Between the Poles

Key initiatives of importance to the global geospatial+AEC subsurface digital twin community

Two initiatives of importance to the global geospatial community will begin this June.

Expanding Responsibility for the BetweenThePoles blog

First of all we are expanding the BetweenThePoles blog from a single content provider (Geoff Zeiss) to an industry collective that will be able to mine many more geospatial industry players. Geoff is stepping down from day to day responsibility for the blog (he doesn't like the word retiring) and ownership and administration will transition to GoGeomatics Canada, advised by a collective of industry leaders in the geospatial+AEC sector.

The content and aims of BetweenThePoles will remain the same. The blog encompasses the application of geospatial technology in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) and utilities. Primary focus areas are worldwide legislation, governance, regulations, and new technologies for mapping underground utilities and enabling subsurface digital twins, CAD+GIS and BIM+geospatial integration to enable full lifecycle construction, and innovative technologies for vegetation management for electric power utilities.

By way of background the BetweenThePoles blog was initiated in 2006 by Geoff Zeiss. Since then the blog has hosted over 2,500 posts and received over 1.3 million lifetime page views. Currently 3,500 active users access the blog each month. The blog will be continued with its current focus; mapping underground infrastructure,  BIM+geospatial integration, and innovations in vegetation management for utility transmission and distribution.

Making Subsurface Utility Mapping Strategy Forum (SUMSF) and Annual Event

The second initiative follows on the very successful Subsurface Utility Mapping Strategy Forum (SUMSF 2022), which was a follow-up event to the Canadian Underground Forum in 2021.

The genesis of SUMSF is found within Canada’s National Geospatial Conference, GeoIgnite. In 2021 Jonathan Murphy and Geoff Zeiss came together over the idea to create a leadership and technology forum on the theme of underground infrastructure mapping. With the help and financial support of the global underground mapping industry the Canadian Underground Forum (CUF 2020) was held virtually in 2021. From this success, a new and larger stand-alone event with a new global brand and perspective was launched in 2022, the Subsurface Utility Mapping Strategy Forum (SUMSF 2022). 

SUMSF 2022 was held virtually March 22nd and 23rd 2022 again with the support of the underground mapping industry. SUMSF was themed to bring together individuals and organizations to share information about and contribute to improving the mapping of underground infrastructure. This online conference brought together exceptional speakers in the underground locating and mapping sector and was well attended by the geospatial and engineering community.

Based on the success of these two events GoGeomatics Canada has decided to make the conference an annual event. Next year, SUMSF will be held virtually March 6th and 7th. SUMSF is hosted and presented by GoGeomatics. Like BetweenThePoles blog, it will be advised and supported by industry leaders with the support of the SUMSF LinkedIn Group. 

BetweenThePoles will remain an important platform for communication and engagement on the the application of geospatial technology.  

Anyone interested in joining the collective for the BetweenThePoles blog are encouraged to contact Jonathan Murphy at GoGeomatics Canada. As well anyone interested in joining the advisory committee for SUMSF 2023 is encouraged to do the same.

Geoff Zeiss

Visualizing underground infrastructure for multiple utilities on a single map

The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) is intended to be a comprehensive digital map of all underground pipes and cables owned and operated by 650 asset owners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. When deployed it will provide immediate access to UK underground asset data online from handhelds and other devices to qualified excavators and their contractors.  A unique capability that differentiates NUAR from other underground data management systems lies in its ability to combine and visualize underground infrastructure of many different network operators on a single map.

Background to NUAR

In 2018 the Northumbrian Water Group Innovation Festival brought together 20 utilities, telecoms, and local government authorities in Newcastle upon Tyne to voluntarily collaborate in developing a shared underground infrastructure map showing the location of water, wastewater, gas, electricity, telecoms and other underground services provided by the network owners. Later extended to Central London, it became the pilot for what subsequently became the NUAR project sponsored and funded by the Geospatial Commission, part of the UK Government Cabinet Office.

Integrating underground data from different utilities

One key differentiator of the NUAR project is combining and visualizing underground utility data sourced from different utilities on a single map. Globally every utility has developed its own terminology for describing its network facilities, its own ways of graphically symbolizing different equipment, its own choice of base map showing road centre lines and other land base features and its own standards for network documentation.

A major advantage of mapping infrastructure in the UK is that every network operator records the location of their facilities against the same national base map, the Ordnance Survey's MasterMap. In North America in contrast every utility uses a different base map. Conflating utility data to the same base map is a complicated process which inhibits the development of a representation of underground infrastructure on a single map. In the UK the common national base map provides a foundation for displaying data from many utilities on a single base map. But to meaningfully combine and visualize data from different utilities on a single map requires that data providers agree on standards for data elements, terminology, symbology and templates for network documentation.

Developing a harmonized data model

The first version of the data model was developed in conjunction with about 40 utilities who participated in the North East of England and Central London pilots.  Fortunately the development of the Open Geospatial Consortium's open standard for exchanging underground data Model for Underground Data Definition and Integration (MUDDI) coincided with the NUAR pilot. The NUAR project became the first project to implement MUDDI in the real world.  MUDDI supports profiles that enable the MUDDI model to be adapted for different uses cases and countries. For NUAR the UK Excavation Profile was used. Participation in the MUDDI initiative enables the NUAR data model to be openly available to network operators and other organizations who choose to adopt it as a standard for their own data operations.

The central guideline that has guided the development of the model from its inception during the pilot was the need to minimize structural elements that hardwired the model. With a rapidly evolving model it was essential to be able to change different aspects the model without having to reconfigure the entire model as each new utility's data brought new changes. The result was the development of ways of modelling utility networks that differed from what had been used in previous utility models. Examples include defining general feature types that could be qualified using attributes rather than structures making them more flexible, allowing a single feature table to support multiple spatial data types (points, lines and polygons) rather than separate tables for each data type, and implementing codelists separate from the data model making it possible to change them without republishing the model.

