Page 14 - Alabama 811 Magazine 2021 Issue 2

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
While DigSmart does have its own dashboard feature for use in the field, the City of Auburn chose to integrate the data into CityWorks instead. Several departments were already using the software which can receive DigSmart data and having one less system to learn was a benefit.
“Our locators were already in CityWorks. They use it for other business needs that aren’t specifically faculty locates, so the big value is it lets us put the work into the tech they’re already comfortable with,” he said.
For the technically minded, Chris
said DigSmart is a service running
on enterprise servers that sit in the background and process the tickets as they come in. Then, it tells CityWorks, which actually makes the service request and prioritizes jobs.
The City of Auburn rolled out CityWorks in 2019, and Chris has been pleased with the software’s performance.
“The perfect process is one that is running in the background and you don’t need to think about it. And
that’s been our experience with it. It turns away and it’s reliable. It’s as sophisticated as it needs to get, but as simple as we want it to be. It just works,” he said.
DigSmart works by applying business logic that was programmed prior to the launch to determine where a locate is geographically, and what maps are around it. It looks at GIS data, and continually improves as the City’s GIS maps improve, he said.
The system runs three different logical checks on each ticket to get the results Chris and his team need.
“The easiest one is geographically where is it in the city, and what locators are assigned to that territory, then it assigns it to the ticket to the correct locator,” he said.
Then it looks at different facilities, like sewer, water, fiber and streetlights and traffic signals. It checks the GIS Data to see if any of our facilities are in the vicinity of that ticket. It looks at the ticket geometry and apply a dynamic buffer — sometimes with a wide 250- foot buffer where data is sparse, or as narrow as a 50-foot buffer where data
confidence is high — to see if any sewer manholes or signals or electrical assets are in the area.
CityWorks knows what assets are in a particular area, so when the ticket is assigned to a particular locator, the information is passed along to them.
A side benefit of the new software is for positive response. When they launched DigSmart, positive response wasn’t a requirement, but The City of Auburn
is now incorporating it in their daily workflow.
Positive response is a confirmation from utility owner operators back to AL811
— and ultimately the excavator — that lets them know the ticket was received, processed and that entity has no facility conflicts in the area in question. The industry is moving toward positive response which is both safer and, in some instances, it allows excavators to move forward with their work quicker.
“The technology makes positive response super easy,” he said. “It doesn’t change anybody’s workflow and doesn’t add any work on their plates. It’s just tech talking to other tech to do the work.”
12 • Alabama 811
2021, Issue 2
UTILITY & PIPELINE LOCATOR TRAINING
FULL OSHA CONSTRUCTION LIBRARY
888-882-8777 info@utasearch.com www.utasearch.com
EXCAVATION SAFETY TRAINING
UTA DISTANCE LEARNING CENTER
WORK SMARTER !