Between the Poles

The Geoff Zeiss Utilities & Infrastructure Panel at 2023 GoGeomatics Expo

A panel entitled 'The Geoff Zeiss Utilities & Infrastructure Panel' is taking place in honor of Geoff Zeiss, who passed away in 2022, at the GoGeomatics Expo in Calgary this November 6-8, 2023.

Attendees at the GoGeomatics Expo, are looking forward to hearing about some of Geoff's favorite topics in the geomatics sector. 

Geoff Zeiss Utilities & Infrastructure Panel

The panelists will examine the business case for Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) data, emphasizing its benefits, ASCE recommendations, regulatory implications in different states and legislative requirements. They will delve into a discussion of geospatial standards, specifically ASCE 38-22, ASCE 75-22, and CSA 75-250, focusing on their differences, potential alignment, and their impact on data quality. In addition look at the implementation of NATRF2022 and NAPGD 2022, with a particular focus on changes in datums, alignment across the Canada-U.S. border, and the dynamic nature of the NAPGD2022 geoid.

The moderator and panelists include, Peter Srajer Chief Scientist for ProStar, Steve Slusarenko of the Canadian Underground Infrastructure Register, Ophir Wainer, UESI Canada, Angus Botting with GeoScan, and Gord Reynolds, Vice President, Infrastructure Ontario.

Geoff Zeiss Urban Infrastructure Mapping Fund

Peter Pulsifer will present the Geoff Zeiss Urban Infrastructure Mapping Fund, which was established to develop effective and sustainable urban infrastructure through research and development supporting urban information systems. This talk outlines the initial goals of the fund envisioned by Dr. Zeiss. A framework is presented that outlines a comprehensive systems approach to developing a research program that informs a diverse set of themes ranging from subsurface mapping, to 4D modeling, to the mapping the economic and social dimensions of infrastructure.

Please join us as we continue Geoff's work and relaunch Between the Poles for the future.

Two states mandate subsurface utility engineering surveys during pre-construction

A major gap in the construction process is the unavailability of reliable information about the location of underground utilities during the design stage of civil engineering construction projects such as highways and pipelines. All states and provinces in North America have one call legislation designed to reduce underground utility damage during actual excavation, but the legislation does not provide for making underground records available to inform the design phase of construction projects. Colorado and Pennsylvania are the first state/provincial jurisdictions in North America to mandate subsurface utility engineering surveys (SUE) during pre-construction.

Making SUE surveys mandatory for certain public construction projects requires changes to the state one call legislation.  For projects for which a SUE survey is required, there is an additional information requirement on network owners and operators.  Before beginning design, the project owner is required to contact the one call centre, who notifies the relevant network operators who then havten days to provide their best available records of the equipment they have in the proposed project area.  On completion of the SUE survey the collected data and report must be provided to an organization which is able to ensure this data store and shared with other construction stakeholders.

Colorado

In 2018 a bipartisan bill to revise Colorado's one call statute was passed in the state legislature. The revised statute (Colorado Revised Statues, Title 9, Article 1.5 Excavation Safety (C.R.S 9-1.5 )) became law in August.  First and foremost among the provisions of the new statute is that it makes subsurface utility engineering (SUE) surveys mandatory on certain public civil engineering projects. There are four criteria for a project to require a SUE survey; it must be a public project, it must be primarily a horizontal project, not a vertical project such as a building, excavation must exceed two feet in depth and the site must encompass a contiguous 1000 square feet, and the project must be designed by a professional engineer. Based on these criteria more than 95% of CDOT projects meet the requirement for a mandatory SUE survey.

The new legislation requires the project owner, CDOT or another agency, to send an information request to the Colorado one call centre for all projects that require a SUE survey. After being notified by the one call center utility owners are required to provide their best available records of their infrastructure in the project area within 10 business days. The project owner is then required to conduct a SUE survey at their own expense and provide the results showing the location of all underground infrastructure and assigned the ASCE 38 quality level to CDOT. Importantly, the SUE document must be stamped (signed) by a PLS or PE to ensure accountability. Standard SUE practice is to achieve at least ASCE Quality Level B for all underground utilities. In the case of conflicts with a new gravity-fed systems it is expected that test holes will be dug to locate and identify conflicts with existing utilities. Furthermore Colorado became an ASCE 38 state and the law requires ASCE 38 to be used on SUE surveys. Currently that means 38-02, but in the future that will become ASCE 38-21 when that version is released.

Pennsylvania

The project owner is responsible for initiating all design projects that will require excavation or demolition. The use of SUE or other similar techniques is required on large or complex projects costing $400,000 or more.

A designer notifies the one call centre by providing the scope of the plan or development with enough detail to allow the facility owners to provide the approximate locations of their lines in the proposed work area. Two types of design notifications are possible.

• Preliminary design: For designers requesting line and facility information more than 90 business days before the final design is to be completed.
• Final design: For designers which are not less that 10, nor more than 90 business days in advance of the final design.

On completion of the SUE survey the project owner is responsible for furnishing the pertinent data obtained through subsurface utility engineering to the One Call system. To assist underground stakeholders with managing their projects and  the associated SUE data, Pennsylvania  811 provides a free web-based application called Coordinate PA (CPA) that provides a repository for underground stakeholders to house and share their project information  and SUE data.  It is designed to help project owners coordinate their projects with other  project owners, designers, excavators, and  facility owners..

