Skip to main content

Innovative utilities approach

An innovative approach to the management of utilities works is the result of a partnership that has produced the Intelligent Trench. This novel underground mapping solution is also being combined with PelicanCorp's beforeUdig service to deliver a comprehensive and accurate national record-sharing service for underground assets in the UK. The new no-charge service allows local authorities and contractors to use the Intelligent Trench portal to access utility plan information directly from the portal's data b
March 20, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
An innovative approach to the management of utilities works is the result of a partnership that has produced the Intelligent Trench. This novel underground mapping solution is also being combined with 3178 PelicanCorp's beforeUdig service to deliver a comprehensive and accurate national record-sharing service for underground assets in the UK. The new no-charge service allows local authorities and contractors to use the Intelligent Trench portal to access utility plan information directly from the portal's data base, as well as to initiate utility plan requests for additional plan information through the beforeUdig service.

And the data is available through a one-stop operation. The service provides asset data quickly and efficiently, saving time and money for all stakeholders, helps improve the on-site safety of workers, and protects underground assets from accidental damage. Steve Voller, industry solutions director for 4019 Bentley Systems, representing Intelligent Trench, and Marcus Edwards, managing director of PelicanCorp (UK), have jointly stated that the service has been developed to meet the need for a solution combining direct access to underground asset data using the Intelligent Trench portal and an automated plan request service.

The web portal is based on 2603 Exor technology, which is part of Bentley's AssetWise platform for asset lifecycle management. With this combined service, planners or contractors requiring information about these assets can reduce the time required to source key data. As a result, they reduce their costs and benefit from the timely delivery of the location records they require. Intelligent Trench combines advanced radio frequency identification (RFID) asset marking from 152 3M, field-based GPS data collection software from 4021 Trac-ID, a web portal and Exor spatial asset data base from Bentley Systems, and industry best practices, such as noninvasive surveys, from Infotec. Together, these technologies enable every excavation to be accurately and cost-effectively recorded, photographed, and mapped on a web portal. Access to the stored data is provided free of charge to registered users. PelicanCorp's beforeUdig service enables plan requests to be made from all relevant asset owners. It lets contractors request plans from utilities in a very simple step-by-step process. Once the request has been lodged with beforeUdig, each utility is notified of the intention to dig.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Better maintenance is on the Horizon for UK’s Warrington Council
    May 15, 2018
    Good, readable analysis of road surfaces to ensure sufficient maintenance funding is an essential part of asset management. The technical side of ensuring a good road surface is integral to maintaining safe, superior highway infrastructure. But securing sufficient government funding for such work – repairs and new-build – based on the current road surface is also essential. To evaluate road conditions and structure for such a business case, one UK local council turned to software provider Yotta.
  • Bentley Systems boosting business with acquisition
    February 11, 2015
    Construction software specialist Bentley Systems continues to develop its portfolio of solutions with yet another acquisition. The company is growing both organically and through acquisition, this time buying up the French firm Acute3D, provider of Smart3DCapture software for reality modelling. Through reality modelling, observations of existing conditions can be processed into representations for contextual alignment within design modelling and construction modelling environments. According to Bentley, rap
  • Mapping effectively with vehicle-based imaging
    July 23, 2012
    Yotta is offering an innovative vehicle-based imaging service that will provide accurate high-resolution panoramic street-level views of highway features. The vehicle is equipped with a 60 megapixel panoramic camera developed by Yotta and uses Applanix satellite positioning technology to log the exact location of each image. The vehicle cam improves street-level mapping operations with accurate 3D images of buildings and other highway features, such as signs, trees, barriers and fences. Called Y360, the veh
  • MOBA's advanced positioning systems
    November 15, 2012
    MOBA Mobile Automation says it now offers excavator control systems for a range of requirements, with the introduction of its Easy Dig basic system, the LINK expansion stage and the high-end Vision 3D version. The new Easy Dig package is said to provide an affordable and easy-to-install excavator control system that measures depth, incline angle and range. Target and actual values are compared and displayed in real-time on the screen. The LINK offers a combination of 2D and 3D functions and is the most in