{"id":582836,"date":"2026-03-26T22:01:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=582836"},"modified":"2026-04-29T23:19:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:19:45","slug":"a-small-utility-sees-big-gains-with-gis-and-ai","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/a-small-utility-sees-big-gains-with-gis-and-ai","title":{"rendered":"A Small Utility Sees Big Gains with GIS and AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With a population of just over 6,000, the City of Starke (Starke), Florida, operates one of the smallest municipal utilities in the state. But that doesn\u2019t mean its tech stack is slight. For decades, the utility relied on institutional knowledge, veteran linemen who knew the power grid by memory, and 35\u2011year\u2011old paper maps to manage its infrastructure. Without a modern GIS implementation or digital records, the city faced growing operational risks and limited visibility into critical assets, including poles, attachments, and lighting infrastructure. That changed when the city\u2019s newly appointed director of utilities, David Sparks, deployed ArcGIS Online to manage and maintain the city\u2019s grid.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-challenge\">The Challenge<\/h2>\n\n<p>Starke had no formal inventory of its utility poles, only estimates that ranged from 2,500 to 3,000 in total. With limited internal resources and no prior digital records, the city faced a fundamental problem: how to cost\u2011effectively collect field data and populate its new ArcGIS instance with accurate, up\u2011to\u2011date information. Initial estimates to manually collect geolocated images for each pole, even without attribute or defect data, were drastically over budget. The cost exceeded the city\u2019s available funds and would not have provided the necessary asset intelligence to justify the investment. To keep costs low, the city tried to train its linemen to collect pole data manually in their spare time. After several months, it became clear that a new approach was needed, one that was fast, accurate, scalable, and within budget.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI2-1024x819.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-582837\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI2-1024x819.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI2-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI2-768x614.png 768w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI2.png 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-partner\">The Partner<\/h2>\n\n<p>Recognizing the need for a technology\u2011forward solution, 1898 &amp; Co. introduced the City of Starke to Noteworthy AI. Known for its vehicle\u2011mounted camera system and AI\u2011powered collection and analysis of utility asset data, Noteworthy AI offered a turnkey solution that addressed Starke\u2019s needs far beyond simple pole counts. Instead of just capturing photos and locations, Noteworthy AI proposed a collection\u2011as\u2011a\u2011service model that would provide comprehensive field data using its vehicle\u2011mounted camera systems.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-solution\">The Solution<\/h2>\n\n<p>Its solution automatically captured geolocation and high\u2011resolution imagery for every pole, modeled asset inventories using AI, and detected defects, including structural issues and stubbed poles. Noteworthy AI also provided vegetation growth analytics, lighting audits, and counts of joint\u2011use poles and those with third\u2011party attachments. All data was delivered directly into the city\u2019s new ArcGIS Online system, furnishing an integrated and immediately actionable digital record of the grid. Over just two days, Noteworthy AI completed field collection across the entire service territory, capturing more than 2,300 utility poles in under seven hours of drive time.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI1-2-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-582838\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI1-2-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI1-2-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI1-2-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI1-2-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Startups_NoteworthyAI1-2.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-results\">The Results<\/h2>\n\n<p>In total, the project cost 80 percent less compared to traditional manual inspection methods. With its ArcGIS Online data fully populated, the City of Starke staff began making more informed decisions across grid planning, maintenance, and storm response. Instead of relying on outdated maps or institutional knowledge, utility employees could access a centralized, searchable GIS with real\u2011time visibility into pole material, locations, and ownership; streetlight status and condition; vegetation encroachment; asset defects; and anomalies like leaking transformers. The joint\u2011use audit delivered a full account of third\u2011party attachments across the system, helping the city reconcile billing records and recover missing revenue.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>&nbsp;\u201cThis project was a big leap forward for our utility. Moving from institutional knowledge and paper maps to a fully digital view of our grid in ArcGIS gives us the tools to better serve our community. Noteworthy AI&#8217;s data collection ,ade this transition possible in a way that was affordable and fast.&#8221; &#8211; <strong>David Sparks<\/strong>&nbsp;<br><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1841,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[151,642],"tags":[6541,3802,6540,287],"class_list":["post-582836","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-imagery","category-infrastructure","tag-ai-data-collection","tag-arcgis-online","tag-field-data-capture","tag-gis","industry-imagery"],"acf":[],"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>A Small Utility Sees Big Gains with GIS and AI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Starke, Florida modernized its utility with AI and ArcGIS Online, cutting costs 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