01.03.07
Groundwise Searches
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 require that a health and safety plan be used for engineering works. This plan must include details on restrictions on engineering work such as the location of below ground utility apparatus. So typically before an engineer goes on site a desk top buried services search should be undertaken.
For a rail engineer, researching the locations of underground pipes, cables, and other services is exceedingly time consuming, frustrating and, at times, frankly boring. But it has to be done. Without it, projects can be delayed and utility assets damaged, possibly leading to expensive litigation.
Using the power of the Internet, it is now possible to make these buried services requests online. Combining the speed of the Internet with the power of a geographic information system (GIS) can massively improve the time available for the engineer to work on more cost effective project work. Companies such as Essex-based Groundwise Searches have spent many months developing a sophisticated mapping system. Groundwise’s utility report system at www.groundwise.com enables the user to select their rail site by either postcode or grid reference. The engineer can then highlight the stretch of track they are looking at by using the specialist mapping tools on the website using modern Ordnance Survey maps as a base layer.
The clever bit, though, is the database that sits behind the online maps. These will take the site and immediately work out the utilities that cover the area and produce a checklist of how those particularly utilities need to be contacted. This can be by further web search or letter or email. Groundwise staff are then able to take this output and put a search underway. All this takes minutes where before it would take a great deal of time to identify the utilities. The engineer is then able to log on to his online account and view the real time responses of the utilities ensuring that he stays on top of the project.
David Gunn, managing director of Groundwise, says: “In time we should be able to see the engineers on site downloading data directly from the utilities own map servers to their portable devices using a secure connection to protect the privacy and content of the data providers. In an ideal situation the data would be available as CAD files without the Ordnance Survey backdrop that could be downloaded directly into the rail engineers’ own CAD program. Perhaps one day we will see this advance.”
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