Gas Utility Reduces Inspection Times By 50% Using Mobile App

With ArcGIS Utility Network and ArcGIS Collector, AltaGas Utilities Reduces Inspection Times by 50 Percent

In 2015, leaders in the natural gas industry in the United States published a collaborative document called ASTM F2897 that specifies how pipeline attributes—including the materials they’re made of and their manufacturers—should be identified via a standard, 16-digit bar code.

“ASTM F2897 is the standard that the gas utility industry is rallying around to address the requirements of tracking and traceability,” said Tom Coolidge, Esri director of gas utility and pipeline industry solutions, referring to the need to find where assets were installed (tracking) and locate them based on attributes (traceability).

Being in compliance with ASTM F2897 requires that utilities have a bar code-based method to collect and store this data.

AltaGas Utilities, a regulated Canadian natural gas distribution utility with more than 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers) of pipeline, has spent the last several years putting plans in place to comply with this standard proactively. Its GIS team has spent three years updating the utility’s digital as-builting process (which involves collecting location and other information about newly installed assets before they are backfilled underground) so it works with bar code scanning.