During the initial build phase of the project each it was found that new utility data source continued to bring changes to the model. At this point it had become more essential to carefully manage changes resulting from incorporating data sets from new asset owners because of the potential impact on the data that had already been brought into the model.  

As new data is brought into the system, new feature types are discovered, for example, EV charging points, so that over time the data model is becoming more comprehensive with the potential for supporting additional use cases. In addition it is important to support the interaction of NUAR with external systems by making data types general and accessible to multiple systems and incorporating fields for capturing codes unique to the external systems. In the future this will make it possible to support work flows in which network operators' data systems provide direct data updates to the NUAR database.

One of the important realizations during the development of the Ordnance Survey MasterMap was the critical importance of object identifiers (OIDs). As new data flows in to be analyzed and brought into the NUAR model, it is being found that many asset owners have not implemented feature identifiers. One of the long term benefits of the development of the NUAR data model may be instilling in industry data modelling practice the importance of unique feature identifiers.

Progress of NUAR build phase

At the time of Amy Manefield's presentation at the SUMSF conference in March, the NUAR team had engaged with all 250 asset owners in the three initial regions of the North East of England, Wales and London. Data Exploration Agreements (DEA) had been signed with 88 of these utilities. The DEA allowed the data from these utilities to be explored, analyzed and the process of transforming it to be initiated. Of the utilities with DEA agreements 42 had already shared their data with the NUAR team and over a dozen of these data sets had been successfully transformed to the NUAR harmonized data model.

 

This post is based on Amy Manefield's talk at the Subsurface Utility Mapping Strategy Forum (SUMSF). Amy Manefield is NUAR Head of Data Operations at the NUAR project of the Geospatial Commission.

The National Underground Asset Register in the UK is holding a public consultation

The Geospatial Commission is building a digital service for sharing data on the location of underground infrastructure - the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR). It is planned that NUAR will provide a consistent, digital map of underground asset data. NUAR requires a sustainable funding model. To achieve this, full participation by owners of underground assets is important, to ensure planners and excavators have access to as complete data as possible. The Geospatial Commission is considering all options, including legislation, to ensure maximum participation.  To provide public input into the decision making process the Geospatial Commission is organizing a public consultation starting in April and running through June 2.

This consultation is split into three sections, current practice, potential legislation and the potential funding mechanism to support the ongoing service.  Input is sought from utility owners/operators, local authorities, regulators, trade associations, professional bodies, other infrastructure organizations, academia and the wider public.

Summary of questions

Q1: Approximately how much does it cost your organisation to provide data on the location of underground assets each month

Q2: Approximately how many organisations do you contact in order to get access to a complete dataset of underground infrastructure on average per project?

Q3: Approximately how long (in hours or days) on average does it take to receive all the data on the location of underground infrastructure you require from asset owners following the initial request?

Q4: Once received, approximately how long (in hours or days) does it take you to process the data from the various sources into a useful standardised format or information pack for use on a job?

Q5: Do you believe 100% participation is achievable without legislation?

Yes/No

Q6: To what extent do you agree that the government should require data ingested into the platform to be consistent with the data model?

Strongly Agree/ Agree/ Neutral/ Disagree/ Strongly Disagree

Q7. Do you agree that it could be beneficial to expand the prescribed use cases for NUAR in the future?

Yes/No

Q8. Do you have any views about how NUAR should be run once it is fully operational including the status and remit of the responsible body?

Q9. To what extent do you agree that NUAR should charge;

a. Asset owners Strongly Agree/ Agree/ Neutral/ Disagree/ Strongly Disagree

b. Statutory undertakers Strongly Agree/ Agree/ Neutral/ Disagree/ Strongly Disagree

c. Users for non-statutory purposes Strongly Agree/ Agree/ Neutral/ Disagree/ Strongly Disagree

Is a national map of underground infrastructure achievable ?

According to a recent report from the Next Practices Initiative of the Common Ground Alliance the damage prevention industry has reached an inflection point. For more than half a decade, the rate of damage to underground infrastructure in the U.S.has increased or remained stagnant. The hundreds of thousands of individual damages that occur across the country each year cost the national economy approximately $30 billion annually according the the CGA 2019 DIRT report. . This includes direct costs (facility repair) and indirect costs (property damage, medical costs, loss of custom, disruption to services, and others) but does not include environmental and social impacts.

The one call system has become highly inefficient and industry confidence in the system has been eroded, resulting in a process that has stalled and is not achieving its primary goal of reducing damage to underground infrastructure. The Infrastructure Protection Coalition estimates that $61 billion in waste, inefficiency, and excess cost is embedded in the current system - this is in addition to the $30 billion cost of damage estimated by the CGA.

The CGA Next Practices Report to Industry argues that among the opportunities for systemic improvement with greatest ROI for industry is a comprehensive national GIS map of buried infrastructure. The Next Practices Pathways Status Report Report makes the case that the impacts of unreliable and inaccessible facility maps on the construction process are  great and specifically identifies planning and design without reliable underground facility maps which results in redesigns in the midst of the project, unnecessary and expensive locate request and utility relocations, and higher risk of underground damage.  Inaccurate, out of date or simply missing data also make the locating process more time consuming and more uncertain than necessary.  Furthermore, making facility maps accessible to all project stakeholders especially excavators would have significant benefits especially in improving job site safety.

The CGA report identifies barriers to creating and maintaining reliable facility maps and making these accessible to all construction stakeholders. However, recent experience and new developments have demonstrated and are demonstrating that these barriers are surmountable. 

