GB2556872A - A map of an area which shows a plurality of different utility services in the area - Google Patents

Abstract

An interactive map of an area comprises a plurality of individual layers pertaining to a number of different utility services provided in the area. The map may be displayed on an electronic device. Each layer is overlaid onto a base map and is displayable individually or in combination with one or more other layers. Preferably each utility service is shown in a different colour. An apparatus and a process for producing the map are also disclosed.

Description

(71) Applicant(s):

Premier Energy Services Ltd

Premier House, Daux Road, BILLINGSHURST,

West Sussex, RH14 9SJ, United Kingdom (72) Inventor(s):

Jason Raymond Graham Leonard Phillips Martin John Darlison Thomas Coulson (74) Agent and/or Address for Service:

Graham Jones & Company

Beaconsfield Road, Blackheath, LONDON,

SE3 7LG, United Kingdom (51) INT CL:

G09B 29/00 (2006.01) (56) Documents Cited:

YouTube, Groundsure and Premier Energy PALM [online], 2 October 2015. Groundsure.com, Premier Asset Layer Map (PALM) [online], 2 April 2016.

(58) Field of Search:

INT CL G09B Other: EPODOC, WPI (54) Title of the Invention: A map of an area which shows a plurality of different utility services in the area Abstract Title: A multi layered interactive map (57) An interactive map of an area comprises a plurality of individual layers pertaining to a number of different utility services provided in the area. The map may be displayed on an electronic device. Each layer is overlaid onto a base map and is displayable individually or in combination with one or more other layers. Preferably each utility service is shown in a different colour. An apparatus and a process for producing the map are also disclosed.

/ KEY ELECTRIC 6

WATER -MAINS 8

k WATER-SEWERS 10

/ GAS-SGN 12

' OPENREACH 14

- CATV.VIRGIN MEDIA 16

COMMUNICATION 18

TUNNELS A PIPELINES 20

x TRANSPORT-LULHV 22

1 Utility Search £ PALM

s PROJECT; SAMPLE

CLIENT: ANY CLIENT

| Premier Energy

At least one drawing originally filed was informal and the print reproduced here is taken from a later filed formal copy.

1/16

PALM - PRODUCTION PROCEDURE

Figure 1

2/16

Maps by email Plant Information Reply • ·· • · · • ·· • · ······ ·· • · • ··* • ·

KEY TO BT SYMBOLS

--- UNDERGROUND PLANT	0	POLE
OVERHEAD PLANT	sr	CABINET
JOINTBOX	□	BURIED JOINT
Q><S DISTRIBUTION POINT		JOINTING POST
MANHOLE		PROPOSED U/G
---- - DP BOUNDARY	PROPOSED O/H
ΞδΞ OTHER BT BOUNDARY	H	PROPOSED BOX

Figure 2

4/16

Duct, Trench

Figure 4

• ’·· • . ·· • ·· ··· · • ···

^S/l6

e

11/16 ··· • · • ·· ····· • · ··· ·· • · ··· • · ·· ·

Figure 11

12/16

Figure 12

13/16 • ·· • · • ·· • · · · · • . · *

• · · • · ·· · • ·

Figure 13

14/16 • ·· • · • ·· ····· • · ··· ·· • · • ·<

*· >·· • ·

Figure 14

16/16

Figure 16

A MAP OF AN AREA WHICH SHOWS A

PLURALITY OF DIFFERENT UTILITY SERVICES IN THE AREA

This invention relates to a map of an area and, more especially, this invention relates to a map of an area which shows a plurality of different utility services in the area.

Official providers of utility services such for example as water, gas, electricity and sewage are required to provide maps of their services. The maps are typically of a local area, and the area may vary in size. The maps are required for use by other persons, for example providers of other utility services or construction workers undertaking site developments in the area. A knowledge of the layout of the utility services in the area is helpful in avoiding accidents caused by breaking into existing services. For example, breaking into electrical services may cause personnel to be severely injured or electrocuted, breaking into gas services may cause gas explosions, and breaking into water services may cause water damage to property.