PA Act 50 of 2017

The original SUE requirement in Pennsylvania dates from 2006. In 2017 Pennsylvania adopted a new Underground Utility Line Protection Law (PA One Call Law) that requires the following:

It shall be the duty of each project owner who engages in excavation or demolition work to be done within this Commonwealth:

• To utilize sufficient quality levels of subsurface utility engineering or other similar techniques whenever practicable to properly determine the existence and positions of underground facilities when designing known complex projects having an estimated cost of four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) or more.
• To furnish the pertinent data obtained through subsurface utility engineering to the One Call System in a mutually agreeable format.

Furthermore network owners and operators are required to

• Not more than ten business days after receipt of a request from a designer who identifies the work site of excavation or demolition work for which he is preparing a drawing, to initially respond to his request for information as to the position and type of the facility owner's lines at such work site based on the information currently in the facility owner's possession or to mark the plans which have been provided to it by the designer by field location or by another method agreed to by the designer, excavator and facility owner, or their agent.

The one call system is required to

• Pursuant to policies adopted by the One Call System's board of directors, to provide a secure repository for and access to subsurface utility engineering data received from project owners to affected facility owner members.

Colorado leads in mandating subsurface utility engineering (SUE) surveys for public civil engineering projects

A major gap in the construction process is the unavailability of reliable information about the location of underground utilities during the design stage of civil engineering construction projects such as highways and pipelines. All states and provinces in North America have one call legislation designed to reduce underground utility damage during actual excavation, but the legislation does not provide for making underground records available to inform the design phase of construction projects. Colorado is the first state/provincial jurisdiction in North America and one of the first in the world to mandate a subsurface utility engineering survey (SUE) at the pre-construction stage. At the Canadian Underground Forum in April, Rob Martindale, Utilities Program Manager at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and a Professional Land Surveyor, described the process by which SUE surveys became law in Colorado.

Several jurisdictions around the world have undertaken initiatives to integrate underground infrastructure location data and make it available to all stakeholders. Among the leaders in this effort are the National Underground Asset Registry (NUAR) project in the UK, Singapore's Digital Underground initiative, and the State of Colorado. While the UK and Singapore are in the initial stages of implementation, Colorado has already enacted and implemented legislation and regulations which are transforming underground infrastructure location data for public civil engineering projects across the state.

Mapping underground infrastructure is benefiting from accelerating innovations in technology in detecting, locating, capturing and sharing subsurface utility location data. Experience has shown that enabling these technical advances to permeate and transform business practices in the entire construction industry requires government intervention. The key stakeholders in civil engineering construction are government transportation agencies, utility regulatory agencies, utility and telecom network owners and operators, civil engineering consultants and construction contractors.

Rob Martindale is responsible for improving CDOT's subsurface utility mapping program and utility data management systems. He has been involved from the beginning in the legislative and regulatory processes that are transforming underground infrastructure data in Colorado and is able to provide an insider's perspective on how this process unfolded in Colorado.

As anyone who is involved in civil construction knows, the historical problem with locating underground infrastructure is that utility company records (aka network documentation) are inaccurate, old or outdated, lost, or simply just never existed to begin with. The records that do exist are often inconsistent and the quality of the data is unknown. Records are kept in different data models and formats, typically as CAD drawings, GIS files, paper copies, and PDFs. Some drawings are schematics rather than records of actual utility location. Virtually all of the data is 2D so depth is unknown. Another complicating problem is that in general each utility uses a different base map making it difficult to integrate data from different utilities on a single map. These issues make compiling a reliable map of underground infrastructure in preparation for a civil construction project a challenge. The result is that underground utilities are ignored until excavation begins. As a consequence according to the Federal Highway Administratiion (FHWA) underground utilities are the biggest cause of delays in highway construction projects.

Recognizing the risks associated with underground utilities, CDOT could see that one way to reduce risk was by enabling more reliable and efficient subsurface utility mapping. Since the state is the legal custodian of the public right of way, it had the power to enforce regulations for utility and telecoms with network facilities in the right of way. To CDOT having more reliable location data and more comprehensive attribute data about each utility such as size of pipes and cables and types of material would make for more efficient and productive coordination with utility owners. To achieve this CDOT's vision was a single platform where all underground location and attribute data would be accessible to all stakeholders working in Colorado on current and future civil construction projects.

New legislation revising Colorado's one call statute

In 2015 the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) conducted an assessment of the Colorado one call system that resulted in a report that identified the lack of an enforcement mechanism as a major impediment to effective prevention of damage to underground infrastructure in the Colorado one call legislation. The PHMSA review had implications in a number of areas including future Federal funding. Then in April 2017, there was a gas explosion in Firestone, Colorado that resulted in fatalities and attracted a high degree of public attention. Recognition that that the incident could have been prevented further prioritized the issue for the Colorado legislature. The result was growing pressure from many construction stakeholders including the Colorado Contractors Association, the American Council of Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and CDOT which ultimately attracted the attention of politicians. The initiative was taken up and made a top bipartisan priority by two representatives in the Colorado legislature, Senator Ray Scott, Republican, and Senator Kerry Donovan, Democrat. In 2018 they co-sponsored a bill to revise Colorado's one call statute. The revised statute was signed by the Governor on May 25^th and became law in August, 2018.