Chief among the barriers identified by the CGA is the lack of the political will to share information.  For a variety of reasons including competitive, security and liability issues there is industry resistance to sharing facility location information with other stakeholders. The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) project in the UK has shown that these issues are surmountable and industry can become convinced of the significant positive benefits of sharing reliable information in a secure environment with the appropriate data protection measures. For this project the high standard of data security and data protection enabled network owners to fell comfortable in agreeing on a legal framework for data sharing in which each network owner remained the custodian of its own data. This provides for clear accountability chains in terms of ownership, governance and regulation.

Another barrier is the lack of a centralized, trusted organization capable of being responsible for a national GIS underground infrastructure database. It must be able to operate and maintain a secure centralized or distributed database accessible to all construction stakeholders with data protection capabilities that is able to ensure all data custodians that their data is safe and protected. Historically different organizational structures have been successfully used to achieve this goal, including government mandated organizations (DT DICT system in France), voluntary collaborations between industry and government (Vault system in Scotland), industry associations(ICI Society in British Columbia), and others.

On the technical side a barrier is a lack of commonly agreed standards for seamlessly and automatically sharing GIS facility location data across organizations and jurisdictions on a common base map. The ASCE 38 standard for existing infrastructure has been available since 2002 and a new, greatly updated version is imminent, the new ASCE 75 standard for as-builts will be released soon.  Both of these standards have been mandated for construction in the public right of way in Colorado. The Open Geospatial Consortium's emerging MUDDI standard for exchanging underground infrastructure infrastructure (which is compatible with ASCE 38 and 75) is already being used on the NUAR project in the UK and the UNUM project in New York.City.

The CGA Next Practices Initiative makes a strong case that a centralized national map of underground infrastructure accessible all construction stakeholders provides systemic benefits with a large ROI for the construction industry. Recent developments have demonstrated and are demonstrating that the barriers to implementing such a system are surmountable suggesting that a centralized national map of underground infrastructure is feasible and would provide important economic and social benefits. For contractors a national map would reduce the risk of underground utility strikes during construction and result in more on time and on budget completions.  It would also make job sites safer and reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities for construction workers and the public. In the longer term it would reduce insurance costs which for the historically low margin contractor sector is an important economic benefit. For engineers and designers it means knowing the accurate location of underground and above ground infrastructure during planning and design and avoiding redesigns. For surveyors it represents increased demand for survey grade location accuracy for underground utilities and other infrastructure. For network operators it would reduce the frequency of outages, eliminate unnecessary and expensive relocations, reduce  liabilities, and lower the cost of supporting locate operations in response to one call notifications. For government transportation agencies it would reduce the cost of public construction projects, reduce delays and deliver more on time completions. For the public it would mean fewer service interruptions and less risk of traffic and other disruptions.  For the locate industry it would represent a large opportunity to accurately locate and record location data for the millions of miles of existing underground infrastructure. To do this efficiently will require new and innovative technology for locating existing underground infrastructure, capturing the location of newly installed network facilities, and recording and sharing underground infrastructure information.

Subsurface digital twins: How Singapore plans to address data quality and accessibility challenges

TThe recently published Digital Underground: Imagining a digitally enabled future is full of insights derived from a four year effort by the Singapore Land Authority in developing a road map for a coherent national mapping strategy for underground utilities and, most recently, supporting an ecosystem to produce and deliver accurate and complete digital data to stakeholders..

The recognition that the quality of the existing data about underground infrastructure represents a major inhibitor to developing a reliable subsurface digital twin is a central theme. For example, the Singapore Digital Underground document states that "virtually all stakeholders are aware that much of the available information is unreliable and that this has repeatedly led to losses of time, money and opportunities."

Another challenge is accessing underground infrastructure data.  In many jurisdictions worldwide including Singapore records of the location of utility and telecom networks and facilities are often owned and maintained by private utility and telecom operators.  The result is that access to underground infrastructure data is often restricted and not available to all stakeholders on construction projects. Jurisdictions have addressed the accessibility problem through organizational structures that often involve government such as government mandated one call systems in North America and the DT DICT system in France. Systems that are not mandated by government have been developed, for example, the private one call system LineSearchBeforeYouDig in England and the industry voluntary Vault system in Scotland.

The Singapore Digital Underground project identified measures that it considers necessary to address these challenges. Current business practices for data production, data management, data sharing, and data use are largely dependent on individual land administrators, network owners, contractors and surveyors and are not consistent for all stakeholders.  The result is that every day significant effort and resources have to be invested to work around the lack of reliable information about underground infrastructure.

Data accessibility for all stakeholders

The foundation for addressing the data accessibility issue in Singapore is a new subsurface utilities data governance framework. Among other measures it provides a basis for making government and network owners' data accessible to all stakeholders. The UK's National Underground Register (NUAR) initiative has an analogous framework in the form of data sharing agreements that were signed among 40 or so utilities and government agencies during the pilots in the North East of England and Central London and enabled data sharing among all the participants.  Achieving a long term framework of this type for the nearly 700 network owners is a top priority of the NUAR implementation, currently underway in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

In Colorado enabling access to underground utility data initially involved requiring contractors working on public construction projects for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to use a mobile+cloud solution developed for CDOT. The source of the data was SUE surveys and high accuracy as-builts mandated by recent state legislation and regulations. It did not include data of uncertain reliability maintained in utility and telecom GISs. Sometime later network owners with equipment and locators and others working in the state ROW were also required to use the same mobile+cloud solution providing all stakeholders on CDOT construction projects access to the same high accuracy data. 

Improving data quality

The biggest challenge with existing underground data, generally stored in network owners' utility GISs, is that the data is often inaccurate, out of date or simply missing. A key question for any jurisdiction attempting to create a subsurface digital twin is whether to rely on unreliable data from network owners' records or to create a new high accuracy database with new data, for example, from recent SUE surveys or survey-grade as-builts.

