UK’s Geospatial Commission estimates ROI of £30 benefit for every £1 invested in National Underground Asset Register

5 November 2021 Geoff Zeiss

It is estimated that accidental underground utility strikes cost the UK economy £2.4 billion every year. A top priority of the the Geospatial Commission, an agency of the UK government tasked with extracting more value […]

Revision to Australian AS 5488 Classification of Subsurface Utility Information

1 November 2021 Geoff Zeiss

Recently national standards relating to underground infrastructure have been revised or are being revised. These include the US ASCE 38 with a new title Standard Guideline for Investigating and Documenting Existing Utilities, the UK PAS […]

A user platform for digital twins of underground utility infrastructure

26 October 2021 Geoff Zeiss

The foundation for digital twins of cities, regions and nations are digital geometric models. Developing these models have become a priority for a number of jurisdictions around the world. To date the emphasis has been […]

Pilot project to create national map of UK energy infrastructure launched

25 October 2021 Geoff Zeiss

A proof-of-concept project to develop a National Energy Systems Map (NESM) has been launched by the UK’s electricity and gas networks. The pilot project will give customers information about energy network assets, where those assets […]

Grid resilience demands we understand our infrastructure above and below ground

21 October 2021 Geoff Zeiss

Jay Cadman, SVP Enterprise, IQGeo As the glue interlinking everything from the industrial ‘Internet of Things’ to smart grids and underpinning the real-time social and economic services of the future, full fiber and 5G is […]

Digitalizing the as-builting process essential for accurate underground utility mapping

14 September 2021 Geoff Zeiss

Over the past decades electric, gas, water, and telecom utilities have poured millions into digitalizing the graphic design/work management and GIS/records management processes. But in spite of this the decades-old as-builting process remains marred by […]

Build phase of UK’s National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) announced

7 September 2021 Geoff Zeiss

What began as a grassroots initiative that brought together network operators and local government agencies in the North East of England has evolved into the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), a national program supported by […]

Gyro mapping has many advantages over other technologies in mapping underground utilities

1 September 2021 Geoff Zeiss

An innovative technology that is being increasingly applied to locating existing pipe networks or those installed by way of horizontal drilling is inertial or gyro locating. Using this technology, it is possible to map networks […]

Major advance in capturing survey-grade location information for exposed underground utilities

24 August 2021 Geoff Zeiss

A major gap in the construction process is the unavailability of reliable information about the location of underground utilities for civil engineering construction projects such as highways, railways and pipelines. Mapping underground infrastructure is benefiting […]

Mobile + cloud solutions are revolutionizing the capture and sharing of reliable underground infrastructure location data

17 August 2021 Geoff Zeiss

Two states mandate subsurface utility engineering surveys during pre-construction

2 August 2021 Geoff Zeiss

A major gap in the construction process is the unavailability of reliable information about the location of underground utilities during the design stage of civil engineering construction projects such as highways and pipelines. All states […]

Latest statistics reveal reducing damage to underground infrastructure remains a challenge

29 July 2021 Geoff Zeiss

The ORCGA has just released the 2020 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report. The report is the result of the efforts made by the ORCGA to collect and compile data about the occurrence of events […]

Democratizing reality capture for underground pipeline and utility infrastructure

19 July 2021 Geoff Zeiss

A revolution is happening in how we map new underground infrastructure. Instead of the paper as-builts submitted after the completion of construction for a new pipeline or other infrastructure, network owners may now request a […]

France’s DT DICT system effective in reducing damage to underground utilities during construction

12 July 2021 Geoff Zeiss

Since 2013 France has implemented a national damage prevention system that requires achieving 40 cm accuracy for the location of all critical underground network infrastructure prior to beginning construction. Annual statistics reveal a decreasing trend […]

UK’s bottom-up/top-down approach to creating a voluntary National Underground Asset Registry

6 July 2021 Geoff Zeiss

Many jurisidictions are recognizing the human and economic cost of not knowing the location of underground utilities and other infrastructure and are looking at legislative, regulatory, technological, business practice and other measures to find ways […]

UK BIM adoption survey reveals facilities/asset management trails other disciplines

5 July 2021 Geoff Zeiss

The UK Government as part of its building information modeling (BIM) initiative has said repeatedly that it expects the big payoff of a digital model will be during operations and maintenance, which typically represents 80% […]

Accelerating capital investment in new technology for mapping underground infrastructure

1 July 2021 Geoff Zeiss

The $10 trillion global construction industry is facing a crisis. For many of the world’s advanced economies productivity in the construction sector has been stagnant for years. According to a McKinsey study whereas the average […]

Canadian government’s approach to managing underground infrastructure on federal land

29 June 2021 Geoff Zeiss

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is responsible for procurement and real property management for federal departments and agencies. There are about a hundred departments and agencies in the Federal government, of which 23 are […]

One-call centre in England reports inaccurate and missing plans a leading cause of underground utility damage

28 June 2021 Geoff Zeiss

In the UK the total number of incidents of utility strikes every year is unknown. Statistics on underground utility strikes such as those collected by the Common Ground Alliance in North America are not available. […]

Ontario adopts policy to reduce underground utility risk on public construction projects through collaboration

23 June 2021 Geoff Zeiss

Utility locates and relocation work have historically been the cause of construction delays on public construction projects, particularly in urban areas with dense population and the commensurate underground utility and telecom infrastructure. With the massive […]

Between the Poles – The Geoff Zeiss Archives