Annual Printing of 80,000 Sheets, Waterworks Paper Maps 'Digitized'... Establishment of 'GIS Mobile System'

Expecting Printing Cost Reduction with Digital Blueprints
GIS Mobile System Established... Underground Facility Information Accessible Anywhere via Tablet PC

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Waterworks Authority announced on the 27th that it has extracted essential functions for fieldwork such as water supply construction, leak repair, and facility inspection from the PC-based waterworks Geographic Information System (GIS) and established a ‘Waterworks GIS Mobile System’ which is now being utilized on-site.

The waterworks GIS contains location information of Seoul’s water pipes (13,432 km), including pipe diameter, material, installation year, and construction history. In addition, it provides location and attribute information of waterworks facilities such as reservoirs, booster stations, valves, and meters, and comprehensively manages information such as leaks and construction history. However, although this system has been in operation since 2000, it was only accessible from offices, limiting immediate use in the field.

With the establishment of the GIS mobile system, there is no longer a need to print and carry paper maps. The Seoul Metropolitan Waterworks Authority used to print an average of 80,000 paper maps annually for water supply construction and facility management. Especially, since the printed waterworks GIS data contains restricted information related to underground facilities, strict management and enhanced security were necessary.

Accordingly, Seoul is able to quickly repair leaks based on the data built into the waterworks GIS, and accurately grasp information such as the burial depth and location of underground facilities in advance, preventing safety accidents caused by road excavation work.

To this end, since the end of last year, 100 tablet PCs capable of accessing the GIS system on-site have been distributed to the headquarters and the water supply operation and facility management departments of eight waterworks offices, and are currently operating successfully. Also, since the waterworks GIS data is restricted information, access is strictly controlled and limited only to designated tablet PC devices.

Furthermore, without spatial and temporal constraints, facility management and various construction information can be viewed and registered in real time on-site, making work procedures faster and simpler. Seoul has identified high satisfaction among field staff and significant business effects, and plans to consider additional device distribution and adding work functions in the future.

Kim Tae-gyun, head of the Waterworks Authority, said, “In line with the era of digital transformation, the waterworks sector is beginning to change in many ways. Through this GIS mobile system, one of those changes, we will enhance the efficiency of fieldwork and provide citizens with faster and more accurate water services.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.