While competition among electric utilities has been rare in most areas of the United States, Georgia electric utilities have been allowed to compete for 900KV customers for several years. This competition has lead to a high level of sophistication in marketing practices and has resulted in the development of marketing techniques that have given Georgia's industrial customers access to very well maintained and up to date industrial site and building data. As other states sanction increased competition among electric utilities they and their customers may well be interested in what has happened in Georgia and particularly in Oglethorpe Power's Center for Site Selection.
The automation of any process is much more likely to succeed when it is proceeded by a smoothly functioning non automated process. This was the situation at Oglethorpe Power. The existing processes for identifying, qualifying and assisting industrial customer's were already in place and working when the spatial application was envisioned. The decision to add the spatial component to the process was a logical decision based on several factors including the reduced cost of hardware and software necessary to support the application, the increased availability and reduced cost of spatial data, the increasing sophistication of the average industrial prospect and the impending deregulation of the electric utility industry.
The introduction of spatial data management to the existing Oglethorpe process was designed to solve the increasingly complex task of data integration. The State of Georgia has traditionally encouraged and supported the recruitment of new industry. That support allowed several utilities to develop expertise and data to improve their industrial recruiting process. In addition to the industry effort, the State Department of Industry Trade and Tourism in cooperation with the State's universities brought together several small scale spatial data sets including the 1990 census, USGS 100,000 DLGs (generally referred to as the "Georgia 100" database) and a tabular database containing a large number of Georgia's industrial sites & building. These data have been used for several years in the industrial recruiting process. Oglethorpe Power made the decision to integrate their more detailed data with these data. The following is a discussion of the Industrial Sites and Buildings Spatial Analysis Tool which was the dividend of that decision.
The terms project, view and theme are used in ArcView to describe the organization of data. We will use that same terminology in order to clarify the technical approach used in constructing the Industrial Sites and Buildings Spatial Analysis Tool. An ArcView project is the file which is used to organize all related work. The views define the data to be viewed and how they are displayed. There can be many views of the same data. The themes are the set of geographic data displayed in a view. In addition to views, projects also include components such as tables, scripts, and map composition layouts. This project also includes a link to the Access database which allows the use of Access forms directly from within the project.
The Industrial Sites and Buildings Spatial Analysis Tool is comprised of an ArcView project and two MS Access databases integrated into one application that functions as a seamless program. This program included specialized user interfaces which allow the casual user to effectively interact with the BuildingBank and SiteBank information within the context of a statewide spatial database. The application also included the integration of several new data layers not previously available to the Center. These new data layers improved the capability to query and view data about a building or site.
The Industrial Sites and Buildings Spatial Analysis Tool contains scale dependent viewing capability which includes unique data sets displayed at the statewide, regional area of interest, and site specific level. The majority of spatial data is derived from the Georgia 100 spatial database. The Industrial Sites and Buildings Spatial Analysis Tool always initializes at the statewide extent providing an overview of available sites and buildings throughout the state of Georgia. At this statewide level the view contains themes that assist the user in selecting a generalized geographic area of interest in which to focus a site selection study. The themes available for display at this level are:
Industrial Site locations as symbolized point featuresBased on analysis at the statewide level the user may choose to limit the view display to a smaller regional area of interest such as a county, Electric Membership Corporation, an area interactively defined by the user, or the extent of a set of selected sites or buildings. Themes displayed at a regional level are similar to those seen at the statewide view but contain more complexity and detail. For example, in addition to interstates and U.S. highways, state highways will be visible. Regional areas can span many scales including smaller areas, such as an individual county, and larger areas, such as an RDC comprising multiple counties. Therefor, viewable themes available at the regional level are limited, as needed, to a predefined viewing scale range depending on their level of display complexity. The themes available for display at this level include the following:
Building locations as symbolized point features
Georgia State Boundary
Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs)
Regional Development Commissions (RDCs)
Interstate and U.S. Highways
Counties
Major Lakes and Rivers
Census Tracts and Block Groups
Georgia Department of Industry Trade and Tourism (GDITT) Manufacturers
University System Facilities
Technical Institutions
USGS 1:250,000 scale DRGs
Industrial Site locations as symbolized point featuresFollowing an analysis of sites at the regional level the user may choose to view individual sites at a more detailed scale. At the individual site level the most detailed data sets necessary for site specific analysis will be available for display. As the user zooms in to a selected site additional detail is displayed to assist in locating the site relative to identifiable features such as minor surface streets and water features. The themes available for display at this level include the following:
Building locations as symbolized point features
Interstates and U.S. Highways
State Highways
Railroads
Airports
Major Lakes and Rivers
City Limits
EMCs and RDCs
Census Tracts and Block Groups
GDITT Manufacturers
University System Facilities
Technical Institutions
USGS 1:100,000 scale DRGs
Industrial Site locations as polygon featuresA series of interview meetings were conducted with Oglethorpe's staff to identify the necessary functionality and user requirements for the Industrial Sites and Buildings Spatial Analysis Tool. Oglethorpe identified the following functions to be included in the application:
Building locations as symbolized point features
Interstates and U.S. Highways
State Highways
Surface Streets
Railroads
Airports
Major Lakes and Rivers
Streams and Ditches
City Limits
EMCs and RDCs
Census Tracts and Block Groups
GDITT Manufacturers
University System Facilities
Technical Institutions
USGS 1:24,000 scale DRGs
1. Seamless Integration of the existing MS Access SiteBank and BuildingBank databases with the developed ArcView project.
2. The ability to run a site selection analysis for available industrial sites or buildings within the state of Georgia.
3. General spatial site selection tools for interactive point-and-click selection including select by point, box, circle, or polygon. Locational site selection capabilities including selecting sites within a feature such as a county or within a distance to relevant features such as interstates or airports.
4. The ability to query site information in the MS Access SiteBank and BuildingBank databases from ArcView using existing MS Access forms to further define selection criteria for sites.
5. The ability to view standard MS Access site description forms and site search referral forms for a site selection analysis seamlessly integrated with display of the spatial data.
6. The ability to link and view available adjunct site specific information to an industrial site or building including standard site maps, county level site locator maps, aerial photography, terrestrial photos, and site master plans.
7. Automated development of standard site maps and county level site locator maps for inclusion in the site selection marketing package.
8. The ability to print all reports and maps for a site selection analysis including MS Access SiteBank/BuildingBank standard reports and corresponding ArcView site map compositions as a single batch process for inclusion in the site selection marketing package.
9. The ability to easily update existing information or add new information to the system.
Pamela Green
GIS Analyst
Pacific Meridian Resources
149 Forest Avenue, Suite 615
Marietta, GA 30060
Telephone:(770) 499-1093
Fax:(770) 427-3725
E-mail: atlanta@pacificmeridian.com
Stacy Patton
Senior Facilities Planning
Oglethorpe Power
Suite 1201, Marquis II Tower
285 Peachtree Center Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30303
Telephone:(404)521-7619
Fax:(404) 521-2831
E-mail: stacy.patton@opc.com