{"id":587067,"date":"2026-09-01T20:37:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T20:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/?post_type=blog&p=587067"},"modified":"2026-09-08T14:53:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T14:53:22","slug":"st-johns-county-utility-network-gis-modernization","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/st-johns-county-utility-network-gis-modernization","title":{"rendered":"Modernizing GIS in St. Johns County with Utility Network"},"content":{"rendered":"

Located on Florida\u2019s northeast coast, St. Johns County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, with its population having increased nearly 27 percent since 2020, from approximately 273,000 residents to more than 346,000 in 2025. This rapid growth continues to increase demand for infrastructure and utility services across the county.<\/p>\n\n

The St. Johns County Utility Department<\/a> (SJCUD) provides potable water, wastewater, and water reuse services to approximately 62,000 accounts serving over 120,000 residents. Its mission is to deliver safe, reliable drinking water and environmentally responsible wastewater treatment at affordable rates while emphasizing customer service and protecting the environment.<\/p>\n\n

As the community grows, SJCUD continues to invest in the technology and systems needed to support increasingly complex utility operations. The department\u2019s migration to Esri\u2019s ArcGIS Utility Network<\/a> represents a major step in modernizing its geographic information system (GIS) capabilities and establishing a more robust platform for managing critical utility infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n

As St. Johns County continues to experience rapid growth, SJCUD is modernizing its geospatial capabilities to support the needs of its growing utility system. The department identified Utility Network as the next step in advancing its GIS and providing a foundation for managing water, wastewater, and water reuse networks.<\/p>\n\n

In 2022, SJCUD began working with Timmons Group<\/a> on a Utility Network readiness project that included a data readiness assessment and a Utility Network migration plan. The process evaluated SJCUD\u2019s existing GIS environment and identified the data, workflows, system integrations, and other considerations that would need to be addressed before migration.
Following that readiness work, SJCUD and Timmons Group moved into implementation, culminating in the migration of SJCUD\u2019s water, wastewater, and water reuse networks to Utility Network in early fall 2025.<\/p>\n\n

Project Team<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

David Sabin, utility information systems officer, and Ryan Frayne, senior information system analyst, led the project for SJCUD, helping guide the migration, implementation, and adoption of ArcGIS Utility Network across the department.<\/p>\n\n

Timmons Group served as SJCUD\u2019s implementation partner, providing technical expertise and support throughout the readiness, planning, migration, and deployment process.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cOne of the biggest benefits of [ArcGIS] Utility Network has been the ability to use branch versioning, which has made editing more efficient for our staff,<\/strong>\u201d Sabin said. \u201cWe\u2019ve also seen improvements in data quality because validation rules and error checks are built directly into [ArcGIS] Utility Network.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The Challenge<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

SJCUD\u2019s existing GIS environment relied on ArcMap and Esri\u2019s geometric network. With those technologies being deprecated, the department needed to transition to a modern GIS environment capable of supporting the needs of a growing utility system. Migrating to Esri\u2019s Utility Network provided an opportunity to modernize that environment, but the transition required careful planning to maintain existing data, system integrations, and business processes.<\/p>\n\n

For SJCUD, the challenge extended beyond migrating water, wastewater, and water reuse data to a new platform. The department needed to maintain data accuracy and reliability throughout the transition, account for integrations with other critical business systems, adapt established editing and administrative workflows, and prepare GIS staff to work within a new Utility Network environment.<\/p>\n\n

Utility Network introduced capabilities that could address those challenges and expand what SJCUD could do with its GIS, including performing advanced network tracing across desktop, web, and mobile environments; rule-based data validation; and subnetwork management. These capabilities offered SJCUD greater tools for maintaining data integrity and understanding its utility networks as the system continues to grow.<\/p>\n\n

The Partner Involvement   <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Timmons Group partnered with SJCUD throughout the transition from Esri\u2019s geometric network to Utility Network, beginning with the readiness assessment and migration planning and continuing through implementation and deployment. The firm worked with SJCUD to evaluate its existing GIS architecture, data, workflows, and system integrations and develop an approach designed to maintain continuity throughout the migration.<\/p>\n\n

Timmons Group provided expertise in Utility Network migration planning, architecture, data readiness, editing workflows, deployment, and updates to existing automated administration processes. The partnership allowed SJCUD to prepare for the migration while accounting for the systems and workflows already supporting day-to-day utility operations.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cOur focus is helping utilities navigate structured Utility Network migrations while maintaining continuity across the systems and workflows they rely on every day,<\/strong>\u201d said Ally Kennedy, principal of geospatial utilities with Timmons Group. \u201cWe\u2019ve successfully migrated 40 utilities, with another 34 currently in various stages of implementation.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The Results   <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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This screenshot from ArcGIS Pro shows the Trace tool applied to the newly migrated water network.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The up-front planning and data readiness work gave SJCUD the opportunity to identify and address potential issues before migration. By completing the data readiness assessment early in the process, GIS staff were able to correct data while other components of Utility Network implementation were underway, helping prepare the department for a smoother transition.<\/p>\n\n

SJCUD successfully migrated its water, wastewater, and water reuse networks from the geometric network to Utility Network without the loss of features or data. Staff were trained on ArcGIS Pro<\/a> and Utility Network workflows as well as on the administration of the new environment to support its long-term use.<\/p>\n\n

Since migration, SJCUD has benefited from enhanced functionality across desktop, web, and mobile environments and stronger tools for maintaining data quality. Attribute validation rules and connectivity rules provide built-in mechanisms for identifying errors and enforcing data integrity, while the Utility Network capability\u2019s tracing capabilities give staff greater insight into relationships across the utility system.<\/p>\n\n

Nearly a year into the new environment, SJCUD has established a modern GIS foundation designed to support the department as its utility networks and the community it serves continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n

The Solution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

SJCUD and Timmons Group began by assessing the department\u2019s GIS architecture, data, integrations, and editing workflows. The resultant Utility Network migration plan documented the existing environment and established recommendations for the migration, including architecture, data requirements, schedule, budget, and integration considerations.<\/p>\n\n

Using that plan as a road map, the team migrated SJCUD\u2019s water, wastewater, and water reuse networks from Esri\u2019s geometric network to ArcGIS Utility Network. The implementation included the following:<\/p>\n\n