The legislation included several important provisions. First and foremost the new law required subsurface utility engineering (SUE) surveys on most public civil engineering projects. It requires the project owner, CDOT or another agency, to notify the Colorado one call center for all projects that require a SUE survey. Furthermore after being notified by the one call center utility owners are required to provide their best available records of their infrastructure in the project area within a 10 business days. The project owner is then required to conduct a SUE survey at their own expense and provide the results showing the location of all underground infrastructure and assigned the ASCE 38 quality level to CDOT. Importantly, the SUE document must be stamped (signed) by a PLS or PE to ensure accountability. Standard SUE practice is to achieve at least ASCE Quality Level B for all underground utilities. In the case of conflicts with a new gravity-fed systems it is expected that test holes will be dug to locate and identify conflicts with existing utilities. Furthermore Colorado became an ASCE 38 state. The law requires ASCE 38 to be used on SUE surveys. Currently that means 38-02, but when the requirement will be ASCE 38-21 when that version is released.

For excavation the Colorado 811 notification process was also modified. It allows the utilities two days to visit the site and mark utilities on the ground before excavation begins.  In addition the new law mandated that all newly installed utilities must be electronically locatable.

Another important provision of the new law was the creation of a one call enforcement mechanism. This was in response to the PHMSA assessment of of Colorado's original one call legislation. The new legislation created an Underground Damage Prevention Safety Commission with the power to levy penalties on utilities that were non-compliant with Colorado's one call requirements. For example, if a utility company fails to provide its best available records within 10 business days, the commission is empowered to levy a fine of up to $75,000.

Integrating SUE into the construction lifecyle

Beginning in August 2018, CDOT adopted a five stage utility project delivery process that includes SUE activities and utility coordination processes.

In the planning stage a design scoping review (DSR) determines whether the project requires a SUE survey. There are four criteria for a project to require a SUE survey; it must be a public project, it must be primarily a horizontal project, not a vertical project such as a building, excavation must exceed two feet in depth and the site must encompass a contiguous 1000 square feet, and the project must be designed by a professional engineer. Based on these criteria more than 95% of CDOT projects meet the requirement for a mandatory SUE survey. In addition at this stage Colorado one call (CO 811) must be notified and utility owners are required to provide their best available records within 10 days. Also in the planning stage a SUE vendor i selected.

In the 0 - 30 % design stage an initial SUE review is conducted to identify all underground infrastructure to ASCE Quality Level D, C, or B. At this stage the SUE survey involves records research, geophysical investigation, professional engineering judgment, knowledge of construction practices and utility design principles all of which are used to determine the quality level to be assigned to each segment of existing utility information.

During the 30 - 90% design stage the goal is to complete the necessary remote detection and test holing to achieve QL B or A for all underground assets at the site. A technical innovation that CDOT has adopted is a mobile and cloud-based hybrid GIS/surveying system for recording underground utility location and other data. The data collected by the SUE vendor is entered into this system which allows the SUE data to be shared among all stakeholders and to be available throughout the entire construction lifecycle.

As an example a project might start with a design in Microstation. The initial SUE data is used to identify potential conflicts each of which is flagged with QL D, C, or B to show the assessed reliability of the location data. Using existing utility data compiled by the initial SUE survey makes it possible to to avoid potential utility conflicts at a very early stage.  This helps avoid costly or time consuming utility relocations. It also makes it possible to identify critical infrastructure and conflicts that may require test holing.  During the 30 - 90% design stage the SUE vendor attempts using remote sensing technology and test holing to achieve QL B or A all underground assets at the site. At this advanced design stage detailed conflicts in 3D can be identified to enable remedial action to be undertaken.  SUE data can be pushed back to the CAD environment for redesign or for utility relocations. SUE data is also made available on CDOT's mobile app for contractors to use in the field to resolve discrepancies in utility surface markings from locating activities resulting from one call notification. The handheld app also makes it possible for contractors to record new test holing that they have conducted and to document utilities exposed during excavation activities.

Colorado has become a model for jurisdictions who have recognized the human and economic cost of inaccurate, out of date and missing data about the location of underground infrastructure. Advances in technology are enabling a revolution in how we detect, capture and share reliable information about the location of underground infrastructure, but, as Colorado is demonstrating, transforming business practices in the construction industry as a whole requires legislation and regulation.

This post is based on Rob Martindale's talk at the Canadian Underground Forum. You can listen to Rob's talk on the GeoIgnite CUF Youtube channel. 

Ontario moves to reduce risk of delays due to underground utilities for public construction projects

Utility locates and relocation work have historically been the cause of construction delays on public construction projects, particularly in urban areas with dense population and the commensurate underground utility and telecom infrastructure.  In recent bills the Ontario Legislature has addressed this problem of underground utility locates and relocations by escalated enforcement options when the work is not completed accurately and in a timely manner.

Forcing faster utility relocations in Greater Toronto transit projects

In July 2020, Bill 171 Building Transit Faster Act went into force.  The objective of the bill was to remove impediments that historically have slowed down transit projects by designating a transit corridor within which special regulations apply.  For example, once lands have been included in a transit corridor, if a property owner plans to carry out construction activities on these lands, they need to apply to obtain a permit before the work can begin. Bill 171 specifically identified four provincial transit projects in the Greater Toronto Area to which the new regulations apply; the Ontario Line, the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Yonge Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.

Among the new regulations were measures allowing transit builders to relocate utilities more quickly in preparation for projects. Specifically the bill provided a mechanism by which utility companies may be required to move utility infrastructure for the transit. It also provided for escalated enforcement. The bill enabled the Ministry of Transportation to delegate some of its powers to Metrolinx, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton transit authority, including enforcement tools such as stop-work orders, inspections, and administrative penalties.

