Integrating Data for the City of San Diego Environmental Collections: From GIS to Oracle Database and Back Again

Author: Dawn Olson
Organization: City of San Diego

M.S. 1101 B
San Diego, CA 92123-1636
USA

Phone: 858-573-1201
Fax: 858-492-5068
dyo@sdcity.sannet.gov

For the past three years, the Environmental Services Department, in conjunction with the San Diego Data Processing Corporation, has made great strides in automating data processes alongside their efforts to automate the refuse, recycling, and greenery collections in San Diego. It's expected that serving well over a quarter million collection points would require a commonly accessed database, but as the following synopsis illustrates, the integrated systems currently in use go much further than that.

RAD is a real-time scale at the landfill that reports tonnages, which are immediately accessed by supervisors for planning and human resource uses. These numbers also populate the Oracle customer database, which is accessed via RouteSmart to create realistic, efficient routing solutions for the collection trucks. The customer database (a custom-made Power Builder interface called EPACS) is accessed real-time by our customer service department to provide immediate collection information to our customers as well as to generate work orders that automatically get printed at the appropriate field station. This system also provides a real-time container inventory, powerful reporting tools, and an external security program that regulates system access on a user-by-user basis.

A customized ArcView GIS interface provides tools to do simple planning tasks like house counts, as well as data maintenance, verification, and digitizing. ArcInfo is still the system's GIS backbone providing polygons of service information with AMLs that periodically upload into the Oracle customer database. The latest development involves the incorporation of GPS, Citrix, and wireless communications technology. Soon our field crews will have laptops that will provide supervisors with useful fleet location information and will transmit work orders directly to crews in the field.

All of these steps toward greater automation and greater data integration are taking us to new levels of efficiency and accountability in the services we provide. Our San Diego residents have high expectations and we do all we can to surpass those expectations!