Some jurisdictions such as Vault in Scotland and the NUAR initiative in the UK rely on the network documentation captured and maintained by network owners. Utilities have processes for updating and improving the quality of their data. These are supplemented by the NUAR application support for feedback from the field - implemented as "observations" in the online application developed by the Ordnance Survey for the pilots.

Other jurisdictions such as Colorado have decided not to rely on utility and telecom GIS data but to build new high accuracy databases using the results of recent SUE surveys and survey-grade as-builts with known quality levels, defined by ASCE 38-22 and ASCE 75-22.

Singapore has had a contractual standard for survey-quality as-builts since 2017. The key provisions of the new data governance proposal are designed to improve data quality and to establish an authoritative single source of truth.  Specifically it introduces the concept of a national Data Quality Hub which is comprised of a consolidated underground infrastructure database and data flows that are designed to co-exist with Singapore's current utility data workflows but which enforce data quality management.  The Data Quality Hub requires the digital submission of all newly captured data on subsurface utilities, quality control of submitted data based on a common set of rules, and the consolidation and integration of newly collected and legacy data for legacy data quality improvement. 

Integrating new high accuracy data with legacy data

For jurisdictions with new sources of high accuracy data from new legislation and regulations that are developing high accuracy databases, a crucial question is whether to attempt to integrate the unreliable data from network owners into these new databases.  In Colorado, the data from the mandatory SUE surveys and high accuracy as-builts with assigned quality standards based on ASCE 38-22 and ASCE 75-22 that goes into the new database is also made available to network owners who can use it to correct and update their records, but are not required to.

Singapore's approach is to require all data going into the Data Quality HUB to pass the set of quality rules defined by the new data governance framework.  If combining legacy data with new data, for example, from SUE surveys or from surveys of recently exposed underground utilities, results in data that can pass the quality rules then it is expected that that data should be eligible to be integrated into the Data Quality Hub.

A second challenge is that most legacy data is 2D and does not include depth or elevation.  The Singapore Digital Underground project attempted to address this issue by suggesting several ways of generating 2.5D data from legacy 2D data, but none of these is capable of producing the reliable data that the quality rules would seem to require.

Conclusion

Singapore has recognized the implications of the problems resulting from inaccurate, outdated and incomplete maps of underground infrastructure and adopted a comprehensive approach for addressing data quality and access issues. Because of the approach that Singapore has adopted and the fact that the Digital Underground project has actively engaged the international community, many international jurisdictions are watching closely as Singapore moves into the implementation phase.

Mobile + cloud solutions are revolutionizing the capture and sharing of reliable underground infrastructure location data

A major gap in the construction process is the unavailability of reliable information about the location of underground utilities for civil engineering construction projects such as highways, railways and pipelines. All states and provinces in North America have one call legislation designed to reduce underground utility damage during construction, but statistics show that in North America damage to underground utilities is increasing. Japan and Heathrow International Airport are two examples where comprehensive approaches to reducing damage to underground infrastructure have been implemented and statistics have shown that damage has been dramatically reduced.  In 2013 France implemented the DT DICT system which statistics reveal is reducing underground damage by 2% per year.

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. Recently several jurisdictions around the world have undertaken initiatives to collect and integrate underground infrastructure location data and make it available to all construction stakeholders. The key stakeholders in public civil engineering construction are government transportation agencies, utility and telecom network owners and operators, professional locators, engineering consultants and construction contractors. Among the leaders in this effort are the Vault system in Scotland, 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, Scotland implemented the Vault system beginning in 2012.

Colorado has recently enacted legislation and is in the process of implementing regulations and systems that are transforming the collection, integration and sharing of underground infrastructure location data for public civil engineering projects in the public right of way with the objective of creating a digital twin of the infrastructure in Colorado's right of way. A key component of this effort is a mobile + cloud solution that enables the capture and sharing of underground location data among all construction stakeholders owning facilities or working in the public right of way..

The challenge: incomplete, inaccurate and out of date underground location data

To provide context for understanding the challenge of reliable information about the location of underground utilities, this image shows what you would see if you removed all the pavement on a downtown New York street. Removing pavement on Bay Street in Toronto or Howe Street in Vancouver would reveal the same spaghetti bowl of utilities and pipelines that have been haphazardly slapped into the ground over many decades.

Utilities and telecoms have attempted to capture the location of this infrastructure in the form of records, originally paper and now often managed in a GIS.  Records are generated by a flawed process based on paper as-builts. The original planning and design documents for underground utilities are paper drawings created with CAD software. But where utilities actually go into the ground and where they were planned to go in the ground are often very different.  First of all, the designers planning routes for new utility installations don't have access to reliable location data for existing utility infrastructure.  When the contractors take the design drawings out into the field, they often find that obstacles, such as existing utilities or other infrastructure like old tram lines or sewer lines that force them to trench in another location.  Furthermore contractors get paid based on how rapidly they get the new facilities installed so there is a tendency to take the path of least resistance. 

Records are being frequently out of date as a result of the paper-based process.  Design drawings created using AutoCAD or Microstation are used to generate paper drawings universally used by contractors in the field. Ultimately these documents are returned as as-builts to the utility's records group who digitize hem into the utility's GIS. Utilities track their as-built backlog, the time it takes from the time an as-built is returned from the field to the time it appears in the utility GIS.  As-built backlogs run typically into months, although a year in not unheard of.

Another important source of uncertainty arises from the locates performed in response to one call or 811 information requests.  It is industry knowledge that at best ground markings are accurate to within one meter. In addition, especially with dense utility infrastructure, there is uncertainty in determining which utility has actually been identified. This uncertainty in one call locates has motivated many construction and engineering companies, who realizing that they can't rely on those markings because they are the ones that actually take on the risk and the liability, reduce risk by contracting vacuum and hydrovacuum daylighting services.   Daylighting involves safe potholing to verify the location of the utilities identified by the one call locators.  (To give a perspective of the size of this market, Badger Daylighting in Canada has over a thousand hydrovac trucks.) When the daylighters are unable to find the utility that was marked by one call locators, they will dig additional holes to try to identify the actual location of the utility facilities. As an example, for the I-70 project in Denver, which is an 11 miles of highway expansion, over 33,000 holes have been dug and that number continues to grow as the project progresses.  Daylighting is expensive, time consuming, exposes workers to risk of injury and disrupts traffic.

