,484442,160512],"arcwatch_issues":[484222],"class_list":["post-578702","arcwatch","type-arcwatch","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcgis-dashboards","category-arcgis-field-maps","category-natural-disasters","tag-arcgis-dashboards","tag-arcgis-field-maps","tag-gnss","tag-new-jersey-american-water","tag-utilities","arcwatch_issues-march-2023"],"acf":{"short_description":"New Jersey American Water has saved millions of dollars each year by mapping water asset locations across the state with pinpoint accuracy.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"On October 27, 2012\u2014after weeks of research, testing, and field data collection\u2014Chris Kahn, American Water director of unmanned aerial systems and geospatial services, finished mapping all 7,000 water and wastewater utility assets owned by New Jersey American Water in the coastal town of Ortley Beach. The process had required using a time-consuming legacy Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) device to map the assets, postprocessing to correct the location data, and entering data manually into ArcGIS software. But the result was worth the effort. Every asset was mapped with decimeter accuracy\u2014a nearly perfect utility map of Ortley Beach.\r\n\r\nTwo days later, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, causing billions of dollars of damage. In the aftermath, water meters were buried, lids were washed away, and homes were destroyed\u2014sometimes with only a copper pipe sticking up from the sand. The coastal landscape was permanently altered.\r\n\r\nOrtley Beach would become known nationally not for its comprehensive map\u2014but for being nearly wiped off the map."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":579092,"image_position":"center","orientation":"vertical","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In the days that followed, Kahn returned to the field with mobile crews to help locate assets in the rubble and perform damage assessment. In Ortley Beach, he was able to navigate to assets within seconds, despite the neighborhood\u2019s transformation, thanks to his high-accuracy map. On the same barrier island, mobile crews in neighboring Mantoloking, spent hours to days locating service lines under the rubble.\r\n\r\n\u201cAll of their tap lines and drawings meant nothing there,\u201d Kahn said. \u201cMeasurements were based on references that weren\u2019t there anymore. In Ortley Beach, it took a few seconds to find our assets.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>A Laser-Guided Shovel<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAfter the success of Kahn\u2019s map in Ortley Beach, American Water\u2019s management team asked Kahn if he could map all of New Jersey American Water\u2019s assets with high accuracy. To help quantify the value of such a project, Kahn rode along with mobile crews and observed that each work order took on average 12 minutes to complete, with 10 minutes spent interpreting sketches to locate the asset. With 300,000 work orders occurring per year, Kahn estimated the utility could save 55,000 work hours per year\u2014or $2.6 million in operational expenses\u2014just by having survey-grade maps.\r\n\r\n\u201cI wanted to give our crews a laser-guided shovel to every single asset,\u201d Kahn said.\r\n\r\nHowever, the legacy GNSS workflow that Kahn used at Ortley Beach was too time-consuming and error-prone to scale. Kahn needed a high-accuracy data-collection solution that fed real-time GNSS locations directly into ArcGIS mobile apps, thereby eliminating postprocessing and manual data entry."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":579102,"image_position":"center","orientation":"vertical","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Kahn settled on the <a href=\"https:\/\/eos-gnss.com\/products\/hardware\/arrow-gold\">Arrow Gold<\/a>\u00a0GNSS receiver from Esri partner <a href=\"https:\/\/eos-gnss.com\/\">Eos Positioning Systems<\/a>, which uses Bluetooth to provide real-time, survey-grade positions to any mobile device. To provide the GNSS receivers with centimeter-level corrections in real time, Kahn installed six Arrow base stations. This meant the corrections could be broadcast to unlimited utility mobile workers with rover GNSS receivers across the state. Not only did the installation of the base stations eliminate the need to postprocess GNSS metadata, but it also improved the accuracy of the data collection, jumping from decimeter-level to sub-inch accuracy.\r\n\r\nNext, Kahn needed a mobile mapping software that was compatible with real-time kinematic (RTK) corrections from the base stations. At the start of the project, Kahn deployed early ArcGIS mobile technology that supported RTK locations. Today, Kahn has standardized the use of ArcGIS Field Maps by his crews.\r\n\r\n<strong>Millions of Dollars Saved Each Year<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWhile it had taken Kahn several weeks in 2012 to collect the 7,000 assets in Ortley Beach, the new solution was much faster. According to Kahn, it was not unusual to see mobile workers collecting over 1,000 points per day in the most walkable service areas.\r\n\r\n\u201cOut of the gate, the data started pouring in,\u201d Kahn said.\r\n\r\nWithin five years of starting the statewide data collection effort, Kahn\u2019s team had mapped all of New Jersey American Water\u2019s water and wastewater assets with Arrow Gold receivers and ArcGIS Field Maps. According to Kahn, this combination of hardware and software is the most flexible, scalable, and easy to use.\r\n\r\nAs a result, approximately one million existing assets spanning 10,000 miles of service were mapped with sub-inch accuracy. Along the way, technicians discovered many assets (e.g., hydrants, valves) that had not previously been recorded. They also mapped potential hazards\u2014such as missing lids or grading issues, and leaks that needed to be fixed\u2014and alerted maintenance crews, who responded with prompt interventions.\r\n\r\nAdditionally, being able to visualize data in ArcGIS Dashboards allowed Kahn to facilitate communication with non-GIS stakeholders, including the utility\u2019s management team. For the first time, utility management could see, on an interactive map in real time, the progress of assets as they were being captured."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":579082,"image_position":"center","orientation":"vertical","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cThey wanted a laser-guided shovel that says, \u2018Dig here,\u2019\u201d Kahn said. \u201cToday, in most areas, we have that. Over time, I knew we would be able to accomplish so much more value for the utility. For New Jersey alone, the [return on investment] spoke for itself.\u201d\r\n\r\nNow that all existing assets have been mapped, every newly installed asset is also required to be recorded with sub-inch accuracy.\r\n\r\nToday, New Jersey American Water saves over $2 million each year from field-operations efficiencies directly attributed to the survey-grade maps. New Jersey American Water has, to date, equipped over 350 mobile workers, including maintenance crews and field service representatives, with ArcGIS Field Maps and Arrow GNSS receivers. The utility has also built a total of 14 Arrow Gold base stations across American Water\u2019s subsidiaries.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey can walk right up to a service line without having to spend time interpreting sketches,\u201d Kahn said. \u201cWe know what we\u2019re saving in operational expenses. However, during emergencies, this is truly priceless.\u201d"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Jersey Utility Goes Mobile<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New Jersey American Water saves millions of dollars each year by mapping asset locations across the state with GNSS and ArcGIS Field Maps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcwatch\/new-jersey-utility-goes-mobile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Jersey Utility Goes Mobile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Jersey American Water saves millions of dollars each year by mapping 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