Forcing more timely utility relocations on provincial transit and highway projects

Five months later in December 2020, Bill 222 Ontario Rebuilding and Recovery Act, went into force.  It extended the special regulations applicable to designated transit corridors in the GTA to other provincial “priority transit projects”.  It also provided measures to enforce compliance on highway projects by amending the Public Service Works on Highways Act to allow a judge of the Ontario Superior Court to order a utility company to comply with an order to relocate utility infrastructure.  In the case of noncompliance with the court order the judge was empowered to authorize a road authority such as the Ministry of Transportation to carry out the utility relocation work itself.

Metrolinx/Infrastructure Ontario approach to underground utilities

Underground utilities represent one of the top transit project delivery risks identified by Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario (IO).  Mitigating utility risk for transit projects is a continuous process involving many stakeholders.  They key elements in Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario (IO) approach to utility risk mitigation are early collaboration,subsurface utility engineering (SUE) surveys prior to engineering design, options to avoid, protect or relocate utilities, and making underground utility location data available to engineering firms and contractor bid teams.

Involving utility companies in the project as early as possible is crucial. Building collaborative relationship among project stakeholders and utility companies has been found in a number of jurisdictions to be key to avoiding major utility problems during construction. To enable the open sharing of information confidentiality agreements between Metrolinx/IO and utility companies are essential.

On all transit projects Metrolinx/IO conducts subsurface utility engineering (SUE) surveys in accordance with ASCE 38-02 along the entire transit alignment. The level of SUE required is typically a minimum QLC/QLB with QLA at locations of interest including stations and transmission utilities. Combining the results of the SUE survey with proposed alignments results in a conflict matrix identifying the locations of utility conflicts.

For each conflict, several options are available; the project scope can be adjusted to avoid the conflict, the conflicting utility can be left in place and protected if necessary, or the utility can be relocated. With this approach based on a SUE survey, the risk of unexpected utility problems occurring during construction can be reduced and unnecessary and expensive utility relocations avoided.

Enabling bid teams to have access to the available data on the location of underground utilities can improve the quality of bids and reduce risk and uncertainty that can inflate estimates.  Metrolinx/IO makes the available utility location information to all the bid teams.  In addition topic meetings allow for direct interaction between bid teams and utility companies with Metrolinx/IO present.

One of the major issues recognized by Metrolinx/IO is incomplete, inaccurate and out of data records of the location of underground utilities. To address this issue, Metrolinx/IO reports that asset management systems are being developed that will improve data tracking including the location of underground utilities.

Forcing timely underground utility locates for provincial broadband projects

Ontario one call legislation gives infrastructure owners five days to produce locate information, but the deadline is often ignored. Late locates can lead to long delays and extra costs for contractors, excavators, locators, utility owners and other stakeholders.The recently passed Bill 257 Building Broadband Faster Act, 2021 which is intended to expedite the delivery of broadband to under served areas of Ontario, revises the 2012 Ontario One Call Act by requiring network owners to accurately locate their equipment within 10 business days after notification by Ontario One Call or face penalties and other actions that are available to the Minister of Infrastructure. It enables the broadband project owner to claim financial compensation if the utility or telecom either failed to accurately mark the ground and provide a written document showing the location of its underground infrastructure or incorrectly stated that none of its underground infrastructure would be affected by the excavation.  The act enables the Ministry to authorize excavation or digging to proceed when locates are not performed within 10 days.

Conclusion

With these bills, the measures relating to locating and relocating underground utilities initially applied to GTA transit projects have been extended to province-wide transit, highway and broadband projects. Together they cover most of the infrastructure in the provincial  public right of way.

Canadian Underground Forum begins tomorrow

You can see the program for April 29 and 30 and register here.

Speaker lineup

One of the early innovators in applying LiDAR to mapping underground pipelines, Joseph Hlady, President at Lux Modus in Calgary, Alberta will explain n his keynote the benefits that his technology has brought to the oil and gas pipeline industry. Another early innovator is Otto Ballintijn, CEO of Reduct who has developed inertial or gyro technology for mapping underground pipe networks. In his keynote he will explain the evolution of the technology including the concept, operational method, and data output of gyro mapping technology. A number of jurisdictions around the world are developing digital twins at the urban, regional and even national level. Alex Shalash of UEVO will discuss creating a city subsurface infrastructure map which unifies fragmented information and produces an intelligent digital twin. Danny Petrecca of Locusview, an early leader in capturing and managing underground data in the gas industry, will review why as-builting still remains paper-based and discuss a digital construction solution that stitches together existing technologies to create the reliable digital twin that utilities need in the age of the smart grid.

Our chief guest speaker is Jim Anspach, Chair of the ASCE 38 standards group, who will bring us up to date on the imminent 38-21 utility as-built standard. Carsten Roensdorf and Neil Brammall will introduce the Open Geospatial Consortium's work in progress, the MUDDI standard for exchanging location data about underground infrastructure. Lawrence Arcand, who has led Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) investigations on a national level since 2003, will provide an overview of the Canadian standard CSA S250:20 Mapping of underground utility infrastructure.

Rob Martindale, Program Manager - Utilities/Railroads at the Colorado Department of Transportation, will present an overview on how a mix of legislation and regulation has enabled Colorado to revolutionize the capture and sharing of accurate underground utility location data. Page Tucker, President & CEO at ProStar which implemented the mobile and cloud solution adopted by the Colorado DoT will speak about how the partnership between Colorado DoT and Prostar made this successful. One of the remarkable new technologies applied to mapping underground infrastructure was developed by 4M-Analytics. Harel Dan, Head of GIS and Remote Sensing, and Ophir Wainer, Director of North America Business Development, will explain how 4M-Analytics uses satellite and aerial imagery to map underground infrastructure. Leica Geosystems' IDS Georadar was one of the early innovators in ground penetrating radar. Simon Pedley, Detection Ambassador at Leica Geosystems will talk about some of the innovations in hardware and software that Leica Geosystems has developed in the last couple of years.

