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Utility Vegetation
Management & GIS• Designing A Mobile Geospatial application to
streamline field collection & recordkeeping
Joshua DeWees – Spoon River Electric Cooperative
Agenda
I. Background
II. Case Study: Spoon
River Electric
III. Design Process
IV. Results
Background
Distribution Electric Systems
Consists of substations, poles,
wires, overcurrent protection,
and meters
Vegetation can cause faults
Faults
Blinking lights
Outages
Voltage anomalies
Customer dissatisfaction
Regulatory issues
Vegetation Impacts on Distribution Lines
Direct contact
Overhanging branches
Underbrush that
prevents access
Utility Vegetation Management (UVM)
“It is generally accepted that the single largest cause of electric power
outages occurs when trees, or portions of trees, grow or fall into overhead
power lines.”
“Utility Vegetation Management (UVM) programs represent one of the
largest recurring maintenance expenses for electric utility companies in
North America.”
Utility Vegetation Management
Final Report March 2004
– CN Utility Consulting, LLC
Case StudySPOON RIVER ELECTRIC
Spoon River Electric Cooperative
Three electric cooperatives
15 Employees
5,200 Miles of distribution line
GPS and ESRI GIS based planning
and record keeping
Linear referencing and route event
tables
Spoon River Electric: Current Processes
Planning process
Collect GPS points
Make handwritten notes
Transcribe all written notes into the GIS database
Print maps for the crews
Record keeping process
Collect GPS record of work completed
Handwritten daily work record
Transcribe the work notes into the GIS
Calculate work footage completed
Field Sheet
Field Map
What’s the Problem?
Planning and documentation takes a lot of time
Manual transcription process
Errors between field notes and database
Lag time between field work and database
Difficult to teach others to update
What’s the Solution?
Utilize good design principles to create a mobile
application to:
Improve efficiency over current manual process
Allows edits in the field for real-time updates
Work on easy to use mobile platforms already used
personally and professionally at the cooperatives
Create a long term record keeping system
Designed to improve VM for a broader audience than Spoon
River
Design Process
Design Process
Mobile Platforms
COTS
Cooperative Surveys
CEO Surveys
Assess high level view of VM
Consider budgets related to VM
Obtain permission to survey VM manager
VM Manager Survey
Assess time/effort spent on managing vegetation
Gain feedback on operational perspective for VM
Methods, Technology, Planning, Communication, Other Needs
VM Workload
Please rate your agreement with
this statement: Vegetation
management activities are an
important part of my work.
# Answer
Response %
6 Strongly Disagree
1 7%
7 Disagree
0 0%
8 Neither Agree nor Disagree
0 0%
9 Agree
4 29%
10 Strongly Agree
9 64%
Total 14 100%
What percentage of your annual
budget is designated for
vegetation management?
# Answer
Response %
1 No regular budget amount
1 7%
2 1-2%
2 14% 3 3-5%
7 50%
4 Greater than 5%
2 14%
5 Other (please explain)
2 14%
Total 14 100%
# Answer Min Value Max Value Average
Value Standard Deviation
Responses
1 Percent Time
2.00 60.00 24.86 21.29 7
What percentage of your day is
spent on vegetation management
activities?
Current VM Practices
What technologies are
used to track vegetation
management activities?
Choose all that apply
# Answer
Response %
1 Pen and paper
8 89%
2 GPS
4 44% 3 GIS
5 56% 4 CAD
0 0%
5 Other (Please describe)
1 11%
How are vegetation
management records
kept?
# Answer
Response % 1 Hard copy
1 11% 2 Database
2 22% 3 Spreadsheet
5 56% 4 Paper maps
5 56% 5 GIS maps
3 33%
6 Other (please explain)
1 11%
How do you
communicate work
assignments to
vegetation management
crews?
# Answer
Response % 1 Maps
8 89%
2 Job orders/tickets
9 100%
3 Mobile Device
0 0% 4 GIS
0 0%
5 Other (please explain)
0 0%
Current VM Practices
How are vegetation
management activities
verified?
# Answer
Response %
1 Physical complete post-run
8 89%
2 Physical post spot-checks
2 22%
3 Contractor affidavit/work records
1 11%
4 Employee work records
2 22%
5 Other (please explain)
0 0%
Who performs vegetation
management activities?
# Answer
Response %
1 Full time personnel
2 22%
2
Contracted Vegetation Management personnel
1 11%
3
A combination of contracted and full time personnel
6 67%
Total 9 100%
# Answer
Response %
1 Systematic Physical inspection/evaluation
7 78%
2 Timed rotation of vegetation activities
7 78%
3 Employee reported trouble areas
7 78%
4 Member reported trouble areas
6 67%
5 Other (please explain)
0 0%
Which planning activities
are used to determine where
vegetation management is
required? Choose all that
apply.
VM Manager Needs
Summary of Responses:
Better organization
Electronic maps
Enhanced record keeping
Web based application that could be used by all employees
Timed VM rotation followed annually
If you were to envision a completely new system for improving vegetation
management in your organization, how would you like it to work?
Paper Prototype
Paper Prototype Final
Results
Lessons Learned
Illinois cooperatives
Vegetation management is important
Still using paper
Similar budgets
Part-time management
Similar work strategies
Not using any special apps for VM
Challenges
Customizing user interface
Adding linear referencing to a feature service layer
References:
1. “Utility Vegetation Management Final Report”; CN Utility Consulting, LLC; March
2004
2. “Beyond Status Quo”; Rick Johnstone; Vistas (a trade publication);
http://www.ivmpartners.org/pubs/beyond_statusquo.pdf; accessed 11/09/2014
3. “The Economic Impacts of Deferring Electric Utility Tree Maintenance”; D. Mark
Browning; Environmental Consultants, Inc.; April 1997
4. “Integrated Vegetation Management on an Electric Transmission Right-of-way in
Pennsylvania, U. S.”; Richard H. Yahner and Russell J. Hutnick; Journal of Arboriculture;
September 2004
5. “UAA Best Management Practices Funding”, Lynn Grayson ;
http://www.utilityarborist.org/research/resources/fundingWP.pdf; accessed 11/09/2014
6. “Reliability Based Vegetation Management Through Intelligent System Monitoring”; B.
Don Russell, Carl L. Benner, and Jeffrey Wischkaemper; Project T-27 Tele-seminar,
10/16/2007, accessed 11/09/2014
