Esri operations dashboard

What can Pi Integrator do for My Utility?

September 27, 2015 — Joaquin Madrid, Ph.D.

For a few years now Esri ArcGIS Online has given you the tools and best practices to collect a myriad of data, and publish it on content rich online maps. Your Utility, Customers, Regulatory Agencies, and others have now access to all that information, and feel empowered when viewing and manipulating the data exposed in those maps.

After you read through this post, watch the video below for a deeper, more advanced look inside.

Difficulties

However, traditional maps, even if shared online, display information that is mostly static. To update the data displayed in these maps requires most often to re-publish the data.

With ArcGIS 10.2.x, Esri developed GeoEvent Extension for ArcGIS Server (originally called GeoEvent Processor). This application “listens” to events which, in turn, trigger updates in the maps. As the events evolve in realtime so does the data displayed in the online maps. (Check Esri’s GeoEvent Extension for detailed information.)

Possibilities

Enter OSIsoft Pi Integrator for Esri ArcGIS. This product, about a year old now, interfaces OSIsoft Pi Real Time Database, and Pi Asset Framework (AF) with Esri GeoEvent Extension. The Pi Integrator monitors Pi RTDB and Pi AF, and keeps track of realtime changes in asset data.

Then, it pumps these changes into GeoEvent Extension. This event driven mechanism allows GeoEvent to dynamically update your online maps to show geographically located realtime information. (Visit OSIsoft for details on Pi Integrator for ArcGIS.)

Think applications… Geographically dispersed sensors pouring realtime data into Pi with all kinds of measurements. Then, either the measurements themselves, or calculations based on their values, are immediately updated in your online maps, precisely displayed at the points where the sensors are located. (And for more of a thrill… the sensors could also be moving…)

Partnership

The partnership between OSIsoft and Esri has already proven successful in many areas: vessel tracking, situation awareness for emergency response, health, safety, and environmental realtime analysis, asset management, network load-balancing, and more. The acceptance of this technology in the Utility Industry is going strong.

We, at SSP, have recently participated in a pilot project implemented at Burbank Water and Power. There, BWP, OSIsoft and Esri have integrated realtime data collected in their Pi infrastructure, with their already robust ArcGIS Online platform. For this pilot, electric meter readings from the distribution network, as well as SCADA values from substation equipment are dynamically updated in their Web-based maps.

These maps are also built with powerful Pi Coresight widgets that plug into ArcGIS Operations Dashboard. The result? Lots of dynamic data displayed and presented in many formats: from flashing symbols in the maps, to data rich popups, to realtime graphs. At the time of this writing, the pilot will be presented at the 2015 EGUG Conference. It looks awesome!

Results

During this collaboration we have learned a lot about the architecture, installation, and configuration of all the OSIsoft and Esri components supporting the integration of Pi and ArcGIS Online. Stay tuned for a follow up white board video in our Energy Advisor, where we will pop the hood open, and show you the “insides.”

We Wrote the Book

The Indispensible Guide to ArcGIS Online

Download It for Free

Joaquin Madrid, Ph.D.

Principal Solution Engineer

What do you think?

Leave a comment, and share your thoughts

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.