Ubisense 2008 Symposium Abstracts & Presentations
Abstracts & Presentations
Track 1
9:10am - 9:50am
Use of Geospatial Information in the NSW Railways 
Ron Lister, Manager, Geospatial Information, RailCorp
RailCorp manages the rail infrastructure in the greater metropolitan area (roughly 160km from Sydney in a semi circle) and runs passenger services throughout NSW, Australia. In addition to the tracks it has extensive electrical, signal and communication systems. This presentation will focus on the image mapping of rail assets, generation of corridor profiles from laser data and the products that are generated for clients. Products include a GISWeb view only tool, electrical schematics and emergency maps.
10:00am - 10:40am
Embedding the CAD/GIS Client in a Browser to Improve Efficiencies and Extend Your Reach
Tony Lopez, Senior Consultant, eSpatial
This talk looks at the emerging drive towards development of geospatial GIS/CAD features within web enabled business applications. It has always been a goal to embed CAD like capabilities within business applications but it is only recently that the required database and software infrastructure has made this possible. The talk will use a live example deployed by Verizon to look at the business reasons behind this drive and outline the technical challenges to illustrate the benefits.
10:50am - 11:30am
Migrating to the Smallworld Office Suite
Joe Burt, Senior Systems Architect, GE Energy
This presentation provides an overview of the Smallworld Office Suite for Electric and Gas utilities. The data model and functionality of Smallworld Office Suite will be reviewed. The methodology for migrating existing customers to the OfficeSuite will be explored through various customer examples.
11:30am - 12:30pm Lunch
12:40pm - 1:20pm
Lessons Learned in Building an Enterprise GIS
Stephen Baker, Manager Network Inventory - GNIS
Cox Communications, Inc.
Cox Communications, Inc. provides facilities-based voice, video and data communications services to approximately 6.7 million customers, operating 18 systems in major cities, and is the nation’s third-largest cable television provider. Cox relies upon its network infrastructure to deliver services to its customers. Understanding where the assets are located and how they are being used is critical for driving both revenue growth and cost reduction. Cox chose to build upon its current Geographic Network Information System (GNIS) inventory deployment to implement the next generation GIS. This presentation will review the key objectives and the lessons learned in this implementation.
1:30 pm - 2:10 pm
Distribution Integrity Management on Smallworld GDO
Steve Shell, Senior Software Engineer, Opvantek
Tony Sileo, Product Manager, Opvantek
GE Energy’s partners can now deliver valuable business applications that are preconfigured for industry standard data models like GDO. The Distribution Integrity Management regulations and guidance materials will clearly require a significant geospatial contribution to the overall compliance plan. This presentation will provide an update on the impending DIMP regulations, and will then describe and demonstrate a commercial Distribution Integrity Decision Support solution – Optimain® DS, pre-configured to run with the standard Smallworld GDO data model.
2:20pm – 3:00pm
Mobile Integration with PowerOn Using .Net Web Services
David Cottrell, Principal Consultant, GE Energy
Jason Iaccio, Principal Consultant, GE Energy
Historically, mobile integration with PowerOn could be described as "challenging" on a number of different levels. These levels can be broken down into the business process layer and the technical implementation layer. The business process layer will vary by organization. In this paper we have outlined the steps taken at PPL to standardize the implementation layer using SOAP Web Services.
Track 2
9:10am - 9:50am
Turning Your GIS into a Data Warehouse with Historical Data
Paul Meester, Director, RealWorld Systems
Ken Korsmit, Principal, Spatial Eye b.v.
By adding historical data to GIS applications, the painfully collected and carefully maintained data gets added value. This paper will outline how historical data can be added to a GIS application and what can be done with this data. It will focus on turning this data into a data warehouse, which opens the door for Business Intelligence like analysis and improved Asset Management.
The context of the examples used in the paper is the domain of Utility and Telecoms GIS applications, used to manage the network assets of those companies.
10:00am - 10:40am
The Windy City Diet: A 42% Fat Reduction with a Fitness Index Gain of 147% in 11 Months – Upgrading a Multi-thousand Alternative Design Manager Installation to Smallworld 4.1
Jon Bresler, Senior Consultant, Ubisense Inc.
A joint Exelon/Ubisense team successfully upgraded Exelon’s highly complex Smallworld installation, one of the oldest in North America, consisting of 400 Smallworld seats, very extensive code customizations, and thousands of alternatives in several of their datasets that are integrated into their Smallworld Design Manager implementation. The Exelon managed team, composed of Exelon technical resources partnered with Ubisense Consulting technical resources successfully upgraded Exelon’s 3.21 core Smallworld and 2.1 Smallworld Design Manager systems to 4.1 core Smallworld and 4.1 Smallworld Design Manager respectively. The upgrade and rollout were completed on schedule and within budget. This presentation will cover the following aspects of the upgrade including approach, processes used, the evolution of those processes throughout the project life cycle, and lessons learned.
10:50am - 11:30am
Reconciliation of Data Back into Core Spatial Technology Based Applications
Alexander Plomp, Managing Director, Tensing
John Leeuwenburg, International Sales Manger, Tensing
This presentation will discuss the use of mobile solutions for updating data in GE Smallworld. With advancing wireless communications and the growing sophistication of mobile mapping solutions, data capture in the field is a reality. GE Smallworld is not a static database, but a transient entity that needs frequent refreshment to be relevant for users.
11:30am - 12:40pm Lunch
12:40pm - 1:20pm
GIS: A Perspective from the Conference
Sue Whiting, Principal Consultant, Ubisense Consulting Inc.
Use this time to recap what was said and heard at the conference, not only from an industry perspective, but more so on how GIS is evolving. Disruptors to an industry can force an industry to either collapse or expand. In the case of GIS it has expanded. It is now considered a mainstream technology, Location industries as well as the gaming industry have embraced GIS. Technologies like Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth has made GIS users out of anyone that uses their sites. Traditional relational databases have also jumped in. Now we have the likes of Oracle Spatial and Microsoft SQL Server “Katmai” to serve our data not only in 2D but soon to be (if not already present) 3D. How do we stay on board with this? Do we also choose to embrace? In closing we’ll share some of our thoughts and how we believe the disrupters are enablers and how they could possibly be used in your business.
1:30pm - 2:10pm
Mobile Applications in Smallworld Environments
Charles Marlin, Consultant, Graphic Technologies, Inc.
Many utilities have deployed mobile mapping projects based on Smallworld GIS, and this presentation describes a few of them. In all cases, field technicians can find addresses, intersections, and facilities much more quickly than with paper maps. A gas company supplements these basic capabilities with a valve isolation application. At a large electric utility, managers saw a significant contribution to business continuity. At a large electric cooperative, field technicians have embraced mobile technology with enthusiasm.
2:20pm - 3:00pm
Cathodic Protection in GIS: How and Why?
Langley Willauer, CTO, InMaps
Robert Dorau, Team Lead, Yankee GIS, Northeast Utilities
Corrosion departments at natural gas distribution companies often have little to do with GIS. They keep their own maps, collect electrical readings, and have highly specialized work. And yet, when utilities tie Cathodic Protection (CP) information into their GIS, many benefits accrue. Born of regulatory necessity, and improved by several years of evolution, we describe a successful integration project. We bring both the managerial and technical perspectives and include future plans for further integration.