The owners of an apartment complex in California utilized GPRS’ utility locating services and SiteMap® facility management platform to ensure the safe installation of gas lines for an expansion project.
GPRS Project Manager Javier Mendez was called to the property in Orange City, California to conduct a utility locate in the area where several gas lines were to be buried as part of an expansion to the complex. Initially, the project called for Mendez to locate just the gas lines around an area where crews would be trenching to tie in for gas services to the addition to the existing buildings.
But Mendez’s training and experience told him there would likely be several other utilities in the area that could also interfere with the planned work if not properly located.
“If you’re going to tie into the existing gas [service], you’ve got to find it first,” he said. “But they were going to put several new gas lines in, so that’s why they needed to know where, for one, where the existing gas line was at, and for two, just make sure they don’t run into anything else while they’re digging for that.”
Even a seemingly vacant lot can be riddled with buried utilities – and striking even one of these underground lines is a recipe for disaster.
There were 189,549 unique reported damages to subsurface utilities in 2023 alone, according to information gathered by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA).
The CGA also found that the top six root causes of these damages have remained consistent for years and make up nearly 76% of damages. And excavation/construction stakeholders were the the top source of damage reports for the second consecutive year.
A single utility strike can detail your budget, decimate your schedule, and endanger the lives of your workers and anyone in the surrounding area at the time of the incident. And multi-building apartment complexes like the one where Mendez was working in California require a network of buried utilities – which just means there are even more opportunities for subsurface damage to occur when excavating for renovations or expansions.
To avoid these consequences, it’s vital you follow the law and contact your local 811 service – and hire a professional private utility locating company like GPRS to locate and mark all buried utilities within your excavation site.
Our SIM-certified Project Managers utilize a suite of utility locating tools – including ground penetrating radar (GPR) scanning, and electromagnetic (EM) locating – to provide you with a complete and accurate picture of the built world beneath your feet.
GPR scanners emit radio signals into the ground, then detect the interactions between those signals and any buried objects like utility lines or underground storage tanks (USTs). These interactions are displayed on a GPR readout as a series of hyperbolas, which vary in size, color, and shape depending on the type of material that has been located. Professional utility locating technicians like our Project Managers are specially trained to interpret this data to tell you where it’s safe to dig.
Unlike GPR scanners, EM locators do not locate buried pipes, cables, or other underground obstructions. Instead, they detect the electromagnetic signals radiating from these items.
These signals can be created by the locator’s transmitter applying current to the pipe, or from current flow in a live electrical cable. They can also result from a conductive pipe acting as an antenna and re-radiating signals from stray electrical fields (detected by the EM locator functioning in Power Mode) and communications transmissions (Radio Mode).
Signals are created by the current flowing from the transmitter which travels along the conductor (line/cable/pipe) and back to the transmitter. The current typically uses a ground to complete the current. A ground stake is used to complete the circuit through the ground.
By using both his GPR unit and EM locator, Mendez was able to locate not just the existing gas main, but several other utilities buried beneath the job site. He marked his findings on the ground using spray paint and flags to ensure the excavator had a clear understanding of where they could and could not break ground. And the information was captured digitally for future use via GPRS’ SiteMap® platform.
SiteMap® is project & facility management application that provides accurate existing conditions documentation to protect your assets and people. It takes the accurate, field-verified data collected by GPRS’ nationwide team of Project Managers and stores it in a secure, yet easily accessible platform that enables seamless communication and collaboration – whether your project team is spread out over a single office building, or multiple facilities across the country.
SiteMap® is always at your fingertips, accessible 24/7 via computer, tablet, or even by smartphone thanks to the SiteMap® Mobile App.
The apartment owners, their contractor and any subcontractors on the expansion project will be able to refer to the data Mendez captured and uploaded into SiteMap® as they move through their expansion project. And any additions or changes they make to the site’s buried infrastructure can also be captured and updated within the platform, ensuring it’s always up-to-date and accurate.
“They were just happy, just to have a platform like that,” Mendez said. “…Showing them the SiteMap® app, and how they’re able to just click on any of those utility lines and it will give them a description of how we found it, how deep it is, etc… When they first saw it, they were kind of already hooked on it.”
From skyscrapers to sewer lines, GPRS Intelligently Visualizes The Built World® to keep your projects on time, on budget, and safe.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Benefits of Underground Utility Mapping?
Having an updated and accurate map of your subsurface infrastructure reduces accidents, budget overruns, change orders, and project downtime caused by dangerous and costly subsurface damage.
How does SiteMap® assist with Utility Mapping?
SiteMap®, powered by GPRS, is the industry-leading infrastructure management program. It is a single source of truth, housing the 99.8%+ accurate utility locating, concrete scanning, video pipe inspection, leak detection, and 3D laser scanning data our Project Managers collect on your job site. And the best part is you get a complimentary SiteMap® Personal Subscription when GPRS performs a utility locate for you.
Does SiteMap® Work with my Existing GIS Platform?
SiteMap® allows for exporting of data to SHP, GeoJSON, GeoPackage, and DXF directly from any user’s account that either owns or has a job shared to their account. All these file formats can be imported and utilized by other GIS packages if manually imported by the user. More information can be found at SiteMap.com.
