Janet Sinclair kicked off the 2011 User Conference of the Pipeline Open Data Standard (PODS) association meet in Sugarland, Texas this month. PODS is thriving, ten countries were represented by 199 attendees (50% up on last year), just over half from operators. PODS’ mission is to ‘develop and support open data storage and interchange standards for the pipeline industry.’ Growth in the data model, now in its 5.1 release, has been modest in recent years, current table count stands at 678. PODS is reported as ‘widely adopted’ with over 100 active member companies. Flagship deployment is the US National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) which has migrated its 510,000 mile database to PODS. PODS now also has a reference spatial implementation (a joint venture with ESRI).
Ron Brush (New Century Software) provided an update from the PODS technical committee. Along with the ESRI geodatabase in the 5.1 release, PODS is working on Oracle and SQL Server spatializations. A ‘OneCall’/damage prevention sub model was completed in 2011 and work has begun on ‘modularization’ of the data model. An analysis of table usage is underway to identify little-used parts of the model and a draft spec for a PODS API has been developed.
Jeff Cannedy (Chevron Pipe Line) spoke at a panel session on the use of GPS data in PODS. CPL has a central PODS implementation for static asset data. Transaction data is kept in SAP and control center applications. Field data is collected using Trimble hardware and SDT Cartopac/EIM software. CPL is still assessing hand held data gathering and working to eliminate functional governance silos. Pipeline data management requires both coordinate and stationed locations—PODS ‘has not made it easy to manage both.’
Darrel Clarke reported on a complex GPS data chain at DCP Midstream, with little automation and a high degree of manual QC—deemed necessary to ‘maintain the high level of data quality.’
PODS president JW Lucas described Enterprise Products’ comprehensive deployment of PODS V5.0. A centrally deployed SQL Server instance manages EP’s 50,000 mile network supporting mapping, accounting reporting and integrity management and more. The key is ‘standardized, central database management, governed by business and supported by geospatial subject matter expertise.
Total unit TIGF’s Jean-Alain Moreau showed how PODS has been adapted to an EU context. TIGF began work on PODS in 2006 and has since devoted over 65,000 person-hours to building data feeds into PODS from Bentley Microstation and Intergraph tools and integrating with Total’s own ‘OGIC’ pipeline information management tool. The project involved a migration from paper to georeferenced digital data. The PODS-based solution is now aligned with French regulatory requirements. Moreau observed that PODS ‘is powerful but complex’ and that it is better ‘to store the data you need rather than all the data you have!’ Presentations from the PODS User Group can be downloaded from www.oilit.com/links/1110_37.
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