Ardeche Regional Energy Authority Adds Streetlamps

26 May 2008, 12:04pm

Privas, Fr., May 26, 2008 -- As part of its responsibility to efficiently manage the street lighting throughout the rural Ardeche Department in south central France, the Ardeche Regional Energy Authority (SDE 07) recently began the challenging task of identifying the location and attributes of the estimated 30,000 streetlamps scattered over 5,500 square kilometers in the department’s 247 municipalities.

The geographic database of all streetlamps and their attributes, such as type of lamp, lumens, and type of post or support, is being recorded in the field on Magellan MobileMapper CX handheld GIS/GPS receivers running Sirap’s Edipocket GIS application solution. The MobileMapper CXs and Sirap software are being provided by SDE 07 to nine firms that are contracted to maintain the lighting infrastructure throughout the department. The new information will be integrated into the Energy Authority’s existing GIS database to better manage the department’s street lighting network.

As field crews perform preventive maintenance or repair a streetlamp, they will enter data about the location and characteristics of the lamp on the MobileMapper CX. Using a standardized cell-phone-like keypad and pull-down menus that provide logical intuitive data entry, the field crews will enter the location and characteristics of each streetlamp they service. Specially designed for field work, the MobileMapper CX is shock-resistant, moisture-proof and easy to operate. It supports memory cards of up to 4GB to permit the viewing of large base maps that enable the repair crew to see the location of the streetlamp as the position and data are entered. Removable memory cards permits data to be easily retrieved and uploaded to the central SDE07 GIS database.

Data Entry

SDE 07 uses customized GIS/GPS data collection software based on the Sirap Edipocket system. It gives a typical two-person maintenance team optimum productivity in the field: one technician performing maintenance while a second enters data.

The technician simply clicks the MobileMapper CX when it’s at the foot of the assigned bracket or control equipment The unit stores the geographic location of the object and launches the data entry stage. The screen displays standardized entry forms that prompt technicians to complete various fields: control, brackets, light, or lamps. For ease of use, the MobileMapper CX includes pull-down menus and automated input stages, featuring logical and intuitive data entry. For example, once a given bracket form is completed, the associated "light" or "lamp" form will open automatically, ready for data entry. This allows technicians to fill in all the street-lighting network information easily and while in the field, streetlamp by streetlamp, as they perform maintenance work in their service areas. Other options facilitate data entry work: establishing identical characteristics for all the objects within one zone, for example, such as a neighborhood where all lighting fixtures are identical.

www.verizon.net

Geo: International