Centralizing Corporate Data Through the Use of GPS and
Oracle
Background:
Edison Carrier Solutions (ECS), the telecommunications
company of Southern California Edison (SCE), is a Competitive Local Exchange
Carrier (CLEC) with 2,300 plus route miles of fiber optic cable. ECS is the largest CLEC in
Project Overview:
The growth of Edison Carrier Solutions network was
staggering. Due to the size and
complexity of the network, an effective GIS database and means to maintain that
database are essential. Currently ECS’ most comprehensive database of assets is
stored in a “Transmittal,” which is a detailed construction drawing. The transmittal is used by
the construction crews to build new fiber optic routes and are created
in AutoCAD 2000 by the Route Planners.
The drawings capture everything about the equipment and facilities used
along the route, however this information does not
contain any geographic coordinates and is not to scale. This limitation prohibits the ability to
directly import valuable information into the GIS. The transmittals are stored in digital and
hardcopy form and generally distributed to various departments in hardcopy
form. Due to the valuable information
captured in the transmittals they are used by nearly every department involved
with the fiber network, therefore becoming the de facto asset management system.
ECS’ Network Engineers conducts high-level network design and the GIS department answers ad hoc queries and mapping output through the GIS database. The lack of information in the GIS database seriously limits the amount of analysis that can be performed in the GIS. The introduction of geographic coordinates in the initial route design phase by leveraging Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology is the best solution to remedy the situation. The introduction of geographic coordinates will allow the CAD drawing and the GIS database to be built on top of the same data and retain all the valuable information that currently only captured in the non-geographic CAD drawings.
Enhanced abilities with improved GIS database?
· In planning a new route the Planner could quickly, easily, and accurately engineer a new fiber route using GPS equipment.
· By selecting a row of poles with fiber currently installed, a Planner or Network Engineer could quickly identify the status of equipment or facilities and determine if there is room for another fiber route.
· If Telecommunication Control Center (TCC) receives notice of a downed pole with fiber on it, TCC could zoom to the area of the downed pole, quickly identify all the fiber routes attached to the pole, and send a map of the area to a repair crew.
The following paper describes a pilot projects conducted by the GIS group to investigate new methods of streamlining the creation of new fiber optic routes and implementation of a central database of ECS’ assets. The project is still under review by ECS management.
Current System:
When a decision to build a new fiber route is made and once all arrangements between ECS and the customer are finalized, a Network Engineer uses the GIS database to see where the new facilities will be located and where existing fiber is located. This information is sent to the Planners. The Planners look at existing construction transmittals or drawing and Facilities Inventory Maps (FIM maps are SCE’s largest database of its existing distribution grid) to get a general idea where poles and conduit are located. The Planner takes the transmittals and FIM maps into the field to engineer the new route.
There are two general categories of engineering methods conducted by a Planner: routes with existing fiber and routes without fiber. The following describes how each category is engineered.
Routes with Existing Fiber:
If the new route is going to follow an existing route or a portion of an existing route the Planner must decide if there is sufficient room on the structure or in the conduit. If there is not, the Planner must decide what equipment to install to facilitate the new fiber route.
Route with No Existing Fiber:
If there is no fiber already in the area or along a portion of the route the Planner must gather all necessary information about the equipment and decide what equipment must be installed. This is done by calculating the distance between each pole, the height other attachments are connected, pole number, conduit and riser diameter, if there is room in the conduit or riser, etc. Most of this work is done by manual processes and is time consuming.
After the field study is complete, a construction
transmittal or drawing is created with the information needed by the
Construction Crew to construct the new route.
The Planner creates the transmittal in AutoCAD and hardcopy print outs
are sent to various departments within the company. The transmittals
are used by the various departments to update other databases: the utilities
communication database, the GIS database, the
Pilot Project Review:
Project Goals:
The Planners are in the field capturing valuable information, yet the information is stored in CAD drawings which are compatible with the GIS database. The transmittals created in AutoCAD are not to scale and do not represent geographic locations. The largest hurdle is the lack of a comprehensive database of SCE poles, towers, and various underground equipment which is either to scale, in digital form, or in a re-projectable coordinate system.
The GIS Group is required to manually input the location of fiber routes into the GIS database and snap them to a centerline of a road network. This process is labor intensive and has a 3-8 month lag time between creation of a transmittal and input into the GIS database. If the Planners could capture the coordinates of equipment and all necessary attribute information needed to build a route with a GPS unit, both the Planners and the Network Engineers could utilize the same information.
GPS Selection:
The GIS Group investigated possible GPS equipment and software which could capture geographic coordinates and necessary attributes about a location. After studying several different products, a product line by Sokkia was chosen. Sokkia’s product is comprised of three components, a GPS receiver and data collection software by Sokkia and a choice of third party handheld computers. The GPS receiver captures signals transmitted from satellites, translates the signals into coordinates, and sends the signal to the handheld computer. The handheld computer receives the signals from the GPS receiver and runs the data collection software. The user can assign the attributes through a custom interface. The interfaces or Feature Tables are designed so that all necessary information about a piece of equipment can be entered while in the field. The information captured in the field is stored on the handheld computer and exported to a PC or server upon returning to the office.
After a few field tests by the GIS Group to design the Feature Tables, several field tests were conducted with the Planners. Some tests were done while walking and others were done while in the Planners vehicles using laser range finders to collect distant location coordinates. After the Planner became familiar with the equipment and Feature Tables, which took about 20 minutes, they were able to capture all necessary information about each pole in 45 seconds on average.
