Between the Poles – The Geoff Zeiss Archives Archives - Page 8 of 126

Map of underground utilities available within one day of a one-call information request

3 December 2019 Geoff Zeiss

On 30 July 2004 at a construction site in Ghislenghien, Belgium a one metre diameter natural gas pipeline ruptured resulting in 24 fatalities, including five fire-fighters, a police officer and five employees, plus 132 injured […]

Burgeoning market for shareable subsurface geotechnical information

25 November 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Unforeseen ground conditions are a major cause of delays in construction projects. This year, at Bentley Systems’ Year in Infrastructure Conference, Roger Chandler, Director of Geotechnical Information Management, announced OpenGround, a collection of applications for […]

Integrating 3D models and GIS for underground asset management

20 November 2019 Geoff Zeiss

I had the opportunity to attend the 1Spatial Smarter Data Smarter World conference in London. A presentation by Seb Lessware, CTO of 1Spatial, of Realworld 4D for BIM and facilities management demonstrated an impressive integration […]

Mapping underground utilities required for public civil engineering projects in Colorado

18 November 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Colorado’s statutes for the prevention of damage to underground utilities were assessed by the federal pipeline authority PHMSA in 2014 and found to be below standard in two areas. As a result the Colorado General […]

Excavation damage remains a leading cause of serious pipeline accidents

13 November 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Pipeline incidents (gas distribution, gas transmission, gas gathering and hazardous liquid) resulting from excavation damage 2005-2019 Gas and hazardous pipeline operators are required to report all pipeline incidents to Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration […]

Breakthrough broadens adoption of GPR in 3D mapping of underground utilities

8 November 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Traditional output from a GPR scanner showing hyperbolas reflected from underground utilities The major inhibitor to broader use of ground penetrating radar for detecting the location of underground utilities is the difficulty in interpreting radar […]

First substation built using full life-cycle BIM construction goes live one month early

5 November 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Hubei Electric Engineering Corporation (HEEC) was this year’s winner of the Bentley Year in Infrastructure Communications and Utilities award. One of the key objectives of the ground-breaking CNY 120 million (US$16.8 million) Miluo Western 220kV […]

Mapping underground utilities prior to design helps highway construction project complete on schedule and below budget

1 November 2019 Geoff Zeiss

The winner of the Bentley Year in Infrastructure 2019 Roads and Highways award is a remarkable project by Foth Infrastructure and Environment LLC for a $38.9 million highway revitalization project in Cedar Falls, Iowa. This […]

Ground-breaking initiative by Colorado DOT for capturing and sharing location of underground utilities

29 October 2019 Geoff Zeiss

According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) missing or inaccurate location information about underground utilities is a major source of highway construction project delays and budget overruns. Some jurisdictions have taken advantage of their legal […]

New OpenGround product for sharing underground geotechnical data achieves over 500,000 boreholes

28 October 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Unforeseen ground conditions are a major cause of delays in construction projects. This year at the Year in Infrastructure event Bentley announced OpenGround a collection of applications for collecting, sharing, visualizing, analyzing, and accessing geotechnical […]

Developing a roadmap for a reliable map of underground utilities in Singapore

21 October 2019 Geoff Zeiss

In 2017, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), Singapore-ETH Centre, and the Geomatics Department of the City of Zürich started the Digital Underground project as a first step toward achieving an accurate, current, and complete map […]

Accelerating progress in open spatial data infrastructure at the municipal level in Canada

20 October 2019 Geoff Zeiss

At the SDI Summit in Quebec City Gordon Plunkett offered an interesting perspective on the penetration of open spatial data infrastructure (SDI) at the municipal level in Canada. Local governments are traditionally responsible for local […]

Reliable statistics provide a foundation for improving pipeline safety

14 October 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Pipeline incidents (gas distribution, gas transmission, gas gathering and hazardous liquid) resulting from excavation damage 2005-2019 “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” (Peter Drucker) is a maxim that applies to airline accidents, […]

Open source geospatial technology enables cost-effective solutions in many domains

7 October 2019 Geoff Zeiss

At the GITA Pipeline Forum in Houston, an enthralling presentation by Rich Henry of Pivvot, a recent startup that builds solutions for pipeline routing and other applications, highlighted how open source geospatial technology is transforming […]

New regulations for pipeline safety creates opportunities for geospatial professionals

4 October 2019 Geoff Zeiss

New federal regulations in the U.S. will likely more than double the areas where higher levels of pipeline integrity maintenance standards are mandated by federal legislation. Identifying these areas is more complex creating opportunities for […]

Comparison of metrics and trends for commercial airline accidents and underground utility damage

30 September 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Underground utility infrastructure represents a substantial risk to workers and the public. Most damage to underground infrastructure is the result of construction excavation, recent examples include Murrieta CA, Durham NC, and San Francisco CA. But […]

BIM and geospatial for facilities management is penetrating construction

18 September 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Typically at BIMForum events, the audience is composed of architects, engineers and construction contractors, with the odd owner, but rarely facilities management (FM) folks. At this year’s BIMForum 2019 conference in St Louis several talks […]

Is it ethical to bury dangerous infrastructure in the public right-of-way without accurate maps ?

10 September 2019 Geoff Zeiss

This is a readable version of a video that I submitted to the EthicalGEO site. Without accurate maps of where underground infrastructure is located, every construction project has the potential to become a disaster site. […]

Ground penetrating radar market estimated at US$ 493 million in 2019

3 September 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Utility locating involves remote-sensing and safe excavation technologies for identifying, detecting, and labeling the underground utility infrastructure including telecommunication, storm and sanitary sewers, water, electricity distribution, natural gas, cable television, fiber optics, heating and others. […]

Quantum sensors may aid in detecting underground infrastructure

2 September 2019 Geoff Zeiss

Interesting research in the U.K. into quantum sensors. The UK Treasury has just committed £94 million to the National Quantum Technologies Program, which comprises four Quantum Technology Hubs across the UK. One of the areas […]