Government has a crucial role to play in locating and mapping underground infrastructure. Gord Reynolds and Alon Gat will discuss how Infrastructure Ontario partnered with Metrolinx and the Ministry of Transportation to establish the Utility Coordination Program (UCP), a new initiative which oversees the development of utility relocation standards and the supporting process to improve the location, treatment and relocation of utility infrastructure. Gordon McElravy, of buildingSMART Canada, will discuss buildingSMART's efforts in implementing the Municipal Infrastructure Council Program to encourage building information model (BIM) initiatives at the municipal level. Capping the first day of CUF Prashant Shukle, who was responsible for mapping and earth observation in the Canadian government for many years, will moderate a panel discussion on the role of government in underground infrastructure with panelists from the State of Colorado, the U.K. Government's Geospatial Commission, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Infrastructure Ontario.

A revolutionary source of underground utility location data for SUE surveys

Return on investment (ROI) studies of subsurface engineering utility engineering (SUE) surveys applied to highway construction projects conducted since the late 1990s have consistently revealed a large return-on-investment from conducting SUE surveys as part of highway construction projects.  Studies have found that the major benefits of SUE surveys are improved construction efficiency, greater probability of on-time and on-budget project completions, fewer and shorter utility service outages and less traffic disruption and delays for the motoring public. Recently jurisdictions such as Colorado have mandated SUE surveys on all public civil engineering projects.

The objective of a SUE survey is to identify and locate all underground infrastructure in the area of the proposed project to ASCE 38-02 Quality Level B or better. Currently SUE surveys rely on on-site detection technologies such as electromagnetic (EM), ground penetrating radar (GPR), and other methods to remotely detect underground utilities.  Potholing is also routinely conducted as part of a SUE survey to confirm the identification and location of utilities that have been detected by remote sensing technologies.

Using remote detection methods and potholing requires "boots on the pavement" which raises safety as a major concern when conducting a SUE survey.  EM devices are typically handheld wands and GPR is usually mounted on pushcarts. Data acquisition occurs at a walking pace.  Furthermore the reliable interpretation of GPR scans requires an experienced geotechnical practitioner. Together these factors make SUE surveys slow, laborious processes with serious safety issues.

I have recently come across a technology innovation developed by 4M-Analytics that could provide SUE practitioners with a source of data without the major disadvantages of traditional remote detection methods; it is safer because it does not require boots on the pavement, can reliably provide accurate locations, can be conducted without disrupting traffic, and can be generated much more rapidly than the traditional on-site remote detection methods. Intended for linear civil engineering projects such as pipelines and transportation routes 4M-Analytics' technology utilizes high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, computer vision algorithms, and training sets for machine learning developed for different biomes, including forests, grasslands, and deserts. The deliverable to the SUE practitioner is a complete, accurate and up-to-date utility conflict map showing the location of all underground utilities and pipelines intersecting a proposed civil engineering project.

SUE is rapidly growing in importance for civil engineering projects. This revolutionary approach to locating underground infrastructure, which utilizes the huge volume of aerial and satellite earth observation imagery that has been built up over the past decades together with machine learning, could provide an important source of rapidly produced, safely acquired, and reliable underground location data for SUE practitioners.

Advances in capturing and sharing location information about underground infrastructure in Europe

I was invited to participate in a meeting of the European Underground Infrastructure Community this morning.  I heard about very important advances in capturing, capturing and sharing location information (maps) about underground infrastructure that are relevant to any jurisdiction attempting to reduce underground damage and improve construction efficiency.

France

In 2012 a presidential decree mandated that the location of underground infrastructure had to be accurate to 40 cm or better (Quality Level A) for all critical infrastructure in urban areas by 2019.  In France critical infrastructure refers to infrastructure that is dangerous for excavators.  It excludes telecom and most water distribution networks. At this point the target date has slipped a bit, but it is estimated that about 80% of the location of urban underground infrastructure is known to QL A.

It is important to note that this applies not only to new infrastructure but existing infrastructure as well.  One of the contributors to the improvement in the quality of existing infrastructure data is a shared responsibility model.  As a contractor I am expected to request information through the DICT system about the location of underground infrastructure in the areas of a proposed excavation.  If the information supplied by the network owners operating in that area is poorer than QL A, I can invoice the network operator for the work I have to do to achieve QL A.  This system motivates network owners to work toward improving the quality of their data to reduce the cost of paying invoices. Furthermore, the cost for a contractor to do this work is probably significantly higher than if the network operator undertakes the work themselves.

Netherlands and Flanders

Studies from the 1940s through today have shown that incorrect or incomplete knowledge about the location of underground utilities is the leading reason for project delay claims.  A study of ten  Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDoT) projects that involved a subsurface utility engineering (SUE) survey prior to engineering design found significant business benefits with an ROI of $22.21 saved for every dollar invested in SUE. Most one call centers are designed to provide underground utility information just prior (in North America about three days in advance, in the Netherlands up to 20 days in advance) to shovels going in the ground.  What this means is that planning and engineering design are conducted blind about the location underground utilities. The result is increased risk of utility damage, unnecessary but expensive utility relocations and construction delays.  In the Netherlands the KLIC system now can respond to three types of information requests, safe digging requests (80% of all requests), emergencies (5%), and planning requests (15%).  In Flanders similarly about 16-17 % of information request to the KLIP system are study requests.  This means that areas of high risk from underground infrastructure or where areas where utilities relocates would be expensive can be avoided during the design process.  Nobody would begin engineering design for a civil engineering project without a (above-ground) survey by a registered professional land surveyor.  Having accurate, reliable information about underground utilities is just as important.  In addition to the Netherlands and Flanders other jurisdictions are recognizing this as well.  In Colorado a SUE survey prior to civil engineering work in the public right of way is now mandatory.

