Project Goal
The primary challenge being faced was that our Dam Safety Engineers (DSE) did not have an efficient way to view the condition of our dams in conjunction with the generation system and environment (such as unusual conditions, inflows and plant operations). The existing set of dam safety information tools required DSE and others (e.g. technologists and other engineers) to spend too much time searching and gathering information from multiple systems of record, leaving less time for the analysis, synthesis and problem solving necessary for better dam safety risk management.Business Problem Solved
It was necessary to find a solution to support dam surveillance activities, mobile field data collection and inspections, analysis of dams, slopes, and hydrological behaviors to enable response to anomalies, alarms and dam safety events, and to support project planning, including decision support on prioritization, while improving communication with stakeholders in engineering, planning, management, service providers, and the general public.
Technology Implemented
Our application primarily uses an ArcGIS Enterprise backend and an Experience Builder front-end with ArcGIS API for Javascript. ArcGIS Pro is used for map creation and data work.
Development Team Biography
A few of the resources who saw this project delivered include:
Forrest Wagner is a technical lead with project oversight experience who played a hands-on role as the project initiator.
Greg Brierley is a senior project manager at Fujitsu Canada.
Alejandro Mari is a senior GIS developer and architect at Fujitsu Canada.
Bill Johnstone is a systems and civil engineer, and a senior GIS consultant at Spatial Vision Consulting.
We had significant support from Dam Safety leadership (Bob Schubak) in working towards the vision of the principal engineer (Des Hartford).
Many others were involved, with a few mentioned here:
- BC Hydro Dam Safety current and previous employees (Christoph Klee, Kendra Gibbons, Hugh Spinney, Nicole Fink and many others)
- BC Hydro Technology (Gerard Kho, Eliza Yiu and more)
- Fujitsu GIS team (Derek Yee, Vern Danes and many others)
- TELUS, our infrastructure partner.
Company Overview
BC Hydro is a provincial Crown corporation, owned by the government and people of British Columbia, Canada. We generate and deliver electricity to 95% of the population of B.C. and serve over five million people. That's a big responsibility that demands a simple, clear and straightforward mission with a clear vision that's guided by our values.
Our mission: We're here to safely provide our customers with reliable, affordable, clean electricity.
Our vision: A cleaner more sustainable future for all British Columbians.
Our values: These values define our culture and guide our approach to powering the province:
1. We are safe.
2. We are here for our customers.
3. We act with integrity and respect.
4. We are one team.
5. We are forward thinking
6. We include everyone.
Return on Investment
The Dam Safety Information System (DSIS) is primarily intended for Dam Safety Engineers. However, it also provides significant benefit to the Dam Safety Technologists, who often work closely with the Dam Safety Engineers. Additional benefits are available to several other user groups, including different engineering groups, such as civil and hydrotechnical, system operations, and geomatics and photogrammetry. The Dam Safety Information System is also accessible to external contractors working with the different user groups, providing flexibility to support different requirements.