transforming pipeline project management with a new perspective

PO Box 1468 Duvall, WA 98019 | [email protected] | 661.209.7952

Transforming Pipeline Project Management with a New

Perspective: The Value of GeoImmersive™ Video Tracy Beam, CEO

A Certified Agency of Immersive Media

ABSTRACT

What if you could visit project sites at any time, in any location, without leaving your desk? Imagine being able to visually capture sites in their entirety to support decision making and provide permanent documentation throughout the life of a project. The ability to view the area of a major initiative to analyze ongoing progress and development, plan execution, or manage post-construction assets without physically being on site could be of tremendous benefit to any project. This ability is now a reality with GeoImmersive™ video from Immersive Media (IMC). Our video is omnidirectional and georeferenced, placing the viewer in the middle of the environment at a known position so precise information is available to effectively manage projects. The user is then able to look at the same feature, location, or object from multiple angles collected in one pass - either live or in recorded format. Additionally, the ArcGIS™ extension enables users to embed imagery for access at specific locations and to be able to navigate through the environment. The eleven-lens camera captures everything and provides a superior dataset for planning. This is a technological breakthrough in the way events are visually captured, recorded, or displayed.

CLIENT’S REQUIREMENTS

Our clients develop new pipeline routes in remote regions of the world that typically tie into existing pipeline corridors. The nearest urban centers are generally several flight hours away making travel time one the greatest costs associated with their projects. Bids, Public and Project Consultation New projects require approvals, a process that can be lengthy and expensive. Often, visual documentation can facilitate the approval process, but standard photography will usually not provide sufficient information and multiple outings are often needed. Many external parties such as environmental, land, and construction companies are involved in the bidding process for a project such as this. Multiple stakeholders from the company also need to see the proposed pipeline route.


TRADITIONAL APPROACH

With large kilometers of pipeline route to be flown, and those kilometers already being at great distance from urban centers, making the most of each flight is essential to guarding the bottom line on the project. Helicopter and fixed wing flight time is expensive in most areas of the world, but this is especially true in remote environments with predictably inclement flying conditions and relatively short supply of aircraft. Representatives of each of the several stakeholders and approval organizations require personal flyovers, which typically require conducting many flights over the course of the project. During the flyovers, annotations are made on area maps to the best of the ability of the field crew and stakeholder reps. Still photographs from within the aircraft are also taken during the flyovers to provide some basic visual documentation. The teams then typically reconvene, if travel schedules allow, reviewing the imagery and discussing the site from notes and memory.

CHALLENGES

The traditional approach to proposed pipeline route visualization faces many unique challenges that often confluence into a logistical and budgetary burden to the overall project. The time and expense required to mobilize and coordinate the team for the many flights draws on resources in offices in the field and around the country. The limited availability of seats aboard aircraft often means that not everyone involved in the project is able to see it first-hand. The photographs taken during the flyovers are not presented in context and the view is limited by the confines of the aircraft cabin. Back in the office, it can be difficult to accurately match photographs with notations on the map. Those original notations become crucial in providing accurate data for decision making at the next level, but often the difficultly of physically making accurate notations during a flyover while trying to focus on routing can call their accuracy into question, further contributing to the complexity of the decision making process. As with all projects, personnel changes during the project lifecycle often mean a net loss in hands-on experience, which can contribute to the added expense of introducing a new team member to the project. Making critical decisions based on information that is unreferenced, in doubt, or simply exists in the memory of team members requires an expert staff and, often, a bit of luck.


INNOVATIVE APPROACH

Our video technology shoots in all directions, all of the time. The pipeline routes are captured at low altitude from a helicopter and the resulting footage is tied to GPS coordinates so that each frame of video knows exactly where it is.

Preliminary route coordinates are exported from ArcGIS® project and provided to the pilot. During the flight, the pilot would be instructed to “mark” coordinates at locations requiring further investigation. The marked coordinates are noted on the maps used during flyovers. The video is reviewed and decisions made immediately after the flight.


Once most of the routes have been decided upon, the video captured for the new project will enable those at the head office to evaluate alternates, re-visit the site at any point along the route, and complete a more comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment by providing data-rich, visual detail.

The on-site footage will also be valuable during all the project stages from planning and support through to post-project archiving. Other applications include construction bids, public consultations, and regulatory compliance.

Every time key personnel want to re-visit the project, they simultaneously obtain it from their desktop to suit their purposes. It is a permanent recording that can always be easily accessed.

Whatever the subject-matter, stakeholders now discuss it from the same perspective regardless of whether they have ever been “on location.”

BENEFITS

• Eliminates scheduling problems, repeated trips and improves timelines

• Saves money by reducing travel and labor

• Better communications & levels the playing field

• Public and Industry consultation

• New project members can be quickly brought up to speed

• More accurate decisions based on visual intelligence

• Increased understanding of the land

• Pipeline integrity such as corrosion studies and dig programs

• Before and after analysis for an archive of the construction site documenting clean up measures being followed

• Aerial view enables surveyors to identify surrounding area features

• Minimizes complexity of flight with 360° capture (no need to fly in circles with a standard camera to obtain enough coverage)

transforming pipeline project management with a new perspective

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