Mobile + cloud solution enables reliable underground location data

Mobile + cloud solutions have been developed that replaces these dated, archaic and slow paper-based workflows with near real time digital processes that result in complete, accurate and up to date records of the location of underground utility infrastructure.  Mobile + cloud solutions have been adopted by a variety of stakeholders in the construction industry including engineering firms, contractors, professional locators, and government transportation agencies.  But the value of a mobile + cloud solution is greatly enhanced when it is mandated for all construction stakeholders involved in public construction projects.

The mobile + cloud workflow is simple; capture the location data in the field with a handheld app which also collects metadata about the detection and the high accuracy GPS/GNSS devices used in the  field, upload the data to the cloud, post-process the data and in a few seconds actionable location information is available to excavators and contractors, project management and other stakeholders.

For a standard locate operation using an electromagnetic (EM) device, the EM locate tool is paired to a consumer mobile device such as a mobile phone or tablet, that's running a mobile app. In addition a precision GPS/GNSS receiver is also paired to the app to provide survey-grade, centimeter location accuracy. As the locate tool is used to identify underground utility facilities the location and metadata information is collected and pushed up to the cloud application which is running on Amazon Web Services (AWS) or another cloud processing service. Post processing using proprietary algorithms transform the raw data into actionable information and the results are available within seconds to all project stakeholders.  The metadata comprises what is referred to as the pedigree, representing all of the information that is typically recorded in a surveyors notebook.

Metadata

Metadata is a critical part of the data that is captured in real-time in the field. For example, the manufacturer and model of EM locate device, estimated depth and vertical precision, the manufacturer and model of GPS/GNSS receiver, how many satellites are in view, the original NMEA strings, date, time, XY location and estimated precision and the metadata that is used to estimate vertical and horizontal precision. Comprehensive metadata includes when the data was captures, the equipment used, who captured it, the quality level, the geographic projection and coordinate system, horizontal and vertical precision, and so on. Metadata is essential because it provides information required to assess the reliability of the data about each underground facility.

Integration with GIS and other systems

Another critical feature of a mobile + cloud solution is the ability to integrate with existing systems of record, such as a utility GIS, that are used by utility owner/operators, pipeline owner or other stakeholders. This makes it possible to stream data from the field to utility and telecom owners and operators enabling them to compare the actual locations to identify discrepancies in their records. With a click of a button they can import the data of where the utility line actually is to update their records.

Adopted by a variety of construction stakeholders

Mobile + cloud solutions have been adopted by different construction stakeholders. In Colorado Kiewit, one of the largest infrastructure construction company in North America has adopted the solution. KCI, which is one of the largest subsurface utility engineering firms in the US was an early adopter of the software and more recently T2, a major subsurface utility engineering firm based in Canada has also adopted the solution. Zayo, one of the top fiber optic companies in North America with operations in the US and Canada, is an early adopter of the software. Because the sector is extremely competitive, telecoms are extremely concerned about data protection, the ability to control who has access to fibre network data, at what location, at what time and for how long. is an essential capability for telecom operators. Blood Hound, a subsidiary of United States Infrastructure Corporation which is the largest utility locate company in North America, has adopted the software to digitally capture accurate locations of buried utilities and pipelines and then share that information with the utility owner.

Municipalities

Many municipalities have made a big investment already in a system of record, often a GIS, to geospatially manage their assets. Recently some are finding that their existing systems are slow and cumbersome and are adopting a mobile + cloud solution as a primary system of record (SOR) to manage their critical infrastructure. A key requirement is seamless integration with GISs and other systems making it possible to aggregate and present all the data that is needed in the field, by management and other stakeholders.  Furthermore in Colorado the state-wide CDOT mandate enables CDOT data to be shared with municipalities.

State-wide mandate by CDOT enhances value

While individual stakeholders have realized significant value from adopting a mobile + cloud solution (for example, one of the quantified benefits that Kiewit has realized as a result is a reduction in utility strikes on major projects by upwards of 90%, which translates into cost savings in the millions of dollars in direct costs), the value of the solution has been dramatically enhanced by Colorado DoT mandating a single mobile + cloud solution for the entire state.  Everyone who owns, operates, maintains or installs utility or pipeline equipment in the state right of way by law is required to use the same software software which enables contractors, locators, subsurface utility engineering firms, utilities and telecoms, and government transportation authorities to share their data. CDOT has acquired a number of mobile licences that enables it to provide handheld apps to all its construction contractors so they are able to view CDOT data in the field and also add to the data as new infrastructure is installed or existing infrastructure is relocated in preparation for a road or highway project.  Furthermore CDOT now requires that over 150 utility companies and more than 1,000 utility installation stakeholders use the same solution to capture and record the location of underground utilities.

The provisions of the Colorado Revised Statutes has resulted in the reliability of the data contained in the CDOT database being much higher than is typically found in utility or telecom records. The high accuracy underground utility data comes from two sources, both mandated by the recent Colorado Revised Statutes; subsurface utility engineering surveys (SUE) and as-builts submitted for newly installed utility and telecom infrastructure. In addition, in some parts of Colorado, for example, the western slope, CDOT is inventorying existing underground infrastructure in the public right of way to support future civil engineering projects. Ultimately it is to be expected that the CDOT data will comprise a complete, up to date, high accuracy map of underground assets in the public right of way in Colorado. Such a map will provide immeasurable benefits to everyone involved in construction in the public right of way.