In both Flanders and the Netherlands data is shared using an open standard harmonized data model (IMKL) that allows all data for a proposed excavation to be downloaded as a ZIP file and visualized on a single layered map using a free and open basic, commercial, and in-house developed viewers, supporting both offline and online viewing,

Germany

Red - inquiries handled conventionally. Green - inquiries handled by BIL system

In Germany there has been rapid growth in the number of request for information about the location of underground pipelines.  BIL is the Germany-wide information system for pipeline inquiries. Since February 2016 BIL has provided a cost-free digging request portal to a the national information system for pipeline inquiries. The foundation for BIL was laid in 2015 by 17 German pipeline companies from the chemical, high-pressure gas and mineral oil sectors. To date the BIL system has been able to automate 80% of these requests, with the result that  turnaround times are faster and require less staff.

It is interesting that 30.36 % of requests to the BIL system were for planning purposes (pre-construction) and the remainder for excavations.  This varies considerably for different sectors from about 20 % for civil for different sectors. While civil engineering and pipeline construction predominantly inquired about excavation, significantly more planning inquiries were made in the area of ​​energy generation and special measures (railway infrastructure, hydraulic structures, tunnels, industrial areas)

Spain

Two regions in Spain, Catalonia and Navarre, have developed non-governmental industry consortia for sharing information about the location of underground infrastructure,  These consortia are industry-supported, primarily by large utility and telecom operators such as Telefonica, ENEL, and Iberdrola.  Excavators pay a fee to retrieve this information which is provided as vector data, in AutoCAD, Microstation or shape file formats.

Thanks to Holger Kessler for the opportunity to participate.

Geospatial+BIM are a major contributor transforming construction

Geospatial and BIM have been identified as key technologies in the digital transformation of the global construction sector which has been underperforming for decades.  A recent report estimates the size of the contribution of geospatial+BIM technologies to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector.

The $10 trillion global construction industry is facing a crisis. For many of the world's advanced economies including Japan, Germany, U.S., South Korea, and U.K. construction productivity has been stagnant or even declining for decades. Virtually all of the funding for infrastructure was sourced from government who were looking for a social return on the investment. Since the mid 2000s, an increasing proportion of investment in infrastructure has come from private sources; pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds which together manage over $60 trillion. These sources of investment are expecting a financial return and that is driving a growing investment in construction technology to improve productivity. A McKinsey report, Imagining construction’s digital future, presents data that shows that large construction projects typically take 20 percent longer to finish than scheduled and are up to 80 percent over budget. Construction productivity has actually declined in some markets since the 1990s and financial returns for contractors are relatively low and volatile. The report finds that construction has been slow to adopt process and technological innovations. R&D spending in construction lags other industries. Construction R&D is less than 1% of total industry revenue compared to 3.5-4.5 % in the auto and aerospace sectors. A McKinsey Global Institute study compared the degree of digitalization of nearly 30 industries and concluded that construction ranked right at the bottom with hunting.

But there are signs of a change. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that the world will need to spend $57 trillion on infrastructure through 2030 to keep up with global GDP growth. This is a massive incentive for the construction industry to transform productivity and project delivery through new technologies and improved practices.Venture capital investment in technology startups in the construction sector is growing. 2018 was an inflection point with venture capital investment in the construction sector quadrupling. Two of the technology sectors that McKinsey & Company suggest will be key in the digital transformation of construction are geospatial and BIM.

Building information modeling (BIM) has been applied to design-build construction projects for many years. A growing number of countries are mandating BIM for public projects. While the UK government has said that "...we know that the largest prize for BIM lies in the operational stages of the project life-cycle", until recently there has not been hard data to support this conjecture. Similarly there has been only anecdotal support for an integrated BIM and geospatial approach for design, build, operate and maintain projects. Now we are beginning to see data and analytics that offer evidence for the benefits of an integrated BIM+geospatial full lifecycle approach for construction projects.

A recent study by Geospatial Media Analysis, GeoBIM Market in AEC Industry: Technology Trends, Value Propositions, Market Size, Readiness Index, and Maturity Model, has estimated the market size of geospatial+BIM technology in the global AEC sector which contributes about US$11 trillion to the global GDP.  It is estimated that the cumulative geospatial industry's value in the AEC sector is US$71.28 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach US$117.59 by 2023. The cumulative BIM market size is estimated to be US$7.9 billion in 2019 and growing at a CAGR of 11.06%.  The impact of geospatial+BIM technolgies on construction are significant.  For example, it is estimated that geospatial+BIM solutions reduce average design time by 22.2% contributing to overall savings of 5.9% on small scale construction projects. For large scale construction projects GEOBIM solutions are estimated to contribute approximately 13.1 % in overall project savings.

