City of London Improves Water Network Information Management with Esri Technology

LONDON, ON – April 2, 2012 – Maintaining a city's water infrastructure involves mapping all the components of the water network including thousands of pipes, valves and water mains. City planners and engineers rely on these maps to effectively plan new development, and maintain and repair existing infrastructure. To improve the management of its water network data, the City of London in Ontario has deployed ArcGIS 10, the latest version of Esri's enterprise geographic information system (GIS) technology. The solution allows the City to accurately map the location of assets and analyze them in a spatial context. The City has also developed a customized tool that enhances the data editing functionality of the ArcGIS solution.

According to  John Bontje, Technology Services Manager, City of London, “Using the latest GIS technology from Esri enables us to maintain data quality while significantly improving productivity.  The users get better data quicker.”

Previously, the City managed water network data using a customized computer-aided drafting (CAD) system. While the system provided tools for creating network drawings, it required customized translation processes to place the data in their corporate GIS.

To further increase efficiency, the City's IT and water departments worked together to develop a customized ArcGIS tool that automates numerous steps of the data entry and editing process. The editing tool automatically populates some of the required information fields in the system when adding new asset data and finds the closest address point to assign maintenance of the asset to the right group.

“New subdivisions require thousands of new assets such as pipes, hydrants and water mains to be installed and entered into the system,” notes Steve Robinson, Water Operations Technologist & Data Steward, City of London. “This can be time consuming as it takes numerous steps to accurately reflect each asset on the water network map. With our customized ArcGIS editing tool, we've tripled the speed of updating data into the GIS.”

In addition to water network data, the City now manages sewer information with the customized tool. The tool's enhanced editing functionality is also expected to deliver valuable benefits as the City completely migrates water and sewer inventory data maintenance from their CAD system to ArcGIS.

Midway between Detroit and Toronto, London is at the heart of Southwestern Ontario. As Canada's 10th largest city centre, London has a population of over 492,000 and serves as a regional hub for surrounding communities. The City has developed a strong focus on life sciences, renewable technologies, information technology and manufacturing. More information is available at london.ca.

Founded in 1984, Esri Canada provides enterprise geographic information system (GIS) solutions that empower businesses, governments and educational institutions to make timely, informed and mission-critical decisions by leveraging the power of geography.  The company distributes the world's leading GIS software from Esri, Telvent, Cityworks – Azteca Systems, Inc. and other technology partners.  Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada and has been named as one of the top 250 Canadian IT companies and top 25 IT professional services providers in Canada by the Branham Group.  Information about Esri Canada can be found at esri.ca.