This post is based on Page Tucker's keynote at the Canadian Underground Forum (CUF). You can listen to all the talks at CUF on the GeoIgnite CUF Youtube channel.

UK's bottom-up/top-down approach to creating a voluntary National Underground Asset Registry

Many jurisidictions are recognizing the human and economic cost of not knowing the location of underground utilities and other infrastructure and are looking at legislative, regulatory, technological, business practice and other measures to find ways to ensure the capture and sharing of reliable underground utility location data. An important question that each jurisdiction needs to decide is whether participation in a scheme for compiling and sharing underground infrastructure data should be voluntary or mandatory. The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) initiative in the UK has adopted a voluntary approach, most likely because it grew out of a initial grass-roots collaboration of asset owners and the organizations involved in working on maintaining embedded asset networks.

Mandatory or voluntary ?

Colorado

Colorado is among the first state/provincial jurisdiction in North America and in the world to mandate a subsurface utility engineering survey (SUE) at the pre-construction stage. Colorado's legislation provides for strong enforcement options. The new regulations mandates the electronic submission to CDOT of a digital plan, typically the result of a SUE survey, showing all physical offsets, both horizontal and vertical, to all existing utilities, including laterals to buildings, before commencing work on a public construction project. Furthermore, the new regulation requires that accurate as-builts, stamped by a PE or PLS, must be submitted electronically to CDOT within 45 days of the completion of work on a public construction project. 

A technical innovation that the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has adopted and mandated is a mobile and cloud-based hybrid GIS/surveying system for recording and sharing underground utility location data. CDOT requires its construction contractors to use this app so they are all able to view CDOT data in the field and add to the data as new infrastructure is installed or existing infrastructure is located or relocated in preparation for a road or highway project. CDOT now requires that over 150 utility companies and more than 1,000 utility installation stakeholders to also use this app to capture and record the location of underground utilities.  Furthermore, anyone conducting a SUE survey is required to use this app to record underground utility location and other data collected.

Ontario

In Ontario legislation since 2020 provides strong enforcement options when locates are not completed accurately and in a timely manner. In addition legislation provides strong measures for compelling utilities and other infrastructure owners to improve utility treatments and relocations. But instead of adopting a traditional mechanism involving fines and other penalties for noncompliance based on the legislation, Infrastructure Ontario has implemented a new approach to utility coordination by fostering collaboration among utility owners and government agencies.  Infrastructure Ontario decided to keep the regulatory “big stick” as a rarely used exception and focused on developing a collaborative approach to utility coordination as a more productive and efficient way to achieve better utility coordination. In this vein the Utility Coordination Program (UCP) was launched in March 2020 with the goal of formalizing a new, more streamlined way of performing utility relocation work by enhancing coordination between stakeholders groups. Infrastructure Ontario began working with key utilities and telecoms, the Ministry of Transportation, and the transit agency Metrolinx to develop a program to improve utility coordination. It was recognized that the foundation for a collaborative approach to utility coordination is a single source of project truth. The Office of Utility Coordination (OUC) was setup to became the single custodian of project data and applications.  It was recognized that the foundation for a collaborative approach to utility coordination is a single source of project truth. The Office of Utility Coordination (OUC) was setup to became the single custodian of project data and applications. The primary source of the data is provided by utility and other partners. Metrolinx improves on that data by requring SUE surveys.

Scotland

Scotland has a history of asset owners and roads authorities working collaboratively. For many years this tradition has enabled utilities and telecoms to share details of planned works. In 2012 Scotland implemented a nation-wide collaborative system for sharing information about the location of underground infrastructure among stakeholders involved in road construction including roads authorities, utility and telecom network operators, and Transport Scotland. The Scottish Vault system was implemented by the Scottish road works community on a voluntary basis and remains voluntary. (One of provisions in the recently passed Transport (Scotland) Bill could make the sharing of data mandatory, but it has not been implemented.)

England and Wales

The National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) initiative in England and Wales has also adopted a voluntary approach to bringing utility owners, government agencies and others together in a collaborative environment to share underground utility data. An important reason that participation is voluntary is this initiative grew out of a bottom-up collaboration among actual asset owners and the organizations involved in working on maintaining embedded asset networks in the North East of England and in London. Feedback from the field was that with the practices currently in place data is delivered inconsistently in terms of scale and content making it difficult to integrate and interpret the data in the field. The strong message from the asset owners and those responsible for maintaining the assets was that a simpler, comprehensive, and standardized approach was required. The NUAR project was formally initiated by the Geospatial Commission, which is part of the Cabinet Office at the heart of the UK government. While NUAR is being driven from government, this is very much picking up on a bottom-up requirement.

NUAR background

In 2018 Northumbrian Water brought network operators and local government agencies in Newcastle upon Tyne together at the Northumbrian Water Group Innovation Festival. The event benefited from a spirit of cooperation which enabled 20 utilities, telecoms, local government authorities to voluntarily sit down at the table to collaborate in developing a shared underground infrastructure map showing the location of water, wastewater, gas, electricity, telecoms and other underground services provided by the network owners.

The UK government created the Geospatial Commission to unlock the significant economic opportunities offered by geospatial data.  The NUAR initiative was very much a case of the coincidence of top down interest in digitalization, in general and specifically around geospatial data, and bottom up initiatives by actual asset owners and the organizations involved in working on maintaining embedded asset networks. The Geospatial Commission built on the grass roots initiative in North East England. In addition the Mayor of London’s Office was awarded a share of £3.9m to create a digital map of the utilities and pipes below ground. Known as London's Underground Asset Register (LUAR), the Mayor’s Office worked closely with utilities, transport providers, and six local authorities to create a shared digital map of underground infrastructure. Together in North East England and Central London some 40 utility and telecom network operators and local government agencies voluntarily collaborated to share their data using a harmonized data model and symbology to enable viewing all underground utilities on a single map.