To make the key GEOBIM technologies concrete the report describes a GEOBIM Maturity Model that makes it possible to evaluate and assess the ability of an AEC firm to operate in an integrated geospatial+BIM environment. The GEOBIM Maturity Model extends across the entire construction lifecycle from planning, through design and construction to operations and maintenance.  The levels of the GEOBIM Maturity Model increase as more innovation takes place in digital GEOBIM technology and the importance of the integration of geospatial and BIM technologies is recognized. For example, for surveying traditional theodolite and chain is characteristic of Level 0 in the maturity model.  As more modern digital technologies are adopted levels rise; total stations (Level 1), laser scanning and GNSS, (Level 2) to mobile scanning, drones, ground penetrating radar and other underground locating and mapping technologies (Level 3).  For planning and design, the increasing use of digital technologies compared to drawings and paper maps (Level 0), include CAD and digital maps (Level 1), BIM and 3D point clouds (Level 2) to digital twins of both above and below ground infrastructure and mixed reality (Level 3). For construction, traditional constuction machinery and paper drawings are being replaced by BIM models, digital geospatial maps and automated construction with GNSS, and prefab and additive building.

A survey of the Facilities Management (FM) industry found that while 92% had heard about BIM and 84% agreed that BIM has the potential to deliver value add to FM, over two thirds said that the FM is not prepared for BIM. Evidence suggests that full lifecyle construction including FM is gaining traction in the construction industry. As owners see the advantages full-lifecycle thinking for construction projects and are beginning to changing their procurement practices, construction companies are changing their business processes to optimize facility maintenance and operation. Construction companies that have taken on the challenge of design, build, operate and maintain projects are realizing that there are significant benefits from an integrated BIM+geospatial approach to full lifecycle construction.

In conclusion real world data and analytics are now revealing the benefits of an integrated BIM+geospatial full lifecycle approach for construction projects.

Thank you to Ananya Narain for bringing the GEOBIM Market in AEC Industry report to my attention.

Augmented reality enables simplified design workflows

Engineering design is typically done on a desktop computer, using CAD or BIM software. Models are viewed in 3D or 2D on a monitor. Increasingly they can be viewed in mixed reality.  At a SPAR3D conference three companies in the construction sector, Gensler (a collaborative design firm), McCarthy (a commercial construction firm), and Martin Brothers Construction (a heavy civil construction firm), demonstrated how they were using mixed reality on real-world projects.  For example, Martin Brothers demonstrated building a bathroom pod with Hololens. The bathroom pod was designed using a standard design application such as Revit or Sketchup, then projected onto the reality of a shop floor were it was constructed using the full-scale virtual reality projection of the design into the shop. The next step is bidirectional between the mixed reality environment and the authoring design tool. This makes it possible for changes made in the mixed reality environment to be visible in Revit or Sketchup where they can be incorporated into the design. It is also possible to reverse this process where design changes made in Revit or Sketchup are simultaneously visible in the mixed reality environment.

Stéphane Côté of Bentley has taken this one step further and suggested that the design and visualization process should really be a continuum involving design, markup, and visualization.  To enable this to happen Stéphane's team developed a simple set of drawing tools along with features that enhance drafting accuracy, such as angle, length and element snapping.  But most innovative was the ability to snap to real world objects in augmented reality.  This is illustrated in a video by designing an extension to a table.  To do this the designer simply snaps to the table in augmented reality and then designs the extension seeing exactly what it looks like including accurate measurements such as lengths and angles.

As a real world example, when an engineer needs to design a bypass system between two existing pipes, normally he/she would have to take measurements of the pipes or scan them using a laser scanner. These measurements would then be imported into a CAD application where they would be used as the basis for the design.  It might even be necessary to iterate this process once or twice to ensure the accuracy of the design.  With an augmented reality design tool such as that created by Stéphane's team the design could be done on-site, avoiding the initial measurement step and being able to see immediately if the design fits accurately between the existing pipes.

Mapping underground utilities required for public civil engineering projects in Colorado

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 Assembly has revised its excavation safety statutes (Article 1.5 of Title 9) to be compliant with current best practices. The latest legislation is progressive. Most importantly, it explicitly mandates subsurface utility engineering (SUE) practice during engineering design on public construction projects to determine the location of all underground utilities in the proposed excavation area to ASCE 38-02 quality level B by a licensed professional engineer. (ASCE quality level B requires the application of subsurface remote sensing detection technologies such as electromagnetic detection and/or ground penetrating radar.) Furthermore, the legislation creates an enforcement agency for reviewing violations of Article 1.5 with the power to impose civil penalties.

Background

According to the FHWA underground utilities are a major cause of highway construction schedule and budget overruns. In the traditional approach to highway construction, the design engineer ignored utilities during design. Just prior to the commencement of construction the state one-call centre would be contacted and the utilities and telecoms with underground facilities in the area of the proposed excavation would visit the site and mark the ground with paint or flags.  Utilities that conflicted with the design would then be relocated. As a result utilities are routinely relocated, often at great expense and often unnecessarily. An alternative approach is to design the highway knowing in advance the location of below-ground utilities. I have blogged about two recent highway construction projects, Birmingham AL and Cedar Falls IA that took this approach with substantive benefits. The challenge is that accurate data about the location of underground utilities is generally lacking.  It is well-known that there is a consensus among DoTs that accurate and comprehensive utility location data helps make better decisions and reduces the risk of unforeseen problems with utilities emerging during the construction phase.

In addition to construction delays, damage to underground utilities during construction makes every construction project a potential disaster site.  In order to promote improved safety PHMSA has developed a uniform tool that it uses for assessing state one-call systems. In 2014 PHMSA found that the Colorado one-call system had serious deficiencies. The first was that some organizations in the state were exempt from calling the one-call centre prior to excavation. Even more seriously it found that the legislation did not assign an agency to enforce the legislation.

