Storm Recovery Data Acquisition

Author: Jim Blaha
Organization: Datria Systems, Inc.

7211 South Peoria Street
# 260
Englewood, CO 80112
USA

Phone: 303-645-9300
Fax: 303-645-9301
jim.blaha@datria.com

Objectives: To provide an acceptable means for storm survey (easier than paper- or menu-based systems).

To get the right answers faster. The right answer means less wasted effort and crew expense. The faster you get the answer the sooner your customers can be back online.

Problem: The timeliness and quality of damage estimates have a significant effect on outage recovery times and costs.

Paper surveys require hours of subsequent data entry. Traditional menu-based surveys are difficult to use in the field. Both provide very limited information due to the time constraints imposed by the emergency. These limitations cause damages to be overestimated, costing millions in unnecessary manpower and equipment imported from surrounding areas. The sooner accurate information is known the sooner crews can be requested, assembled, transported, staged, and deployed. Once deployed, crews must relocate damages when accurate locations are unknown.

Solution: Proven speech-enabled data collection capabilities allow surveyors to capture vital information faster than filling out paper forms or navigating menus. Real-time DGPS allows surveyors to see where they are and where they've been so they don't get lost and don't miss sections of data. Postprocessing data entry delays are eliminated.