Since completion of the two pilots the Geospatial Commission has announced that it intends to complete procurement for a National Underground Asset Register by Summer 2021. Initially it plans to develop products for three regions, London, Wales, and the North East of England with the intention to complete a national implementation by 2024.

This post is partly based based on the contribution of Neil Brammall, Geospatial Commission, to the panel discussion on the role of government in underground infrastructure at the Canadian Underground Forum (CUF). You can listen to all the talks at CUF on the GeoIgnite CUF Youtube channel.

Canadian government's approach to managing underground infrastructure on federal land

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is responsible for procurement and real property management for federal departments and agencies. There are about a hundred departments and agencies in the Federal government, of which 23 are custodians of real property assets.  PSPC, National Defense and Parks Canada are the largest. PAPC's responsibilities includes underground infrastructure on federal property. PSPC's strategy is a bottom-up approach in which the federal government is working within the framework of existing provincial legislation. In the past two year PSPC has joined all provincial one call centres across the country within that framework is responding to requests for information about underground infrastructure on federal property. PSPC has undertaken the task of creating a PSPC Directive, Standard and Guidelines for the protection of underground infrastructure. Ultimately the intention is to submit these documents to Treasury Board to encourage other agencies that are custodians of real property assets as well as regulatory agencies to adopt a common approach to managing information about underground infrastructure.

In the national capital region PSPC initiated a pilot project with Ontario One Call to see how the one call notification system would work with national and crown owned properties within the National Capital Area (NCA). The first stage of the PSPC requires compiling maps of existing Federal underground infrastructure enabling the government to respond to information requests. To do that required determining what information it intends to share taking into consideration Government of Canada security requirements. Secondly it required that PSPC and other federal agencies register with Ontario One Call. The NCA pilot has made it possible to identify underground infrastructure that would not have been seen without going through the process. As a result PSPC is gaining a better understanding of the relationship with contractors and excavator which is helping build a more robust system and business procedures for collecting location information about underground infrastructure on federal property. The experience that has been gained in the NCA is being passed down to the PSPC regional organizations to enable them to develop similar capacities for managing location data about underground infrastructure.

The challenge is to capture comprehensive data not only about the accurate location of underground infrastructure, but  other properties of the facilities, such as diameter of pipe, cable capacity, type of material, its condition, when it was last inspected, and so on. In each region PSPC is carrying out an inventory of existing underground assets and based on that conducting a gap analysis. The many gaps that were found which were not just missing data, but data that was only available in the form of paper documents. This has motivated a drive within PSPC to get away from paper documents and move to a completely digital environment based on standards that allow this data to be shared easily within the government and with external entities such as utility and telecom operators, contractors and excavators. For example, the Parliamentary Precinct is the responsibility of three or four different government departments each with its own staff. Underground infrastructure on Parliament Hill is already very congested and with the amount of construction and development planned and underway it is essential to know reliably where things are underground and be able to identify clashes with new designs and to be able to hare this data interoperability among the several agencies involved.

PSPC has undertaken the task of creating a PSPC Directive, Standard and Guidelines for the protection of underground infrastructure. This requires engaging with provincial and territorial one call centres, developing the capability to respond to requests for information, and developing business processes to improve the accuracy, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of the data about underground infrastructure that is maintained by the Federal Geomatics group.  The longer term goal is for Treasury Board to encourage custodians of real property asets assets such as National Defense and Parks Canada, as well as regulatory agencies including Transport Canada, Canada Energy Regulator and Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) to adopt similar policies so that this approach to damage prevention becomes pervasive in the Federal government.

Currently this initiative is a bottom-up effort that encourages people to participate voluntarily because of the benefits it provides to them in their work. The goal is develop a concrete, feasible solution that does not disrupt current operations and that will demonstrate the value of the underground information that is being collected and shared with stakeholders. In the future it is expected that the awareness of the significant benefits from better management of underground assets will reach higher levels within government and engender a discussion on ways to collaborate on underground infrastructure throughout the federal government.

Background

In 2015 CSA Z247 the first Damage Prevention Standard in Canada was released. It describes the damage prevention process and elements would reduce damages to Canada's underground infrastructure improving public, worker and community safety and preserving the environment,  It was sponsored by the National Energy Board, Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association and the Canadian Gas Association. 

In 2014 the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment, and Natural Resources completed two studies; Moving Energy Safely: A Study of the Safe Transport of Hydrocarbons by Pipelines, Takers and Railcars and Digging Safely - One Call Notification Systems and the Prevention of Damage to Canada's Buried Infrastructure.  The Senate Standing Committee followed this with specific recommendations;

• That the federal government reference the CSA Z247 standard for protection and prevention of damage to buried infrastructure and encourage provinces and territories to reference the standard in legislation.
• That buried facilities on federal land be registered with a provincial or territorial one-call services and that the federal government require anyone undertaking excavation on federal land to call the local one-call centre.
• That the federal government require all owners of federally regulated buried infrastructure to become members of a provincial or territorial one-call service.

This post is partly based based on the contribution of Jennifer Ross, PSPC, to the panel discussion on the role of government in underground infrastructure at the Canadian Underground Forum (CUF). You can listen to all the talks at CUF on the GeoIgnite CUF Youtube channel.

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. 

Streamlining connectivity for all with open, decentralized data

Guest post by Wade Anderson, Vice President, SMB, IQGeo

5G is predicted to have the same economic impact on the US as commercializing the internet did 25 years ago. The technology is the motor of a new data economy built around artificial intelligence, autonomy, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. 5G is essential to produce and transport data and new knowledge faster and more seamlessly to support an increasingly digital and interconnected economy. The proliferation of IoT applications across industries is showing no signs of slowing down, presenting a huge opportunity for business growth. According to GSMA, the global IoT market will be worth $900 billion in revenue by 2025 – an almost threefold increase on 2019.

