Sewer grates disappearing at an alarming rate from city streets... Sounds like a job for... SOA!
In a new report, Jack Vaughan describes how the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission employed technology to track down missing sewer and storm drain covers. This may sound trivial in the scheme of things, but these days, municipal governments are strapped for funds, and the loss of sewer grates could add into the millions.
The solution was to integrate Geographic Information System data with an IBM Maximo asset manager system. In the process, PUC managers were able to see that sewer grate thefts were occurring close to scrap yards. This enabled the PUC to predict where incidents would occur and nail the suspects, who were reselling the grates for cash.
In a new report, Jack Vaughan describes how the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission employed technology to track down missing sewer and storm drain covers. This may sound trivial in the scheme of things, but these days, municipal governments are strapped for funds, and the loss of sewer grates could add into the millions.
The solution was to integrate Geographic Information System data with an IBM Maximo asset manager system. In the process, PUC managers were able to see that sewer grate thefts were occurring close to scrap yards. This enabled the PUC to predict where incidents would occur and nail the suspects, who were reselling the grates for cash.
Other applications include monitoring water pumps and integrating with city dispatch
centers that handle potholes, abandoned vehicles, loose manhole covers
and overflowing storm drains.
John Powell, superintendent in San
Francisco's Public Utilities waste water engineering group, is quoted as saying he is looking to SOA to drive new efforts in the future, by communicating between systems in a service provider fashion.
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