deployed a simple, easy to use toolbox that accomplishes all
the tasks outlined throughout this article (Figure 4).
In April, ProStar received FIATECH’s coveted Celebration
of Technology Innovation (CETI) award for Life Cycle Data
Management & Information Integration. The CETI press release
included the following:
In October 2014, ProStar successfully deployed Transparent
Earth (TE) and its companion mobile solution (PointMan
TM
) to
improve damage prevention and asset management practices.
This provided the real-time ability to aggregate vast amounts
of information from multiple sources and seamlessly and
securely made this information readily available to field and
office workers where and when it was most needed. Workers
captured and recorded new data as well as viewed historical
records, assessed this information in real-time and immediately
made informed business decisions and provided feedback when
updates or revisions were required. Interoperability between
internal and external data sources included functionality for
engineering, One-Call, construction, land services, projects, and
maintenance divisions. The implementation of TE, leveraging
industry standards, accelerated interoperability throughout
the enterprise and meant asset information was captured in
accordance with regulatory requirements, including the ISO
15926 standard for data integration, sharing, exchange, and
hand-over between computer systems. Other benefits resulting
from implementing the ProStar technology suite include
more efficient business processes, reduction of paper forms,
improved location accuracy and the timely delivery, collection,
and sharing of information.
Innovative companies servicing the oil and gas operator
industry are committed to integrating TE and PointMan
into their daily routine functions. One example is Loenbro.
Loenbro, a leading construction and energy services company
servicing the Rocky Mountain region, intends to implement
TE for planning, building and monitoring pipeline construction
projects. “It is our company’s mission to bring positive change
to our industry. One of the best ways to do that is to be on
the leading edge of technology, Prostar is that leading edge
in our industry.” said Paul Leach, President and Co-Founder
of Loenbro. “In today’s world, there are constant advances
in modern technology, with very little of it utilised in oil and
gas. Prostar’s geospatial intelligent capabilities will forever
change the way Loenbro’s projects are designed, managed, and
maintained.”
Loenbro sees commercial, quality, efficiency and safety
advantages in employing the Prostar Solution across its family
of pipeline construction, industrial construction, fabrication,
inspection, and oilfield services companies. In particular,
Loenbro sees ProStar’s suite of Mobile and Cloud Solutions as
the place to view and manage all construction related activities.
These activities include identifying bid opportunities, producing
preliminary project estimates and quotes, time management,
One Call verification, safety, equipment and personnel dispatch,
managing process workflow, and monitoring project progress in
real time. Loenbro is developing a ‘War Room’ with extensive
video and telecommunication capabilities where project
planning and tracking can occur with the use of the latest
technologies in real time, all possible with the ProStar solution.
Also available are queries, reports, and key metrics that can
be run from the dashboard associated with each project so
that management can view individual project details. One
specific use being investigated is the RFID tagging of materials
and subsequent documentation required for Pipeline Integrity
Management purposes. This RFID tagging would be achieved
by combining the PipeTalker™ ECHORFID system with ProStar’s
Transparent Earth and PointMan so that this information can be
tracked and reported, from initial component delivery to final
installation.
Pipeline planning and design firms are also taking a look
into integrating their service offerings and deliverables data
into ProStar’s Transparent Earth platform. T2Utility Engineers
operating in Canada, and Cardno, Inc. a global civil and
environmental engineering firm headquartered in Australia,
are investigating pushing their ASCE 38-compliant utility
mapping data directly into Transparent Earth, coupled with
jpegs, forms, and reports that are all referenced positionally to
specific points, lines, and polygons, for those clients utilising
Transparent Earth.
The next generation of geospatial sciences and
analytics
Universities are realising the need to integrate these open
geospatial solutions and technologies into their existing
educational offerings. At North Carolina State University, The
Center for Geospatial Analytics announced the launch of the
CGA Industry Experience Programme (IEP). This new programme
gives graduate students the opportunity to immerse themselves
in real-world geospatial projects through industry partnerships
over multiple semesters while simultaneously working towards
a degree. NCSU recently announced that their first industry
partner is ProStar Geocorp™.
Summary
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) did not always live up
to the promise in its name. The ‘geographic’ portion implied
accuracy but accuracies in location were difficult to verify,
if they existed at all. ‘Information’ had no means to verify
good versus bad. ‘Systems’ were propriety in nature and often
required significant training and certification in order to fully
utilise and operate them. GIS made for a good planning tool,
but was not a reliable design or operations tool. In these
traditional systems, data resided back in the office and was
siloed, unable to be sorted and assembled or used, especially
in the field where it was often the most needed. Today, we
are seeing a change in guard within an industry where workers
and executives are asking questions surrounding antiquated
business practices that have been in place for decades, and why
technologies used every day to improve our own personal lives
are not being integrated and adopted to enhance our business
operations.
Cloud-based data repositories, integrated into mobile and
open geospatial technologies with real-time communication
between the office and the field, can turn isolated, disparate,
and often questionable data into big, standardised, and
qualified data. When combined with a precise, accurate,
pedigreed location, geospatial intelligence can be realised.
This technology and process is now in the oil and gas industry
pipeline.
80
World Pipelines
/
JULY 2015
