The PDF Dilemma, a Question of Relevance.
Before You Dig Australia
BYDA is Australia's national FREE referral service for locating underground pipes and cables before breaking ground.
A year and a half into delivering the first strategic plan for Before you dig Australia and as CEO, and there is no doubt about it, the next 2 years are critical in regard to asking and, dare I say, answering the hard questions. So, rather than dance around the fire on my own, I have decided to begin a monthly thought piece to invite you into the conversation. To ponder together the challenges that, as an industry, we all collectively face and how as an industry, we can work together and find a pathway forward to achieving the lofty goal of Zero Damage – Zero Harm when it comes to protecting Australian underground networks.
Digital Disruption, it's here, and I hate to say it, we can't avoid it.
BYDA, as many of you know, has been actively involved in the Victorian Digital Twin project for public infrastructure projects, and I recently presented to the Australia and New Zealand Land Information Council as part of a broader conversation on the various infrastructure projects happening around the country. This included their commitment to the UN GGIM Infrastructure theme which includes prioritising a digital data sharing environment for Utility mapping. BYDA's ability to be actively involved in these conversations and other rapidly evolving digital projects is only possible if we can work with members to identify a real pathway to sharing digital plans through the BYDA referral platform and improve mapping accuracy. The PDF is simply not welcome in the brave new world of digital twins, nor are plans at AS 5488 quality level D, but that's another discussion.
So my challenge, as it currently stands, is that as an industry, we need to recognise that our reliance on PDF as the primary way we share utility plans with stakeholders such as government and the construction community is coming to an end.
Now before you panic, there will always be a place for the PDF, particularly for our residential homeowners and those once-off users of the referral service. But even then, if we are going to provide this group a PDF it should be the best PDF we can send, with improved accuracy and safety information that is relevant, consistent and consumable. And hand on heart, we have a lot of work to do when it comes to the current referrals; with the average inner-city referral resulting in up to 12 emails, 17 plus attachments and up to 67 pages of "stuff" I'm not sure we can sit back and claim that it's the best we can do.
But the largest user group of the referral service is the construction sector, with a significant breakdown of this group being in early planning and design. The PDF is simply no longer relevant for this group which has rapidly evolved into the digital era. This group is asking, actually no, I will be honest, they are demanding that we evolve with them. They know that damage prevention is essential, and they are committed to safety on each and every project, but they need us to do our part. A recent Before You Dig volume user survey attracted over 200 responses, and each and every one of these prioritised digital mapping/file sharing as the number one thing BYDA and our members can do to ensure that the referral is seen as a meaningful safety tool and not just a tick the box exercise.
Now I know this is a simplified discussion, and yes, there are challenges. I know that we have assets in the ground that are over 80 years old, we have 700 members and just as many plan designs, legends, and scales to contend with, plus various GIS capabilities and systems in use around the country, there are also legal team discussions and protocols for file sharing to determine. But I also know that we can try. We can begin to map a pathway forward that ensures that the referral service is a valued and trusted information source, and this begins with a conversation. A willingness to share ideas and to commit to taking the first steps. The reality is that if we don't, we will lose the race for relevance, we will be disrupted, and, worst case scenario, disregarded.
So, I open the conversation to you, how can BYDA work with members to create a pathway for sharing digital asset plans? What are the pain points, and what are the sweet spots where change may be easier than we think?
~ Mell Greenall, BYDA CEO
Instrumentation & Monitoring Manager, Spark - North East Link - D&C
1 年Hi Mell, great topic. Would be great if BYDA could offer a choice of file format the recipient chooses to receive that way as a stater you can gather stats as to what is the preferred choice the market requires moving forward into the long term future. As technologies improve I see the requirement for spatially accurate data sets be issued enabling the end user to augmentelly view on-site with a simple device such as a mobile phone
Director Access Detection
1 年As long as the system you end up going with is free and easy to access for utility locators and construction. We don't need another monthly subscription to access plans. This is why PDF is so popular as it is accessible to everyone. A good example of this is when you have to use a DWF plan (Telstra). Although you have programs to access this data you either have to pay to have a software program to see the DWF, or use and online program which requires the internet. Of course this is all relevant on the data been collected in the first place so whether you have a new format to view plans or use PDF the information has to be correctly positioned for this to work and improve on safety. You mentioned this being driven by the construction industry but the locating industry have been screaming out for a better solution for a while. Since NBN has taken over Telstra as being the largest owner of under ground landline telecommunications the plans have gone backwards. transferring the information across to a digital format is not going to help construction or locating industry until these asset owners take responsibility for the accuracy of there maps and supply the same information as they supply to there contractors or employees.
Geelong Cable Locations (Australia)
1 年Ok, so here's the thing. This is already available The Look Up and Live website already has the underground electrical cables on it for Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and they are now even adding Victoria to it. South East Water, has all its data available online for everyone to access. I know on Gold Coast and Brisbane they have the same. I suspect most, if not all, of the other water authorities will have their underground assets available online for their own staff to access, so it seems a bit odd why they don’t just make it available for everyone to use. NBN has the Atlas program available to all its contractors. Again, surely this could be made available to everyone. Telstra, the biggest underground utility owner and the one that has assets in every state of Australia, also has all its data available online, and its contractors have access to it. The gas company down here also has its assets available online for its staff to access. So yeah, moving on from PDFs is an absolute no-brainer to me. The real question is why hasn't it happened yet? The platforms/programs/apps are there, access is already being given out to contractors and staff members. Why can't we just move forward to the next step?
Applying technology solutions and services to reduce strikes to Utility networks and critical infrastructure.
1 年Thanks for putting the conversation out there Mell. There are so many topics at play here, but the fundamentals I see that Utilities need to ensure that users of the information (whether it be PDF or Digital Data sets) understand the information that has been shared. But, also that the specific risks and associated work practices aligned to the activity being planned around those networks are conveyed by utility. Often, these are NOT uniform across the utility sectors and certainly not across utility verticals. How is this communicated in a digital data set? There are many examples globally of centralized Utility data sets fed by utilities and accessible only by other government departments for planning and are touted as the best practice for reducing network damage, but there doesn't seem to be clear data to prove it. In my mind the keys to improving the experience of service users and reducing the risk of damage lies in the accuracy of the utility network records, and the continuous curating of these records. This can only be done when the locating and survey community, along with excavators and utilities commit to using high precision equipment and techniques to collecting and correcting data - and sharing it.
Driving Geospatial Innovation as Chief Innovation Officer at Boustead Geospatial Technologies
1 年Great post Mell, thanks for raising this important discussion. There's definitely a long way to go but it's great to be working with you on this transformation. Many enquirers will already be starting to see the "View web map" and "Download spatial data" on email responses from #SmarterWX. These allow you to view the member's assets on an interactive map or download the asset data to include it in your own mapping apps. One small step on the path of #PDFTransition.