With global 5G adoption expected to almost triple in 2021, the distribution of telecoms networks will need to grow to match this projected demand. The US has ambitious plans to achieve nationwide 5G coverage through a combination of state incentives and market forces. The Biden administration pledged $100bn to improve broadband infrastructure across the nation, with the ultimate aim of providing high-speed broadband connectivity for all Americans by 2029. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring connectivity for all has risen further up the agenda for the telecoms industry and for municipalities, government agencies, universities and corporates that support their own fiber and 5G networks.

Major US telecoms providers are deploying superfast Ultra-Wideband 5G services across cities, stadia, and airports. The US is also ahead of many other advanced countries in allocating high-band and low-band spectra for 5G. North America has the world’s largest share of the market in ‘dark fiber’, unused additional capacity that could help share and spread 5G coverage. Yet the breadth of coverage is patchy and inconsistent and lags behind competitors such as South Korea and China. There has been growing frustration with the pace of the rollout across much of the US. There are also concerns over the lack of market diversity and the limited number of vendors following the US ban on Huawei. There remain major challenges in filling gaps in provision, particularly in remote and rural areas where major new infrastructure investment from large providers is unviable. Currently, it is estimated that over a third of Americans living in rural areas lack access to a quality standard of broadband.

Yet the expansion of high-speed broadband to all states and regions is essential to ensure equality of connectivity. To reach rural or small-town locations we cannot rely solely on major telecoms operators but need a diverse market of innovative providers, Wireless Internet service providers (WISPs), and organizations such as transport, governmental, and commercial operators willing to lease out bandwidth. These smaller providers can help complement large networks to reach under-served areas that may not be commercially viable for major infrastructure investment.

Tackling information silos to accelerate rollout

A major challenge that organizations continue to face is the existence of information silos which prevent organizations from planning the most efficient and effective paths to new markets and wider coverage. There is often a lack of structured network documentation as many smaller operators have not implemented a System of Record (SoR) which identifies an authoritative data source for each data element. In addition, there continue to be silos between workflows such as maintenance and construction and between datasets such as geospatial data and data such as asset records, repairs, or upgrades. Providers need to be able to integrate everything from meteorological to economic data with internal processes and workflows to spot new hazards or opportunities.

For example, data from the nearby natural or built environment, such as trees that could obstruct signals or tall buildings that could host 5G antennae, is crucial to maintenance schedules and planning new provision. Similarly, integrating accurate geospatial information on existing networks with data on nearby infrastructure would help organizations identify opportunities to lease out ‘dark fiber’ to others, thereby organically increasing nationwide 5G networks. Open, decentralized internal data is critical to speed up the deployment of 5G and foster a healthy, competitive culture across the industry. A diverse, dynamic telecoms market able to collectively achieve nationwide coverage will require more open and dynamic telecoms data.

To facilitate more agile broadband infrastructure planning, organizations must develop system of record (SoR) strategies and break down internal silos by encouraging efficient and joined-up data sharing. Operators should make their internal geospatial network data accessible to all departments so they can seamlessly incorporate external data such as street maps or satellite data into all their survey, construction, and maintenance processes. Geospatial network data forms a ‘digital thread’ connecting all external data to a specific location in the network and thus revealing the subtle interdependencies between networks and their local environment.

Opening up their internal systems so that disparate departments and divisions can seamlessly incorporate relevant external data into all processes. For example, IBM Weather Group’s LIDAR and satellite data on vegetation cover could be overlaid onto geospatial network data to help companies plan new 5G antennae to minimize signal obstruction from nearby vegetation. Similar organizations could open their datasets to telecoms companies to help create a complete picture of the hazards and opportunities to network expansion. By integrating external data with internal network information, new market entrants could see opportunities for efficient deployment of broadband into new geographies and accelerate the process of ensuring nationwide coverage.

A flow of telecoms data between departments enables open, decentralized information sharing. Open-source, geospatial data supports smaller and larger telecoms players to maximize the reach of high-speed broadband, addressing the growing digital divide of nationwide connectivity.

The ‘dark fiber’ opportunity

Accurate, real-time geospatial data can also help organizations spot opportunities to lease out bandwidth. Many organizations are sitting on goldmines of unused, ‘dark fiber’ network capacity that could be sold to companies or leased to nearby communities to increase coverage. We helped a large university in the western US audit and update their network asset records and uncovered over 200 underutilized ‘dark’ broadband fibers, helping streamline their network and identify extra capacity. They also used advanced geospatial information systems to predict future capacity and find the most efficient pathways to coverage across their campus.

The same data could be shared with telecoms operators or other organizations to help plot the most effective paths to extend coverage using existing capacity. North America already leads the world in the ‘dark fiber’ networks market and has an opportunity to leverage this to accelerate the nationwide 5G coverage without new infrastructure spending. Discovering unused extra broadband capacity in this way helps to increase efficiency for large and small operators alike by allowing them to extract maximum coverage from minimal resources and grow revenue potential in the process.

Other companies are digitalizing and decentralizing their network data and making it accessible to everyone from field technicians to call-centre staff. These companies are moving away from traditional centralized GIS, siloed spreadsheets, proprietary apps, or paper maps towards ‘open’ network data that can be accessed from smartphones and tablets or exported through open APIs. This means that data on current networks can be easily merged with other datasets to spot opportunities to maximize coverage with minimal resources and risk.

Achieving nationwide 5G coverage and the digital transformation of the economy will require a parallel digital transformation of telecoms, fiber and 5G operators. Companies will need to embrace an open, transparent approach to capturing and sharing data while creating the ability to capture and integrate data from across all departments and external sources to develop a holistic picture of the risks and rewards across every region. This new digital transformation will demand the democratization and decentralization of all organizational data so that every operator can see the clearest and quickest route to reaching under-served communities across the country.