One of the most important goals of utilities in this time of aging and shrinking workforces is improving the productivity of operations staff.  Many utilities are finding that many tasks that used to require sending staff into the field can now be done much more efficiently in the office.  I’ve blogged previously about obligue high resolution imagery from Pictometry, which has just released a plug-in for AutoCAD Map 3D.  

At the Utility Symposium at Autodesk University last week, Anthony Fassero, co-founder and co-CEO of Earthmine, which has also developed a plug-in for AutoCAD Map 3D, gave an introduction to Earthmine’s technology and how utilities and others are using it to reduce costs and improve the quality of their asset information. 

Technology

Earthmine relies on a unique stereo-panoroamic imaging system that is mounted on a truck that can drive at upto 120 km/hr.  Earthmine captures images in 3D every 5 ot 10 meters.  Unlike Google Streetview or Microsoft Streetside, with Earthmine every pixel is captured as a 3D point.  Combined with a GPS/IMU it can provide locational accuracy of about a meter and relative distance precision in the range of 2 to 50 cm.

Applications for utilities

Some of the areas where utilities are applying the technology include electric distribution asset inventories such as distribution assets and substations (poles, transformers, attachments) where Earthmine can be used in place of hand-held GPS surveys.  Another area is pole inventories, where the imagery can be used to identify attachments such as transformers, insulators, cross arms, and other equipment.  It can also be used to capture line lengths, line sag, and line type (primary, secondary, transmission), and line clearances.  Vegetation management is another important area, where Earthmine’s 3D imagery can be used to compile a tree inventory.  Joint use (city lights, telco, cable, fiber) can also be captured.  Imagery can be used for situational awareness for outages and emergencies by providing a common visual interface to assets.

ROI

Anthony offered an example of  where by investing in Earthmine to capture 100,000 miles of roads in a utility service area, the estimated ROI for savings from data capture and conversion, joint use, and vegetation management is estimated to be 5 to 7 months depending on how much of the electric distribution equipment is aerial.