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Oncor is the largest electricity delivery company in Texas.
And they had a major problem.
Inaccurate as-builts were impeding their ability to provide safe, reliable power to their over 3.9 million customers. The Dallas-based company had even experienced a large utility strike due to their inaccurate data.
When Oncor needed to quickly and safely conduct repairs and upgrades to some of their high-voltage electrical lines within the Dallas-Fort Worth area, they knew they couldn’t afford a costly and potentially dangerous mistake. They called GPRS, who provided them with the accurate and complete infrastructure data they needed to stay on time, on budget, and safe.
Business Development Manager Boon Bowling was part of the team from GPRS who met with representatives from Oncor to discuss their utility locating needs.
“Dallas is growing so rapidly,” Bowling said. “Some of these lines are old, some of them have been replaced and not always tracked, and even some of the locations where they were initially run, where it was an empty lot, now it’s places like Victory Plaza in downtown Dallas near the American Airlines Center. So, now there’s big, multi-story structures on top of what was an empty lot when those lines were installed, and their maps all still say it’s an empty lot.”
Bowling, along with GPRS Area Manager Zachary Walter, conducted a demo for the Oncor team at and around one of their substations, to show them GPRS’ industry-leading subsurface investigation process.
At the core of this process is the Subsurface Investigation Methodology, or SIM.
What is SIM?
SIM is a standard operating procedure and set of professional specifications that work as a guide for utility locating experts when scanning for buried utilities and conducting concrete imaging. All GPRS field team members are required to achieve SIM 101 certification, which means completing 80 hours of hands-on training in a classroom setting and 320 hours of mentorship in the field. This dwarfs the American Society for Nondestructive Testing’s (ASNT) minimum recommendation of eight hours for training and 60 hours practicing GPR to achieve NDT Level 1 certification in ground penetrating radar (GPR) scanning.
SIM requires the use of multiple, complementary technologies when locating buried utilities or scanning a concrete slab. This includes GPR scanning and electromagnetic (EM) locating.
GPR scanners emit radio waves into the ground or a concrete slab, then detect the interactions between these signals and any buried utilities or other subsurface obstructions.
EM locators detect the electromagnetic signals radiating from metallic pipes and cables. These signals can be created by the locator’s transmitter applying current to the pipe or from current flow in a live electrical cable or result from a conductive pipe acting as an antenna and re-radiating signals from stray electrical fields and communications transmissions.
This practice of using complementary technologies capitalizes on each tool’s strengths to create a redundant confirmation when designating subsurface elements.
How SIM & SiteMap® Helped Oncor Visualize its Buried Infrastructure
Bowling and Walter’s demonstration of GPRS’ SIM-certified utility locating process helped Oncor see the value of having accurate, complete as-builts of their buried infrastructure.
“They were thrilled with the accuracy and success of that, the level of documentation, especially within the substation, with additional photographs of key features and items that they really did not have an existing record of,” Bowling said.
GPRS ultimately located and mapped roughly 55 miles of high-voltage electrical lines throughout the DFW area. The Project Managers navigated everything from areas in the heart of Dallas with heavy traffic to secure locations such as around airports to obtain the information Oncor’s team needed to safely and efficiently complete their line repairs and upgrades.
“We had two outstanding Project Managers on the project full-time, basically,” Bowling said. “They’re killing it… [Oncor] is very pleased with the quality of the data we provided.”
All this accurate, field-verified data was uploaded into SiteMap® (patent pending), GPRS’ intuitive, interactive infrastructure mapping software solution designed to provide existing conditions documentation to protect your assets and people.
With their SiteMap Team access, Oncor had 24/7, secure access to their critical infrastructure data from any computer, tablet, or smartphone, enabling them to plan, design, manage, dig, and ultimately, build better.
With GPRS’ SIM-certified utility locating data at their fingertips thanks to SiteMap, Oncor was able to ensure they can continue bringing safe, reliable power to their millions of customers.
From locating buried utilities to fully visualizing new construction, GPRS Intelligently Visualizes The Built World® to keep your projects on time, on budget, and safe.
What can we help you visualize?
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I get when I hire GPRS to conduct utility locating services?
Our Project Managers flag and paint our findings directly on the surface. This method of communication is the most accurate form of marking when excavation is expected to commence within a few days of service.
GPRS also uses a global positioning system (GPS) to collect data points of findings. We use this data to generate a plan, KMZ file, satellite overlay, or CAD file to permanently preserve results for future use. GPRS does not provide land surveying services. If you need land surveying services, please contact a professional land surveyor.
Please contact us to discuss the pricing and marking options your project may require.
Can GPRS locate PVC piping and other non-conductive utilities?
GPR scanning is exceptionally effective at locating all types of subsurface materials. There are times when PVC pipes do not provide an adequate signal to ground penetrating radar equipment and can’t be properly located by traditional methods. However, GPRS Project Managers are expertly trained at multiple methods of utility locating.
