2025 SAG Award Winners

NamPower

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Project Goal

NamPower has embarked on a project to migrate from our current GIS system, namely GE's Smallworld Electric Office (EO), to the ArcGIS Utility Network (UN) platform. All data (external- and internal world/operating drawings) needed to be migrated. Any functionality in the old system needed to be migrated, or performed by available functions within UN.
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Business Problem Solved

There is no standardised way of exporting the internal world (operating drawing) data from Smallworld. A tip-off received from Queensland Energy to create flat data structures within the EO database resulted in the following solution.

Magik scripts (Smallworld's internal coding language) were developed to create flat data structures from the various joined tables within EO. The tables are populated with batch scripts, which may then be exported to an external data structure with FME.

The Smallworld data is further massaged with FME workflows into structures that are required by the ArcGIS UN data model.

This solution resulted in NamPower being able for the first time to view the physical location of all of its substation equipment in the external map view in together with all other external world data, such as power lines and customer data. A second schematic view is linked to the map, which also displays the same data in the form of an operating drawing for planning purposes.

Technology Implemented

- ArcGIS Enterprise Advanced
(Includes ArcGIS GIS Server Standard, Portal for ArcGIS,
Network Analyst, Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst,
Geostatistical Analyst and ArcGIS Schematics).
- Advanced Editing User Type Extension
- ArcGIS Enterprise Professional User Type
- ArcGIS Image Server

Development Team Biography

Mr Francois Binneman
Senior Operational Analyst and Project Team Lead
NamPower
MSc Operational Analysis

Mr Pieter Kok
Operational Analyst
NamPower
BSc Computer Science

We are very thankful to have had ESRI South Africa on board for providing resources and expertise required from the ArcGIS side in implementing this project.

Mr Claudio Duarte
Geospatial Industry Lead: Utilities
ESRI South Africa
Project involvement: Account and Project Manager
BSc (Hons) Geoinformatics


Mr Andre Cloete
Geospatial Consultant
ESRI South Africa
Project involvement: Technical Lead & Systems Architect
BSc (Hons) GIS, Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry