| MAPPING: Utility Transcends "Tribal Knowledge"
The Tampa Electric Company uses spatial maps to assist in long range goals.
By Keith Cunningham Confronted with mapping products that historically were difficult to share, department officials at Tampa Electric Company (TECO), headquartered in Tampa, Fla., did not always utilize maps to their best advantage. Often the spatial qualities of the map information was kept in the head of the user working in the field. In utilities and local government, this human knowledge of spatial relationships is called tribal knowledge, and this information, though it exists, is not easily shared. As the employees who held this "tribal knowledge" retired or were transferred, the intimate spatial associations among the information often were lost. Rarely would this knowledge make it into management information systems.
System maps and drawings created in TECO's planning and engineering departments largely remained in the specialized domain of users trained in their creation and interpretation. More recently, digital mapping brought on advancements but continued to be difficult to share due to the costs of mapping software and hardware, and the significant amount of user training required. The result of having a limited base of users with a limited ability to share information created restricted access to the spatial relationships maps inherently communicate.
Untimely responsiveness hits the utility's bottom line through late charges, fees, overtime and assessed fines. As its customer base grew and the territory served expanded, company officials at TECO saw a need for changing the way they utilized the spatial data recorded on both the company's maps and engineering schematics. Today, TECO's executives believe that digital maps provide the only view and access to decision-critical data and must be available corporate-wide to meet timely end-user demand and division goals.
In the early stages of this system mapping transformation, the utility created a large infrastructure of graphical data for its planning, engineering and as-built records management. This information was created with MicroStation. TECO's long-range goal was the creation of an AM/FM system, but the MicroStation files created by the Drafting and Automated Mapping departments were only "dumb" graphics without database linkages and topologic models.
Whenever a graphical database is created, the user must pay particular attention to how the data are being organized and associated with one another. At TECO, large volumes of graphics information including engineering schematics and maps were compiled, often without any thought to the organization of the information internally in the graphics software. As a result, tremendous amounts of information were available, but could not be accessed with any standardized database management tool. Therefore, the information contained in the digital maps, drawings, and schematics could not be easily located and accessed.
This problem continued to compound itself as TECO's service area grew to 500,000 customers and spread over 2,000 square miles. Over 3,000 MicroStation files were created just for the electric distribution network. According to Michelle Grainger, senior programmer analyst at TECO, "The files of electric distribution facilities were never linked to lighting facilities, even within the same department." The typical solution for this type of problem has been to "recreate" all graphic information in an automated mapping/facilities management (AM/FM) system or geographic information system (GIS). While this allowed TECO to precisely define and associate graphics in some database structures, another solution existed.
Eighteen months ago, TECO was evaluating a new, low-cost software package by Geographic Sciences Inc. (GSI), also of Tampa. GSI had been developing a variety of query tools which could locate any text and numeric information found in a MicroStation file, without a database interface. PCS-Locator, a GSI product, became the foundation on which TECO built its solution. This product allowed the utility ease of use and immediate implementation without any additional map or database conversion.
Much of TECO's customizing was performed with Locator's programmable interface. TECO requested that several functions specific to their needs be incorporated in Locator and soon afterwards, Locator was christened MapLink by TECO. TECO's MapLink can find any information contained within any of TECO's MicroStation files, even files which are not presently opened by MapLink. This means TECO's entire graphics library can be accessed on-line.
Originally, MapLink was viewed as a bridge to a true AM/FM or GIS. But MapLink proved much more flexible and useful than first imagined. With a few entries by an operator, MapLink was able to find all the MicroStation files containing graphics information for specific poles, transformers, etc. This capability helped TECO planners and engineers cut their research times and allowed them to place all available graphics information within the touch of a button.
To speed the MapLink information retrieval system, Geographic Sciences then embarked on creating a more powerful search engine. Of immediate importance was a spatial query tool to locate features and data by their locations within TECO's franchise, not just their numeric and text attributes. GSI began work on a program to "read" the MicroStation files and create spatial indexes to help with the spatial query process. Now much more complex spatial queries can be made with the MicroStation files, similar to some of the traditional analytic functions of a geographic information system (GIS), such as buffer and network analysis, without ever having to build a GIS database. This spatial query tool became operational April of this year.
Very quickly, multiple departments at TECO began to use MapLink and the new query tools. According to Grainger, "Drafters were historically the only users who could search for the information and share it. Now other departments have access to the data." This extended access applied to departments which had historically never used mapping and engineering records.
Over the past six months, 20 departments at TECO have begun using MapLink and copies of the drafting and mapping documents mastered on CD-ROM. These include a variety of engineering departments, customer services, work and database management, economic and community development, lighting, telecommunications, call-before-you-dig, real estate, and line clearance/tree trimming.
The spread of MapLink has been so rapid that management and even the drafting department which originated its use has had little opportunity to consider the benefits. An anecdotal report from the Real Estate group has indicated that they now perform many investigations from the office which were only previously possible from the field. The call-before-you-dig operation has reduced its response times, avoiding fines for late field marking. The customer service and trouble call reporting organizations are now graphically playing the locations of complaints on maps reducing customer locate times from 10 minutes on average to one minute. In general, the departments using MapLink are indicating an immediate pay-back by reducing costs for reproductions and hard copy map creation. The on-line access of the files is also eliminating demand for the aperture cards (microfiche) historically used in the field.
As TECO grows and changes with Tampa, preserving this existing base of inarticulate knowledge is perhaps the greatest benefit. One may conclude that mapping at TECO is now a mainstream management information tool. Additionally, this phenomenon has occurred without the formal implementation of an AM/FM or GIS. About the Author:
Keith Cunningham is an analyst with Spatial Data Research, a GIS consulting firm. He specializes in dynamic segmentation models and artificial neural networks for spatial information systems. He may be reached at 813-835-6277. Back |
