Mr. Harry Lorick of LA Consulting led a session at the APWA Southern California Chapter's annual conference in Carson, CA. There were two presentations during this session, one of which was led by Mr. Ahmed Khattab of Nobel Systems.
Mr. Khattab presented different uses for mobile applications in the Public Works industry. He demonstrated how the system can eliminate time spent on printing tickets for dig alerts, sorting through them and filing the tickets and their pictures. Based on geographical areas, all documents associated with those areas could be accessed with the swipe of a finger on any mobile device or tablet. This includes field notes with pictures, inspections forms and results, and CCTV documentation. Routine maintenance operations such as Valve Exercising could be streamlined by being automated from a remote location through communication with the machine to get the number of turns and torque, eliminating human error. Valve isolation was also discussed as the system would assist in figuring out which valves to close, in order to isolate a pipe that has a leak. Performing complex analysis on the water network, while in the field, to determine which valves to close could be documented using the system and used for continuation of the analysis when non-operable valves are detected.
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