City of Jihlava Modernizes Water and Sewer Management with ArcGIS

In 2021, Jihlava (a city in the center of the Czech Republic with a population of about 51,000 inhabitants) became the new owner of the water infrastructure in its territory. At the very beginning, city staff were faced with the daunting task of building a functional water infrastructure management system almost from scratch. Paradoxically, this challenge turned out to be an advantage because the employees of the City of Jihlava were able to design the data model and all the related processes based on their needs and experience. They chose Esri's ArcGIS technology as one of their main information systems, which enabled them to respond quickly to the requirements that are continually coming in and to offer all employees a clear and comprehensible user environment.

Since the beginning, the biggest problem was the data and its format. However, the power of ArcGIS became apparent in its ability to process and display a variety of input sources. There were, for example, nonspatial tables in the form of a list of customer/supply points with their location or CAD files. But by processing them appropriately into the geographic information system (GIS), they became the basis for the new database of infrastructure. Meanwhile, over 70 other layers in shapefile format have been imported into Spatial Database Engine (SDE).

From this one central data source, the city created web maps and thematic map applications on ArcGIS Enterprise for all business units/departments and specific key users (e.g., water supply and sewerage division, customer center, technical department). There was no need to develop anything new—the Esri system was sufficient by itself. ArcGIS Pro provides the foundation in the form of a desktop tool that is mainly used to create services or edit and automatically process data. Furthermore, there are web maps, which have two major roles. Firstly, the ArcGIS Web AppBuilder environment serves to create unified office applications such as the customer center and the call centrum. The customer center enables operators to see all necessary information about customers (respectively about parcels). They can see in the map the owner of the parcel and if the parcel is connected to the pipeline. The call centrum supports management of fault reporting, where the operator identifies the location on the map along with details of the fault. This information is automatically sent for verification and solving by the mobile worker. Secondly, these web maps are ready to use in ArcGIS Field Maps, an app diversely used for any kind of mobile work.

There are many other examples of smart use of the ArcGIS system. ArcGIS Survey123 is used to receive requests for a statement on the existence of networks (which is a legal need when someone wants to build a house). The City of Jihlava uses webhooks to receive information about new requests, which are later handled in ArcGIS Pro. ArcGIS Dashboards is used to display up-to-date reports and other data and summaries (like malfunctions and the current number of cleaned pipes). Finally, ArcGIS Enterprise Sites and ArcGIS Hub work as a communication platform with the public and ArcGIS REST API for integration with other information systems like the city's customer relationship management (CRM) system.

"Managing the water and wastewater network requires a fast and comprehensive operational picture, both for office and construction workers or when searching for malfunctions in the field. We also expect the need to manage large data in one place. This technology allows us to do all of this. Furthermore, it helps us to do our work more efficiently and allows our ideas to evolve."— Libor Göth, Jihlava City Services, Head of the Water Supply and Sewerage Division

Esri technology is full of tools and offers countless possibilities. But from the beginning, the question was, How will it stand up to users who were not familiar with GIS—people of different occupations, education levels, and ages? In many cases, it meant a major change in their working process. Although a big change, city staff have adopted it very quickly and smoothly, which was very important because everyone is involved. External suppliers were also included and needed to agree on the method of entering data.

The GIS department of the City of Jihlava has achieved a lot in one year, but its employees want to go even further. In addition to maintaining a high standard, their goal is to bring additional capabilities, especially in the organization of the work with the integration of ArcGIS Workforce into Field Maps. Workforce will replace paper notes and manual processes related to mobile work. The shift manager will use Workforce to oversee the work of approximately 30 mobile workers more efficiently. The GIS department also has a goal to implement ArcGIS Utility Network for routing and system evaluation.