Page 9 - March-April 2015 Vol.32 No.7
P. 9
collierville public service department By John Fox
Technology Improving Efficiency
in Storm Water Management
In today’s world, Public Works Depart- Above: Collierville GIS system used for monitoring and managing
ments across the State are constantly faced the Town’s storm water drainage system. Right: A tablet being used
with the problem of ever-shrinking bud- for a ditch survey.
gets and increased service expectations.
In order to provide service levels that Using existing construction drawings, to previous inspection methods. Prior
meet the expectations of public officials CAD files, satellite imagery, and other to the new program, crews would notate
and residents alike, new technologies are electronic information sources provided inspection information in logbooks and
often the tool, that are needed to get the by the Town, the CPGIS group has begun take digital pictures separately that would
job done in the most efficient manner. assisting the Town with its goal of creat- be compiled later in the office and entered
Like many in the Public Works field, the ing a complete and comprehensive storm into the GIS system from a desktop com-
Collierville Public Service Department is water drainage layer. With the assistance puter. Being able to enter the information
taking on the challenge of providing more of CPGIS the Town was able to find a cost directly in the field eliminated approxi-
with less through use of new advances in effective alternative to the costs associated mately 118 man hours of administrative
technology, saving time and paperwork. with physically surveying the remaining work annually related to these inspections.
portions of its storm drain system.
One of the areas where this is currently With the use of the new web based GIS
being done is in Storm Water Manage- In addition to the work performed by software, the information recorded in the
ment. Over the past year the Public Ser- the University of Memphis, the Town’s field is also available via desktop comput-
vice Department’s Streets and Drainage GIS division has also assisted the Streets ers where managers have the ability to
Division has worked in conjunction with and Drainage Division with implement- review inspection information and make
the Town’s GIS Division and the Universi- ing an interactive GIS based platform any notes or changes as needed. This abili-
ty of Memphis to create new storm water that is currently being used in the field to ty to access the information across various
management processes and to implement perform annual and semiannual inspec- platforms and systems gives the Division
a multi-functional GIS platform used for tions of the Town’s drainage laterals greater flexibility to utilize the informa-
monitoring and managing the Town’s and major drainage structures. With the tion in a more efficient manner when
storm water drainage system. implementation of this new program, planning for future maintenance repairs.
crews now have the ability to perform This system was also modified to allow
With this new project, one of the first their inspections utilizing tablet comput- crews in the field to update conditions and
challenges faced by the Town was the ers in the field. Through the use of the statuses of the existing structures during
creation of a Town-wide storm water tablet computers and new web based GIS regular maintenance operations.
drainage layer in the Town’s GIS system. software, crews now have the ability to
Although portions of the Town’s drainage enter inspection information and digital By utilizing these new developments in
system had already been surveyed, budget pictures directly into a GIS layer. With the technology, the Public Services Depart-
constraints and the cost of surveying op- implementation of this new process, the ment has not only been able to improve
erations created a challenge for bringing division was able to eliminate the need for on existing operations but has been able to
in the needed data to complete the drain- double entry of information compared perform those operations in the most cost
age layers for the entire Town. To answer effective and efficient method available.
this challenge the Town looked to the
Center for Partnerships in GIS sponsored
by the University of Memphis (CPGIS).
CPGIS, a group supported and housed by
the University of Memphis uses multi-
disciplinary teams and faculty-student
teams to provide contractual services that
include GIS data migration from legacy
systems, spatial analyses, mobile data col-
lection, and web development for interac-
tive mapping. Through its broad scope of
research and contractual services, CPGIS
has proven to be highly recognized for its
partnership with other universities, local
state and federal government, non-profit
organizations, and private industry.
View online at tnpublicworks.com 9
Technology Improving Efficiency
in Storm Water Management
In today’s world, Public Works Depart- Above: Collierville GIS system used for monitoring and managing
ments across the State are constantly faced the Town’s storm water drainage system. Right: A tablet being used
with the problem of ever-shrinking bud- for a ditch survey.
gets and increased service expectations.
In order to provide service levels that Using existing construction drawings, to previous inspection methods. Prior
meet the expectations of public officials CAD files, satellite imagery, and other to the new program, crews would notate
and residents alike, new technologies are electronic information sources provided inspection information in logbooks and
often the tool, that are needed to get the by the Town, the CPGIS group has begun take digital pictures separately that would
job done in the most efficient manner. assisting the Town with its goal of creat- be compiled later in the office and entered
Like many in the Public Works field, the ing a complete and comprehensive storm into the GIS system from a desktop com-
Collierville Public Service Department is water drainage layer. With the assistance puter. Being able to enter the information
taking on the challenge of providing more of CPGIS the Town was able to find a cost directly in the field eliminated approxi-
with less through use of new advances in effective alternative to the costs associated mately 118 man hours of administrative
technology, saving time and paperwork. with physically surveying the remaining work annually related to these inspections.
portions of its storm drain system.
One of the areas where this is currently With the use of the new web based GIS
being done is in Storm Water Manage- In addition to the work performed by software, the information recorded in the
ment. Over the past year the Public Ser- the University of Memphis, the Town’s field is also available via desktop comput-
vice Department’s Streets and Drainage GIS division has also assisted the Streets ers where managers have the ability to
Division has worked in conjunction with and Drainage Division with implement- review inspection information and make
the Town’s GIS Division and the Universi- ing an interactive GIS based platform any notes or changes as needed. This abili-
ty of Memphis to create new storm water that is currently being used in the field to ty to access the information across various
management processes and to implement perform annual and semiannual inspec- platforms and systems gives the Division
a multi-functional GIS platform used for tions of the Town’s drainage laterals greater flexibility to utilize the informa-
monitoring and managing the Town’s and major drainage structures. With the tion in a more efficient manner when
storm water drainage system. implementation of this new program, planning for future maintenance repairs.
crews now have the ability to perform This system was also modified to allow
With this new project, one of the first their inspections utilizing tablet comput- crews in the field to update conditions and
challenges faced by the Town was the ers in the field. Through the use of the statuses of the existing structures during
creation of a Town-wide storm water tablet computers and new web based GIS regular maintenance operations.
drainage layer in the Town’s GIS system. software, crews now have the ability to
Although portions of the Town’s drainage enter inspection information and digital By utilizing these new developments in
system had already been surveyed, budget pictures directly into a GIS layer. With the technology, the Public Services Depart-
constraints and the cost of surveying op- implementation of this new process, the ment has not only been able to improve
erations created a challenge for bringing division was able to eliminate the need for on existing operations but has been able to
in the needed data to complete the drain- double entry of information compared perform those operations in the most cost
age layers for the entire Town. To answer effective and efficient method available.
this challenge the Town looked to the
Center for Partnerships in GIS sponsored
by the University of Memphis (CPGIS).
CPGIS, a group supported and housed by
the University of Memphis uses multi-
disciplinary teams and faculty-student
teams to provide contractual services that
include GIS data migration from legacy
systems, spatial analyses, mobile data col-
lection, and web development for interac-
tive mapping. Through its broad scope of
research and contractual services, CPGIS
has proven to be highly recognized for its
partnership with other universities, local
state and federal government, non-profit
organizations, and private industry.
View online at tnpublicworks.com 9
