Advances in utility location
Dec 28, 2009
Advances in underground utility location could mean enormous savings – in economic, environmental and social terms. Here Jo Parker from Watershed Associates discusses some of the latest technological research and development emerging from the UK.
The direct cost of trenching and reinstatement work of UK highways for utilities is in excess of £1.5 billion per year. Part of this is attributable to holes excavated in the wrong location and damage to third party assets, which is estimated to be as high as £150 million. Although direct costs are high they are significantly lower than the societal costs, such as delays to road users, disruption to businesses and environmental damage which may be as high as £5 billion per year.
The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) announced in 2004 that it would establish a program as an initial attempt to tackle these issues. It organised an ‘ideas factory’, whereby invited academics, industrialists and EPSRC got together in the autumn of 2004 to review the problems and agree priority research topics. Out of this a £1 million research program was identified with four projects funded;
- Buried asset location, identification and condition assessment – a multi-sensor approach;
- Enhanced methods of detection of buried assets;
- Mapping and positioning; and
- Knowledge and data integration.
The final two projects have laid the foundation for a further project funded by the DTI, ‘Visualising Integrated Information on Buried Assets to Reduce Streetworks’ (VISTA).
This project, lead by UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) brings together the University of Nottingham and the University of Leeds as well as 20 other organisations including various utility companies, highways organisations, contractors, consultants and survey companies.
The research conducted by the University of Nottingham is through their Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG). The team has developed techniques that allow satellite technology to be used in densely built up areas with ‘urban canyons’ – places with insufficient visible sky to provide sufficient satellite sightings. The team also used laser technology to identify pipe materials and developed an ‘augmented reality’ system, which overlays the buried asset network on the surface background.
The University of Leeds has investigated the various data issues related to buried asset records and has developed a schema which can be used to allow organisations to access varied digital records via the web.
This has required drawing up a core list of attributes which is common to all data sets and a thesaurus to translate the variety of asset names into common terms. Three trials have been carried out by different data organisations, all of which have successfully made integrated data available via the web. Plans are now being developed for a wider trial in Scotland with a view to developing a national system there.
Traffic management regulations are likely to require all utilities to improve the information they currently hold about their buried assets. This has been supported by the results of a review of the current process carried out recently by the National Underground Asset Group (NUAG), a group of stakeholders from utility companies, local authorities, contractors, government departments and industry organisations, which was established in 2005. NUAG’s role is to fully represent all industry views to support the Department for Transport’s decision making associated with the Traffic Management Act. Acting under the Department’s governance the group are currently developing and implementing standards on recording, storing and sharing underground asset data across Great Britain. The research described above will facilitate this and help ensure that any excavation carried out is minimised. It will also allow the UK to become a leader throughout the world in the field of managing buried assets.
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Watershed Associates
20008-0280 Leighton Buzzard, UK
Phone:
+44 (0)1525 234068