The village of Baldwinsville’s Department of Public Works’ intern Robert Piper has been busy this summer. During his eight-week stint at the village, Piper led the charge in creating a map of the village’s water system on a geographic information system (GIS), which will help DPW workers pinpoint the source of water problems at the tap of a tablet.
Piper demonstrated the web-based GIS at the Aug. 20 meeting of the village’s board of trustees. The GIS overlays a map of the village’s water system onto a map of Baldwinsville’s streets and homes. Clicking on a residence displays information about that home’s curb box service, along with the size, location and type of pipes and valves. DPW employees will be able to isolate leaks and other issues more quickly with the help of the GIS.
Piper explained that DPW workers can bring along a touchscreen laptop to access the GIS, which is hosted through a local engineering firm. Employees can also access the GIS via smartphones.
“Now we know exactly — before we even leave the shop — what we need,” said village engineer Steve Darcangelo.
“It’s not a finished product by any means, but it’s better than what they had,” Piper said, noting that the DPW has thousands of index cards with sketches of homes’ curb boxes that date back several decades.
“Some of those are 80 years old,” DPW foreman Chuck McAuliffe said, adding that he was “very excited” about the GIS. “It’ll make a huge difference.”
Darcangelo said Piper would be training DPW employees how to input and access information in the GIS this week. In the future, the DPW will be able to scan the sketches and add them to each residence’s utilities information.
The village will be able to map other utilities with the GIS, such as sewer systems, but water is just the beginning.
“It really is just the start,” Darcangelo said of the GIS’ potential. “There are plenty of things you can do with it.”
Darcangelo said the system could be used to plot snow removal routes, but DPW employees are still in the early stages of learning to use the system.
He said the village’s only costs for the system were $450 for the tablet/laptop and the wages of Piper, who worked about 25 hours a week at $15 per hour.
