GPS and Barcode of Underground Natural Gas Assets

Citizens Energy Group, a natural gas pipeline operator, piloted a GIS (geographic information system) based solution to collect barcode information, create barcode/QR codes, and capture high accuracy GPS locations of underground assets. This paper will provide details on the solution, share lessons learned, and present the next steps. Compliance with the natural gas federal rules has driven part of the solution. This paper will, at a high level, touch on those rules. Then, the paper will discuss the approach taken and how the solution meets those requirements for both distribution and transmission pipelines. Once there is a basic understanding of what approach was taken, this paper will then jump into some of the details of the solution. That includes the GIS based mobile solution, and hardware for the mobile solution to include tablet, GPS unit, barcode reader, and QR code creation. This paper will continue to follow the workflow and discuss field data collection and the approach to crew roll out and training. Now that the data has been collected, this paper will then move into the details of document storage, retrieval, and GIS editing. At the end of this paper, we will discuss lessons learned as it relates to the GIS solution development, hardware selection, data storage, and field crew feedback. The paper will then conclude with next steps for the solution.