Colorado Springs Utilities Improves Cadastral Data Management Using ArcGIS Survey Analyst

       "We instantly understood the beauty of the Survey Analyst solution, incorporating Cadastral Editor and the Cadastral Fabric data model. These tools, including the least squares tool, permit better maintenance of the spatial integrity of our data," explains Larry Von De Bur, PLS of Landbase Services (LBS), Colorado Springs Utilities. "It gives us sound analysis of measurement data from a wide variety of input sources with varying accuracy and reliability. The result is a more realistic modeling of the world of cadastral data."      Colorado Springs Utilities is a community-owned utility that provides reliable electric, natural gas, water, and wastewater services to customers in the Pikes Peak region of central Colorado. With a population base of approximately 380,000, CSU serves 140,000 homes and businesses with both water and wastewater service at an average daily water demand of 84 million gallons/day (MGD). The utility has a long success record with geographic information system (GIS) technology, having used ESRI software since 1987 in numerous departments. Several corporate systems fully integrate GIS functionality including its customer information system and work management system.      The Landbase Services Unit of the Planning and Engineering Department maintains records on 189,000 parcels as well as 18,000 right-of-way polygons covering more than 500 square miles of service territory. The decision by LBS to take advantage of Survey Analyst came after seeing a demonstration at an ESRI user conference. LBS became a Cadastral Editor beta tester and began work on migrating its data and workflows to ArcGIS software. LBS went into full production of the ArcGIS enterprise platform, including the use of Survey Analyst with Cadastral Editor and the Cadastral Fabric, in the first quarter of 2008.       Utility surveyors and other staff use ArcGIS Survey Analyst to better manage land records, parcel mapping, and other cadastral matters. The toolset is used on subdivision boundaries, parcels, rights-of-way, and easements. Colorado Springs Utilities staff uses the software to efficiently collect, convert, and display cadastral data; serve as a base coverage for utility infrastructure; and share data throughout the organization along with other government entities for cadastral purposes.      Colorado Springs Utilities recently began to evaluate its entire sanitary sewer infrastructure to determine what infrastructure needed maintenance, rehabilitation, or replacement. As part of the evaluation process, sanitary sewer infrastructure locations and easement records were tied together and analyzed for coexistent locations. Once any GIS data anomalies were resolved and updated, more informed decisions could be made on potential infrastructure replacement.

      "It's about truly being able to do parcel maintenance in a very efficient fashion as well as keeping an eye on accuracy," says Tony Moran, supervisor of Landbase Services. "We can better maintain focus on keeping that base data as precise as possible because we build so many things from it. We're able to do this very effectively without wasting a lot of resources."