Utility Network Data Readiness Assessment

On this ArcGIS Utility Network data migration project for the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), Urban GIS was tasked with assessing the readiness of files targeted for migration. This involved a review of utility data from each of its three airports (Boston Logan International Airport, Hanscom Field, Worcester Regional Airport) and several maritime facilities (East Boston, South Boston, Charleston).

Under direction from prime contractor, HNTB, we inventoried CAD files that represented asset layers from gas, telecom, fuel, steam, and high voltage utilities. Part of this process involved the assignment of layer attributes such as asset group and type, lifecycle status, and naming convention applicability. In assessing the 137,000 data layers, our team identified duplicates across feature geometry types (points, lines, polygons) and isolated those for non-use. Post CAD to GIS conversion, we worked within a geodatabase of all layers to further exclude extraneous features and edit data to ensure consistency in attribute values. The final output was then calculated to find percentage of readiness.

Our team helped the client align the layers to the appropriate Esri utility foundations, which are essential to ensuring proper schema and domain attribution. Percentage completion scores provide Massport with the information they need to proceed on data clean up, set migration priorities, and ultimately implement the Utility Network migration.