Automated generation of CUSTOMER MAPS which are typically 1"=600' scale depicting street centerlines/rights-of-way, street names, representing customer related data used for routing service personnel to customer locations and definition of meter reading routes.

OPERATING MAPS are plotted at 1"=600' scale depicting street centerlines, street names, gas pipelines (distribution, supply, and transmission), facilities (pressure regulation stations, valves, reducers, etc.), and pipeline descriptors (such as size, material, pressure, etc.). These maps are used by the Engineering and Operations department for management of daily and emergency operations.

Support of the LARGE SCREEN DISPLAY SYSTEM which is an electronic display of tiled Operating Maps using a 67" display monitors. Used in each Regional Distribution Headquarters Building, the electronic display replaces a huge inventory of manually maintained Wall Maps which depict the piping system.

Our network modeling application extracts a contiguous piping system called a "pressure district". The graphic output supports the production of the Map Products Generator, the Large Screen Display System, and the Stoner SWS Gas Flow Network Analysis application.

The application allows engineers to extract a Pressure District by pointing to a pipeline displayed on a workstation. All connected pipelines are traced through the series of related drawings to end at specific nodes - regulator stations, terminuses, and closed valves. During the trace procedure, the system extracts the facilities into a separate graphic format to produce a pressure model.

The model is then loaded with actual consumption data extracted from the Customer Information System (CIS) database with over 5 million customer records. The peak gas usage is assigned along each related pipeline, proportionately allocating the load across hydraulically significant nodes. "Point Loads" locate customers with consumption of over 10,000 ccf. The input files which feed directly into Stoner's SWS network analysis program - XY (facility coordinate), PDF (Problem Definition File) and Load Matrix files are automatically produced in the specified formats.

Engineering Systems' provides technical expertise for the Quality Assurance and Control of major projects by the application of customized software programs which validate both graphic and non-graphic data files. This expertise has been applied to two major clients, Southern California Gas Company's Gas Flow Analysis project and Fairfax County, Virginia's GIS project. Engineering Systems has completed data conversion of gas facilities for Ventura, Riverside and Imperial Counties, and has provided QA/QC support to the Gas Company's Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange County data conversion effort. These contracts are substantial in their complexity, size, and dollar value.

Changes to the piping system database for both initial data conversion and subsequent database maintenance operations, vendor delivery acceptance processes, and changes to Customer Load Data are all evaluated by our QC software to check for data integrity and for rigid conformance to database specification. The programs allow process completion only when the data passes all required data quality standards. Data error is graphically flagged for correction by the responsible mapper.

A major impact of our quality control and assurance application has been the dramatic improvement of data quality resulting from the reconciliation of mismatched data being maintained within different sources of the same data within the organization. Consequentially the resulting GIS has evolved into a centralized source of reliable data.