Enabling external contractors with self-serve access to data
Managing precise descriptions of water, sewerage, and recycled water that are accurate enough to be used for commercial and engineering decisions is a major undertaking. The physical network constantly changes as it expands and accommodates new demands from customers. Moreover, much of the work is conducted by sub-contractors, who do not have access to the Yarra Valley Water information system.
Yarra Valley Water worked with Safe Software partner, 1Spatial Australia, to develop a new and advanced Development Industry Translator (DIT), specifically to manage updates to the system. The DIT application uses FME to transform complex spatial data and translate data from one format to another. It allows systems designers and external contractors to load their engineering drawing in DGN or DXF format. The data is then automatically validated, ensuring they meet engineering drawing standards and then transferred to the G/Technology system with minimal human intervention.
How they made it possible – automation
FME also helps verify the attributes in files and recognizes any geometry or attribute errors, which are compiled into an HTML report and given back to the user that submitted the review request. When this is finished, FME transforms the CAD drawing file into a geometry that can be understood by the G/Technology geographic information system and uploads the new data to the database.
The entire process, from the creation of the drawings through to posting them as changes to the database, is automated.
Yarra Valley Water is the largest of three retail water organisations owned by the Victorian Government. It provides water, sewerage, and recycled water services to more than 1.7 million people and over 50,000 businesses in the northern and eastern suburbs of Victoria’s largest city, Melbourne. Yarra Valley Water retails this water to households and businesses located as far north as Wallan and as far east as Warburton, an area of about 4000 square kilometres.