In 2017 there was an explosion at a home in Firestone, Colorado that resulted in two deaths and a serious injury. The subsequent NTSB report concluded that as a result of local authorities allowing the development of land adjacent to oil and gas production fields without complete documentation from the operator on the location and status of its gathering system pipelines, a 1" pipeline that was still carrying natural gas was the cause of the explosion.

In 2018 the Colorado legislature revised its one-call legislation. The latest legislation is progressive, chiefly for four reasons.

1. It explicitly mandates subsurface utility engineering (SUE) during engineering design for public civil engineering projects to determine the 2D location of underground utilities to ASCE 38 quality level B by a licensed professional engineer. (ASCE quality level B requires the application of remote sensing detection technologies such as electromagnetic detection and ground penetrating radar.)
2. Prior to the commencement of construction in addition to painting or flagging a proposed excavation site, infrastructure owner/operators are required to provide a digital sketch, a hand-drawn sketch, or a photograph.
3. It may put some degree of onus on owner/operators to provide accurate information about the location of their underground facilities.
4. It creates an enforcement agency for reviewing violations of Article 1.5 with the power to impose civil penalties.

Subsurface utility engineering-required projects

In many states there is no provision as part of one-call legislation for owner/operators to provide information about underground utilities to engineers to assist with the design of civil engineering projects. This often results in the wasteful relocation of utilities. In Colorado it is now mandatory on public civil engineering projects to create a 2D map of underground utilities as part of design. Subsurface utility engineering-required projects are public projects that primarily involve horizontal construction, an excavation footprint exceeding 1,000 square feet and two feet in depth and that require the design services of a licensed professional engineer. During the design phase of these projects a licensed professional engineer is required to attempt to determine the location of all underground utilities within the proposed excavation area to ASCE 38-02 quality standard B or better. To assist this process utility owner/operators are required to either provide their available records of the approximate 2D location of their underground facilities or mark the ground in the excavation area .

Digital or paper "sketches" now required

In most states one-call legislation only requires painting or otherwise marking the ground to show the location of underground utilities. In Colorado now in addition to marking the ground owner/operators are required to provide documentation listing the owner/operator's name, the size and type of each marked underground facility, and a digital sketch, a hand-drawn sketch, or a photograph that includes a readily identifiable landmark. This is a first step toward being able to simply provide an accurate digital map of underground facilities in the proposed excavation area (as is done in the Netherlands and Flanders).

Owner/operator's responsibility for accuracy

North America, United Kingdom, Australia and other jurisdictions are characterized by a liability model that puts the onus on excavators to avoid hitting underground utilities. This provides little motivation for owners/operators to improve the quality of their information about the location of underground facilities. In Colorado Article 1.5 appears to alter this general liability model. It states that if the documentation or markings are determined to be inaccurate, the excavator shall immediately notify the owner/operator through Colorado 811 to request an immediate reverification of the location of underground facility by the owner/operator. The owner/operator is required to respond as quickly as practicable during which time the excavator can continue excavation activity with appropriate caution. Furthermore, Article 1.5 states that if the documentation or markings provided still fail to identify the location of the underground facilities, the excavator is required to notify Colorado 811, but can then proceed with excavation. Article 1.5 states that in this case the excavator is not liable for damage to the owner/operator's facilities except upon proof of the excavator's lack of reasonable care. However, accuracy is not quantified. Later in Article 1.5 where liabilities are discussed, the language relating to accuracy seems less strong. It states that excavators are liable if they fail to notify Colorado 811 of their intention to excavate or fail to exercise reasonable care in excavating. Owner/operators are liable if an underground facility is damaged as a result of the owner/operator's failure to participate in Colorado 811 or by their failure to use "reasonable care" in the marking of the damaged underground facility.

Enforcement

The most important area that PHMSA found deficient in the earlier Colorado damage prevention legislation was that it did not provide for enforcement. The most recent legislation provides for the creation of an Underground Damage Prevention Safety Commission in the Department of Labor and Employment that is independent of Colorado 811. The commission operates independently of Colorado One-call and is composed of six representative representing owner/operators, four representing engineers, contractors and excavators, four representing government agencies and one representing farmers and ranchers. It has two primary responsibilities, Firstly, to advise Colorado state agencies, the general assembly, and local governments on polices and best practices. Its other responsibility is enforcement. It is responsible for reviewing alleged violations of Article 1.5 and can order appropriate remedial action or penalties. Alleged violations are reviewed by a committee convened by the Safety Commission which must include the same number of members representing excavators and owners/operators plus one from another group. A recommendation of remedial action that includes a fine requires a unanimous vote of the review committee. Alternatively a voluntary alternative dispute resolution program is available through Colorado 811 to all owners/operators, excavators, and others regarding disputes arising from damage to underground facilities.

The legislation requires the reporting of damage to underground utilities by members (owner/operators). For each incident the location, duration of service interruption and whether Colorado 811 had been notified prior to excavation must be reported to Colorado 811. However, this is much less information than what is requested by the Common Ground Alliance's voluntary reporting of underground utility damage or PHMSA's mandatory reporting of pipeline incidents. Specifically it does not include fatalities, injuries or costs.

Summary

Taken together these modifications to Colorado's one-call legislation are progressive, especially by requiring mapping of underground utilities during engineering design for public civil engineering projects such as highway construction. Its implications for liabilities is less clear.  Shared liabilities would provide an important motivation for utility and telecom owners/operators to improve the quality of their information about the location of underground facilities.  That a digital or paper sketche or imagery is now required in addition to marking the ground would appear to be step in the direction of a completely digital 811 system such as KLIC in the Netherlands or KLIP in Flanders.