Filling up your tank is more convenient than ever today with pay-at-the-pump service and other amenities available to the consumer. Gas stations have added minigrocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, banks, etc.; it is literally "one-stop shopping." Although gas stations have changed in their services and appearance, underground there still exists an intricate system of tanks, pipes, valves, and pumps. For public safety and protection of the environment, in the state of Illinois this equipment (installed by the owners and operators of the facilities) must be inspected, tested, and monitored by the Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM).

There are more than 28,000 facilities in the state of Illinois with underground storage tanks. The storage tank safety specialists (inspectors) are geographically assigned throughout the state, and each covers several counties. The OSFM inspectors must verify that proper equipment has been installed and tested to meet state standards.

In the Beginning

In April 2001, following an intensive Request for Proposal (RFP) bidding process, the OSFM contracted with GIS Solutions, Inc., an Esri Business Partner in Illinois, to develop a system to assist the agency's inspectors in monitoring and assessing the thousands of underground storage tanks within the state. Prior to project implementation, field inspectors used their vehicles as portable offices, carrying and maintaining hundreds of paper files on their assigned facilities and workload. The back seats were literally full of file boxes and blank paper forms. As with any agency, constant changes to laws or policy necessitated the creation of multiple forms to collect and monitor the required information. The inspectors would fill out more than 20 different forms to collect the necessary inspection information. They mailed the forms to the OSFM headquarters in Springfield, Illinois, for input into the statewide database of underground storage tanks.

"One of the biggest issues for the inspectors," says Bill Carl, an OSFM inspector, "is keeping facilities information current so that when you conduct an inspection, you can verify what equipment was reported as having been installed."

Breaking New Ground

Each OSFM inspector in the field is now equipped with a Dell laptop computer, a signature tablet, and a Leica GPS unit. The field application designed by GIS Solutions, Inc., uses MapObjects, which allows the field inspectors to retrieve the necessary information on a particular facility and its tanks out in the field. The application has several modules to assist the inspectors in viewing and reporting information on facilities. The application includes search modules for searching for facilities, owners, and contractors. A calendar module provides the inspectors with up-to-date information on their scheduled inspection activity. The forms module contains electronic versions of each of the OSFM forms. After selecting a form and entering a facility number, the form is generated on the laptop, automatically populating fields such as facility, owner, contractor, and tank information.

This feature of the field application, according to Carl, is a huge time-saver. "Now with a few simple clicks of the mouse, I have completed a form that may have taken me 15 to 20 minutes to complete on paper." In addition, inspectors can capture the signatures of required staff members electronically after an inspection is completed.

At the end of each working day, inspectors can upload data collected to the underground storage tank database in Springfield and receive database updates on their laptops. Using an Internet connection, the synchronization process usually takes approximately five to six minutes, according to Carl.

The Mapping Feature

Initially all facilities are geocoded for the mapping component. Using the mapping module, the inspectors can locate facilities and tanks, perform spatial queries on facilities, and buffer facilities. At each facility visit, the inspectors collect the GPS coordinates for the facility and tanks and upload the data to the central database upon synchronization. The mapping component is also directly linked to the other modules, and the inspectors can view facility information and quickly jump to the mapped location of the facility.

The mapping feature, according to Carl, is a significant benefit to the inspectors. "Many of us are required to conduct inspections in other geographic territories that are not our assigned areas. Most recently, I was quickly able to locate a facility not in my territory. It was great to be able to find the facility and know everything about it to complete the inspection."

Benefits Are Many

OSFM will reap many benefits from the system including improvements in the quality of data. For the first time, there will be a quality review of data that is submitted and subsequently viewed by the inspectors in the field.

"The field inspectors know what should be in the database because they see what is out there," says Carl. "We will constantly be amending information and making improvements to the quality of the data."

As GPS coordinates are collected for the facilities and tanks statewide, the OSFM database will be updated with accurate location information on the facilities and tanks. This information will not only benefit OSFM but other agencies as well that require access to the data, especially Homeland Security. The secure Web site built with Active Server Pages (ASP) and ArcIMS provides the mechanism for agency information sharing.

The Illinois OSFM was able to overcome many hurdles in the process of field data collection and, most important, had the flexibility to change internal business rules to make way for collecting information at the source.

For more information, contact Shelly Bradley, OSFM project coordinator (tel.: 217-785-7812), or Mike Maroon, GIS Solutions, Inc., project manager (tel.: 217-546-3652).