Powering Change: GIS Drives Digital Transformation in Utilities

Digital transformation consists of two changes.

1. Analog to digital technology.
2. Behavior for the better

Just changing from analog to digital is not enough. The transformation of the music industry provides a good example. It has produced analog media for years: phonograph records, 8-track tapes, and cassettes. These examples were all analog. The industry migrated to compact disks (CDs). CDs used digital technology. Was this digital transformation? Not really. That’s because while the CDs were more convenient, people still behaved the same way with the new digital technology as they did with analog. People had to find the right CD to listen to a song as they did with records, 8-tracks, and cassettes. Streaming services revolutionized the music industry. To listen to a song, ask for it to be played. Finding the right album was no longer necessary.

The utility industry has used Geographic Information System (GIS) technology for decades. Like the switch from analog cassettes to CDs, utilities migrated their paper network maps to digital. Sure, GIS was much more convenient. Updates were faster, and the quality of the maps was much better. However, for much of GIS history at utilities, behavior didn’t change that much. Utilities plotted out paper maps from the GIS and, from there, used the output in much the same way they did with manually prepared maps. Utilities often sought to make the GIS maps look exactly the same as the old manual maps. Hanging blueprints of the old paper maps on conference room walls was replaced by hanging plotted maps on those same walls. Despite digitization, the behaviors were largely unchanged.

 

GIS and Digital Transformation

However, savvy users realized that a digital representation of a gas or electric network could be useful for various purposes, such as network analysis, engineering and design, and customer connection workflows. However, the precision and modeling were relatively primitive due to the software’s limitations. Today, GIS is becoming an enterprise asset that drives many new behaviors. The transformation from analog to digital is not just about making paper maps faster but also dramatically speeding up processes, creating new insights about the network, and providing a way of communicating, coordinating, and collaborating with all stakeholders.

ArcGIS Utility Network has removed historic GIS limitations so that utility systems—including new technologies such as inverter-based resources and grid-enhancing technologies— can be precisely located within the GIS. In effect, the GIS has migrated from a mapping system to a modeling system, enabled by a spatial context. It provides the content, including the pipes, wires, and structures. It also provides context - the relationships between utility assets and the environment they serve. It helps utilities better understand how their assets impact their customers and the community.

The following are a few utility stories about how utilities use GIS to transform their workflows. Each leveraged digital technology and changed their behaviors. Download the free eBook for 25 stories about how utilities transformed their networks with GIS.

A modern GIS provides the content and the context for true digital transformation.

FirstEnergy Changed Its Behavior

FirstEnergy, a large electric utility company operating in five states, faced the challenge of modernizing its network’s geospatial model. The company implemented a solution integrating Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) technology, distribution automation, and mobile graphic design with ArcGIS Utility Network. This solution included enhancements such as internal substations, mesh networks, duct systems, and capabilities for analytics, capacity planning, and load management. As a result, FirstEnergy achieved a high-accuracy foundation for all operational technology, allowing near real-time updates to its ADMS, benefiting 650 employees, and significantly improving network management and efficiency. Read the complete story.

“GIS is the foundation for keeping our ADMS populated with current, accurate network information.”

—Ted Allan, Director of the GIS/ADMS Project, FirstEnergy.

 

“More and more departments are using GIS. Data reporting and analytics run faster, are easier to generate, and make more sense.”

—Jamie Chips, Manager of Application Support for Distribution, FirstEnergy.

 

Turlock Irrigation District Leverages GIS for Grid Modernization

Turlock Irrigation District (TID) is undergoing a significant digital transformation, modernizing its grid in response to the increasing complexity of renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, and customer demands. By implementing ArcGIS Utility Network, TID aims to improve data accuracy, system analysis, and operational efficiency. This technology allows TID to integrate its water and electric networks into a single platform, enhancing visualization and management capabilities. With this upgrade, TID can better support critical applications like outage management, asset management, and engineering analysis.

ArcGIS Utility Network also lays the groundwork for TID to adopt a digital twin, offering a comprehensive, real-time digital representation of the utility’s entire infrastructure. Read the complete story.

 

Avista Elevates Fire Mitigation Strategies With GIS

Avista Utilities provides energy services to 411,000 electric and 377,000 natural gas customers across 30,000 square miles and four northwestern states. Its history of innovation is rooted in hydroelectric energy, which was generated since the company’s founding in 1889. Its community, like many in the West, is subject to wildfires. To address this issue head-on, Avista Utilities leveraged its GIS to create a new behavior to understand better and respond to wildfire risk. It leverages GIS as a powerful decision-making tool.

GIS dashboards provide insight into wildfire risk

Avista’s solution consisted of creating a Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) model based on ArcGIS Pro and its model builder technology and a weather-influenced model based on ArcGIS Experience Builder and ArcGIS Dashboards. The WUI algorithm created a series of risk hexagons overlaid on Avista’s electric facilities to quantify fire risk based on human development, burnable fuels, power outage rates, and vegetation near powerlines. In addition, the dynamic risk model helps Avista manage the system in real-time by aligning system protection levels with fire ignition risk on each circuit in the service territory. Read the complete story.

 

ESO’s GIS Journey to Excellence

ESO, one of Lithuania’s largest energy companies, undertook a significant digital transformation to modernize its operations and improve efficiency across its utility network. By integrating Esri’s ArcGIS Utility Network, ESO was able to replace outdated, paper-based processes with a comprehensive digital solution that enhanced situational awareness and operational efficiency. The implementation included customized dashboards, mobile solutions for field operations, and web applications, streamlining data management and substantially reducing the time required to connect new customers. Additionally, ESO integrated ArcGIS Utility Network with the company’s ADMS, ensuring data integrity and alignment with the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) standard Common Information Model (CIM). This modernization has improved ESO’s internal processes and helped ESO provide Lithuania with world-class electricity connectivity. Read the complete story.

Mobile Apps freed employees from paper forms and maps.

“Today, our activities would be difficult to implement without the GIS tool. Thanks to the modernization of ESO information systems, engineers can plan the necessary investments and network maintenance work more quickly and plan the connection of new customers faster.”

—Virgilijus Žukauskas, Director of Network Operations, ESO

 

GIS Has Much More to Come

Today, the electrical grid is under stress. It is fragmented, aging, and congested. Society is targeting aggressive decarbonization goals. Yet, with new AI data centers, EV charging stations, and shifting heating to heat pumps, the electricity demand will grow, making matters worse. Utility planners will require information about their networks, demographics, land use, weather patterns, and predictions about where demand will grow. This is where the GIS shines. Modeling of the grid will become essential.

3D representations provide insight for transmission planners

Planners will increasingly rely on GIS technology to model the networks with the promise of GIS-based 3D digital twin models. This shift will allow planners to add additional insights, better data management and visualization to meet the growing challenges ahead.

Digital transformation is not just about applying digital technology to work processes. It also means changing behaviors to get more done with far less effort and better results. GIS can do both. Learn more about how GIS enables digital transformation here.