geospatiaL utiLities
This category features projects that have excelled in the application of
Bentley technology to problems faced by utilities. These may be associated
with electric, gas, or multi-utility networks and may involve planning,
engineering, management, analysis, or other applications.
The BGE Bentley Project Baltimore gas & electric co. WINNER
Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) implemented a
CAD environment that integrates with an enterprise
data repository so that CAD and GIS information
can support a wide range of corporate business
practices. The project began in 1999 as the
installation of a gas and electric engineering
design and drafting platform. It expanded to
include GIS later that year, and more recently to
include a work management design interface.
The goal was to provide tools for the production of
CAD designs for work permits, new business and
constructions, asset allocation, and other purposes.
Standardizing the gas, electric, and land base
data was a key element of the project. The utility
also wanted to establish a work management
system, integrated enterprise databases, and
mobile applications.
The total cost of the BGE project was $37 million
and consisted of the conversion of more than
9,500 gas maps, 14,000 electric maps, 900,000
MicroStation drawings, and associated databases.
This amounted to approximately 15 million pieces
of land ( 5. 3 million), gas (2.8 million), and electric
( 6. 9 million) data consisting of 120 million attribute
fields, plus development of CAD/GIS applications
and interfaces to external systems.
Drawings are now organized by work management
system job number and a grid system that subdivides
territories into four grids, each containing 2,750
subfolders. This system enables engineers in various
disciplines to view drawings specific to a
geographical location.
Projected estimates of the average annual benefit
for the gas-related applications and functionality
delivered by the implementation of Bentley solutions
enterprisewide are in the area of $4 million per
year. Approximately 80 percent of the business
case was based on successful delivery of the
CAD/GIS job design application, Bentley Expert
Designer, and a successful conversion of land, gas,
and electric data.
