SUNNYVALE, CA, Mar. 10, 2009 -- Trimble announced that City Water, Light and Power (CWLP) in Springfield, IL, has selected Trimble® UtilityCenter® software as the enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) solution for mapping and managing the City's water infrastructure assets.
CWLP's electric department currently uses UtilityCenter for GIS, mapping, outage management, and field staking, and the water department will begin using the software suite for GIS, mapping, and integration into their water system modeling solution.
As part of a year-long project to map and collect data for CWLP distribution infrastructure, field crews will collect data to map water infrastructure field assets, such as 5,000 hydrants, 16,000 valves and 52,000 meters, using Trimble's handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. Trimble will be overseeing the data collection and conversion as well as migrating paper records to the new UtilityCenter GIS database.
CWLP will use the new mapped data and UtilityCenter software to enhance asset management by providing:
-- Improved design capabilities of new facilities through hydraulic modeling of piping networks.
-- Improved maintenance plans and response times for emergency repairs with less time needed to identify system problems and make repairs.
-- Greater customer notification capabilities given the system's integration with the utility's Customer Information System through automatic calling and mailings when necessary.
-- Better coordination with the Springfield Fire Department on flow data available for any given fire hydrant.
Data collected by field crews for CWLP will be added to the regional GIS, a county-wide database shared with various agencies that allows for data to be linked together when necessary.
"The mapping project will improve our operations and put the water department more on par with the efficiency that the electric department currently operates in terms of system planning and response," said CWLP General Manager Todd Renfrow. "With better management of our water infrastructure, making repairs and providing customer notifications will be so much more efficient and on target that our response times should vastly improve."
Trimble's UtilityCenter software is currently used by more than 100 electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities throughout the U.S. Trimble's Utilities Field Solutions group specializes in implementing enterprise mobile workforce, computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), asset management, field data collection, staking and inspection solutions for electric, gas, water/wastewater and solid waste utilities. Trimble's UtilityCenter, Fieldport®, and Utility Fleet Manager™ enterprise solutions automate utility operations which can lead to increased field worker productivity, enhanced customer service and faster emergency response.
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location -- including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping.
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