Geographic Information Systems
/ The Alliance Pipeline GIS
MNC delivered a GIS system for the Alliance Pipeline project; the largest construction engineering and pipeline project ($3.7 Billion US) in North America at the time (1999). Alliance Pipeline moves over 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas and natural gas liquids from Northern Alberta and BC to Chicago. The development and implementation of this system was very complex with issues pertaining to:
- Multiple Data Creators
- Limited data consistancies
- Multiple platforms
- Metric and Imperial measurement systems
- Multiple mapping systems and projections
- Access by diverse groups of users, including remote
access from construction sites
along the 3,000 km Right-of-Way
Construction of the pipeline began in 1999. It is 3000 km long, runs across three Canadian provinces, four States, the land of over 7000 land-owners and crosses over 8000 rights-of-way. The GIS was used to prepare for construction, then to support construction and commissioning the pipeline, to manage the design and as-built drawings, inspection reports, photos and data and to provide ongoing access to this data during pipeline operations.
The highest profile component of the system is SmartMap, a system accessed 24/7 by Alliance staff and contractors. With SmartMap, any team member can quickly and easily access information about any portion of the line from any location including access from home, hotels, field sites and engineering, procurement and construction offices across North America. Data included a current set, updated daily, of all engineering drawings, environmental, safety and field inspection reports and photos, emergency response information and pipeline commissioning status.
Team members can travel without paper. SmartMap minimizes concerns regarding the loss of documentation. MNC also developed field data-capture systems to update critical information and update databases in a timely manner with minimal effort, while providing clear audit trails.
SmartMap acts as a GIS and document access system for Alliance Pipeline.
