c-plan® - Geo-Information Systems

The Stadtwerke Augsburg

group of companies (utilities) supplies 350,000 people in the Augsburg area (the third largest urban and economic centre in the German state of Bavaria) with gas, water, electricity and district heating and, in addition, operates the local public transport system. In January 2002, the group started replacing the existing documentation of pipeline and operating resources with a modern network information system.

In an EU-wide bidding procedure, the geodata server TOPOBASE™ proved to be an outstanding system. One crucial factor in the decision was the flexibility and adaptability of TOPOBASE™. This was because the operating database developed by Stadtwerke Augsburg 15 years previously had been tailored to the utilities' specific needs over the many years of its use.

Besides the functional data (100,000 objects with over 2.6 million functional characteristics), some 6,000 digital land-register plans were maintained in the categories gas, water, electricity, district heating and transport using Audodesk Map. Planning also called for these data to be integrated into the new geoinformation system (GIS).

The system was rolled out in two phases. In a first phase – now completed on schedule – the old operating database was replaced by TOPOBASE and its functionality extended. All features and objects in the legacy system were migrated to the new system. The application modules gas, water (network), electricity, district heating, real property and transport (bus/tram stop management) were commissioned, and employees received training in the new environment.
In the second phase the, existing digital plans were integrated into the GIS and the point objects linked logically to the stored operating resources. In parallel, plan information was launched using Autodesk MapGuide. For tram/bus stop management, linkup to the SAP R/3 system has been implemented. Other application modules are to be extended successively, cases in point being the integration of network protection facilities into the electricity application module and the development of an extra module for sales and distribution.