Fortifying Water Utilities for the Future
Aerial Imagery and Geomatics in Ft. Lauderdale
As America's infrastructure ages, countless local governments across the country are finding themselves at an important crossroads. Faced with the often expensive and critical task of upgrading their local infrastructure, they must make a consequential choice about how to proceed: the most economical option, incremental patchwork, or large-scale overhaul programs that can be a long-term investment in the future. Ft. Lauderdale is one of those many cities, and SAM had the opportunity to help them achieve a massive overhaul of their aging water system. As is often the case with programs of this scope, specifically those involving city-wide infrastructure, it soon went far beyond its initial scope, requiring extensive knowledge of multiple geospatial and engineering disciplines. Luckily, SAM’s Managed Geospatial Solutions™ framework was uniquely suited to the challenge.
SAM was tasked with collecting new orthophoto and LiDAR of the municipal limits and surround environs. The purpose of this was to inventory and perform a condition assessment of the infrastructure, particularly all the ≥ 8.5-inch water mains. Despite a few known challenges, most notably airspace restrictions and coastal cloud conditions, the aerial team was successful in collecting the digital photography and LiDAR.
Multiple consultants were assigned geographies to inventory the existing infrastructure. Each contributing to the final product in an overall geodatabase. Mobile Mapping was employed to provide more detail within the Right of Ways. SAM’s assignment was to collect HD LiDAR and terrestrial imagery for approximately three hundred miles roadways. The HD Mobile Mapping LiDAR was merged into the aerial LiDAR to create a uniform co-registered point clouds suitable for feature extraction.
For supplemental field verification and condition assessment, SAM’s subject matter experts utilized a hybrid approach to improve efficiency and reduce field collection cost. Typically, two different field collection specialists would be deployed to work separately on Subsurface Engineering (SUE) locating and inspection followed by GPS crews to measure precise locations. As Senior Manager Ethan Herbek described, “The biggest effort of the work was the collective SUE and Survey portion of the program, to be quite honest. We planned the field work with a hybrid team, with one SUE specialists and one surveyor measuring locations so they could pass through the area efficiently.” This approach is a testament to SAM’s ability to adjust to the larger goals and circumstances of a given program. With decades of combined industry experience, this approach had a positive fiscal impact to the program with an estimated 25% cost reduction for the client.
The MGS™ Approach
The approach helped the delivery schedule, reduced labor costs, while also mitigating the risk of costly errors and rework. Moreover, the accurate and comprehensive 3-tiered data collected methods provided enhanced deliveries products optimized for planning and decision support, potentially saving millions in future maintenance and system upgrade costs.
Ethan Herbek emphasizes the growing recognition of the benefits and return on investment that SAM and other industry leaders provide: “There is huge demand for data collection and infrastructure management services. It is about knowing where the underground utilities are located relative to other buried and surface utilities. Having the data spatially accurate in a network model in heavily congested urban areas yield benefits for future development and damage prevention.”
This program was thorough and demanding, requiring expertise in several disciplines. SAM’s Managed Geospatial Services™ approach and recommendations, a holistic solution was possible. For similar programs of this size and complexity, there is no substitute. Not only will the impact within Ft. Lauderdale be felt immediately, but the benefits will be realized for decades to come. That is the MGS™ difference—that is SAM.