Powercor improves network design and cuts site visit costs
Jan 2023
Improving network design, boosting GIS accuracy, and cutting site visit costs was possible with Nearmap.
Jan 2023
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“By implementing Nearmap as a layer inside Google Earth Enterprise, we can rectify GIS data, and accurately locate where our poles are in real-world terms.”
Phil SouthbySenior Drafting OfficerThe challenge
Ensuring a safe and reliable service
In view of the expanse and geographic diversity of its electricity distribution network, on the one hand, and its commitment to continuously improving service quality for a growing population, on the other, Powercor was looking to enhance the accuracy of its geospatial data.
By utilising high-resolution aerial imagery, as opposed to significantly lower-grade satellite images, into its GIS and AutoCAD systems, it would be able to more precisely identify the location of infrastructure such as power poles and streetlights. This would reduce the requirement for site visits and improve the design of network projects.
Furthermore, Powercor aimed to increase the productivity of staff in the field, such as lineworkers, by supporting mobile access to accurate site information.
“By integrating current, high-resolution, georeferenced Nearmap imagery with our core GIS and AutoCAD technologies we can rectify errors in our GIS, produce more accurate designs, and locate where our infrastructure, including power poles and streetlights, actually sits in relation to real-world objects, such as kerb lines, assets, buildings and vegetation. In fact, we use Nearmap to verify much of our data.”
Phil Southby
Senior Drafting Officer,
Senior Drafting Officer,
The solution
Seamless integration, precise data
Powercor integrated Nearmap technology with its core GIS and AutoCAD systems to optimise the value of its geospatial information resources.
“We rely on nearmap to supply on-the-ground information, which, because it’s up-to-date—not like the up to five years old images for regional areas that we used to use—enables us to cut down on site visits, and save a lot of time on the visits we do make.”, said Phil Southby, a senior drafting officer with Powercor Australia.
With Nearmap feeding seamlessly into its AutoCAD, Powercor’s drafting team designs straight over the top of georeferenced aerial photographic surveys.
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The impact
A single source of truth driving efficiency
This has led to significant improvements in the designs it produces for network projects, providing project stakeholders with more detailed information, such as actual ground distances and coordinates found in the real world. In fact, such is the level of detail Nearmap supports that Powercor uses it to verify much of its data.
Before deploying Nearmap, Powercor’s drafting team relied on a variety of resources, including existing drawings, its GIS system, and whatever survey information, often dated, was available. Nearmap has enabled it to effectively integrate different technologies and generate more accurate information.
“It’s such a great tool I don’t hesitate to recommend it to the contractors we work with. It allows them to connect with existing assets, access timely and reliable information, and save time and money by performing tasks they would otherwise have had to do themselves.”
Phil Southby
Senior Drafting Officer,
Senior Drafting Officer,
Moreover, it is not just Powercor’s draftspeople who use Nearmap . As an intuitive technology, with minimal to zero user-training requirement, it is used more broadly across the organisation — increasing user engagement and reducing design error.
Indeed, the company plans to deploy it as a platform for increasing the productivity of lineworkers by providing clearer, more accurate site information, which they can access on their iPads.
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