Transmittal Creation:
Initially the concept was to create construction transmittals in Esri’s ArcView 3.1, the GIS software used by the Network Engineers and the GIS Group . Due to the geographic nature of the data, it was thought to be the most applicable software. With this goal in mind, custom interfaces and tools were developed to allow the Planner to create a transmittal in ArcView. With a little further refinement these interfaces and tools could produce transmittals. However it was decided that training the Planners on the new software and purchasing licenses for the software would not be the best option. Instead development moved towards using the Planners current software, AutoCAD, to produce the transmittals. The data captured in the field would be used in AutoCAD to produce the transmittal. This decision has proven to be successful.
To streamline the process of creating transmittals further development should be taken. This development would facilitate the symbolization of equipment with currently used symbols or blocks, based on the attributes assigned to a point in the field. Therefore the correct symbol would be assigned to a point if it were a distribution pole and the correct crossarm symbol would be assigned in the correct position on the pole based on its attributes.
Implementation Phases:
The following are recommended methods for implementing the introduction of geographic coordinates into the process of designing fiber optic routes through a phased approach. Phase 1 would introduce GPS units to capture geographic coordinates used to design a route. The current system of two separate databases would remain, one used by the Network Engineers and another used by the Planners. Phase 2 introduces one central database of ECS equipment assets (e.g. poles, vaults, splices, amounts in slack loop, fiber and fiber types) for both Network Engineers and Planners to utilize, yet accessed by different client software.
Phase 1: GPS Data Collections
Overview:
In this phase the Planners would begin leveraging GPS technology to capture equipment locations (e.g. poles, vaults, slack loops, etc.), and equipment attributes (e.g. equipment number, grade, crossarm length, etc.). The information captured in the field will be used by the Planners to design routes and to create and update construction transmittals. The information will also be used by the GIS Group to update the GIS database used by the Network Engineers. There would be little changes in the current methods other than the introduction of real word coordinates captured with GPS units during route design. There would remain two separate databases, a GIS and CAD database that would be maintained by two departments.
Transmittal Production:
The information captured in the field would be exported from the GPS equipment onto a server via the Planner’s PC. Once equipment information has been captured on existing routes new construction designs can utilize the existing information. By uploading the point locations of existing equipment onto the GPS unit the attributes of the equipment can be simply edited in the field on the GPS unit and used to create a new route.
To create a transmittal, the Planner would access the
equipment data captured with the GPS unit and Thomas Brother’s road data on
AutoCAD via ArcSDE CAD Client. The point
locations would be symbolized based on the attributes associated with each
point to produce a hardcopy transmittal with current symbology. The hardcopy would be sent to the
Construction Crew. The AutoCAD drawing
file (DWG) would be stored on the Planner’s server and as hardcopy files. Upon completion of the route, an as built
drawing would be sent to the
GIS Database:
The original file exported from the GPS is copied from the Planner’s server and moved to the GIS database. The data will be used to create the new route in the GIS database and available for the Network Engineers and the GIS Group to utilize. The GIS Department will be able to view the individual DWG files created by the Planners for purposes of updating the GIS database upon completion of the route. The edits made in the field to existing equipment will be used to update the GIS database as well.
Positives:
· Real world coordinate locations of equipment (poles, vaults, manholes, etc.) are available to everyone allowing linkage of GIS and CAD database.
· Significantly less lag time between creation of cable transmittal and updates to the GIS database from 3-8 months to 1-7 days.
· Reduction in man hours spent updating GIS database
· Potential reduction or break-even in man hours spent in field designing routes.
· Planners can still use AutoCAD to create transmittal
Negatives:
· Duplication of databases, electronic GIS database, electronic and hardcopy CAD database
· Man-hours spend updating GIS database as construction revisions are made to CAD files
· As existing equipment attributes are updates, the current data would have to be manually updated once uploaded back to the server
Phase 2 GPS Data Collection / Centralized Server
Overview:
In Phase 2 the new equipment locations that are exported from the GPS unit would be exported to a central Oracle server via the Planner’s PC. Existing equipment locations can be uploaded to the GPS, edited in the field, and exported back to the Oracle server. A process of conflict resolution would identify that equipment’s attributes have changed and over-write existing information.
With the data on a centralized server the Planners, Network
Engineers, the GIS Group
and the
Transmittal Production:
The information needed to create a construction drawing
would reside on the central Oracle server.
The Planner would access the data via ArcSDE CAD Client and create the
transmittal in AutoCAD. The point
locations would be symbolized based on the attributes associated with each point
to produce a hardcopy transmittal with current symbology. The hardcopy would be sent to the
Construction Crew.
In Phase 2 the DWG CAD file would be saved to the central Oracle server rather than the Planner’s server but each page of the transmittal would still be stored as separate files. However, instead of the need to view each file individually as in Phase 1, all the files can be viewed seamlessly or tiled together and viewed all together.
As changes to the route occur to the original route’s individual files can be updated by the Planner and saved back to the Oracle server. Hardcopy transmittal will be sent to the Construction Crew as changes are made.
GIS Database:
The GIS database will utilize the equipment data collected in the field by the Planner to update the GIS database residing on the central Oracle server and available to the Network Engineers and the GIS Group to utilize in ArcView. The data will not have to be manually updated when changes are made to existing equipment in the field once it is exported back onto the server. This task will be taken care of by the conflict resolution process within Oracle server.
Positives Over Phase 1:
· Less man hours spent updating GIS database as construction revisions are made to CAD files.
· As existing equipment attributes are updated, the current data would not have to be manually updated once uploaded back to the server.
Negatives Over Phase 1:
· Implementation time to organize conflict resolution protocols in Oracle
· Maintenance of Oracle database, estimated 16 per month (new user logins, etc.)