The new PAS 256 standard “Buried services – Collection, recording and sharing of location information  data“, which complements the existing PAS 128 standard, was launched last night at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London.  It is available at the BSI shop.

In the UK the total length of buried infrastructure is in excess of 4 million kilometres. The new PAS provides best practices for the collection, recording and sharing of location information data relating to underground assets and any associated above ground assets; decommissioned assets; and abandoned assets.The PAS sets out a consistent, accessible data protocol to enable effective recording and sharing of the location, state, and nature of buried assets, and recommends how existing asset  records should be updated, recorded and collated. The PAS also covers the gathering of geospatial data using absolute or relative accuracy, plus associated evidence such as photographic evidence.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has announced the initiation of a three-phase project to develop interoperability standards for underground infrastructure. The underground infrastructure data interoperability project will take two and a half years to complete and will involve the collaboration of many cities, utilities, and engineering and technology companies.

In the U.S. it is estimated that an underground utility is hit about every minute.  Underground utility conflicts and relocations are the number one cause for project delays during road construction.  Assuming the average cost of underground strikes is roughly $1000 per strike, the estimated total cost to the U.S. economy is $1.5 trillion annually.