The maps ofthe different utility services in an area are officially recorded and made available for public inspection. However, there is a separate map for each different utility service. This means that subsequent contractors working in an area often have difficulty in ascertaining exactly where a plurality of different services exist in the area. In addition, the information available in each of the different maps may be in different formats, and this increases the problem of contractors knowing the exact layout of the various different utility services in the area. Still further, the maps need to be interpreted by different people. For example, contractors working in the area may be housing developers or personnel constructing a public highway. At different times during the work, the maps will need to be interpreted by people of different mapreading skills. All of these persons will have some difficulty in assimilating the totality of the information in each of the different utility service maps, and this difficulty will be experienced in different degrees in dependence upon the map reading ability of the person.

It is an aim of the present invention to obviate or reduce the above mentioned problem.

Accordingly, in one non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a map of an area, characterised in that:

(i) the map shows the layout of a plurality of different utility services provided in the area;

(ii) each utility service is shown on the map in a different colour; and (iii) each utility service is in the form of a sub-map, with the sub-map being taken from an official map of that utility service in the area.

The map is advantageous in that people such for example as contractors which wish to work in an area are able to obtain in one single map a plurality of different utility services provided in the area. The provided utility services may be all the available utility services, or just some of the utility services. The map is guaranteed to be accurate because each sub-map is taken from an official map of that utility service in the area.

The map may be in an electronic form for display on a display screen of electronic apparatus such for example as a mobile telephone or an IPad. The different sub-maps may then also be displayable on the display screen of the electronic apparatus, this being in addition to the display of the map of the area of the present invention. If the sub-maps are displayable separately, then they may be displayable such that only one sub-map is displayable at a time, or alternatively such that a combination of two or more sub-maps are displayable at a time.

Alternatively, the map of the present invention may be in hard copy form. In this case, the hard copy form may be a paper form, or the map may be on another hard copy medium such for example as a plastics material.

The present invention also provides apparatus for producing a map of an area, which apparatus comprises:

(i) reader means for reading a plurality of the sub-maps of the area, with each one of the sub-maps showing the layout of a different utility service in the area;

(ii) integrator means for integrating the sub-maps to produce the map of the area, with the map showing all of the utility services of the sub-maps; and (iii) colour providing means for causing each one of the utility services in the sub-maps to be seen in a different colour in the map of the area.

The process of the present invention may include geo-referencing means. The geo-referencing means may be used by persons on a site and wishing physically to check on the site what they are seeing on the map.

The process of the present invention may include display means for providing a three-dimensional display of the utility services. The threedimensional display may be used to determine the level underground at which various utilities have been laid.

The present invention also provides a process for producing a map of an area, which process comprises:

(i) reading a plurality of sub-maps of the area, with each one of the sub-maps showing the layout of a different utility service in the area;

(ii) integrating the sub-maps to produce the map of the area, with the map showing all of the utility services; and (iii) providing each one of the sub-maps in a different colour in the map of the area, and thereby to facilitating a reading of each submap in the map of the area.

The process of the invention may include providing geo-referencing means.

The process of the present invention may include providing display means for providing a three-dimensional display of the utility services.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a block schematic diagram showing preferred process steps for producing a map of an area in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 shows an official Openreach map giving information on buried cables;

Figure 3 shows a sub-map produced by the present invention and corresponding to Figure 2;

Figure 4 shows an official Virgin Media map showing cables;

Figure 5 shows a sub-map produced by the process of the present invention and corresponding to Figure 4;

Figure 6 shows an officially obtainable map of gas pipes of Scotia Gas

Networks;

Figure 7 shows a sub-map produced by the process of the present invention and corresponding to Figure 6;

Figure 8 shows an officially obtainable map illustrating sewage pipes; Figure 9 is a sub-map produced by the process of the present invention and corresponding to Figure 8;

Figure 10 is an officially obtainable map showing Thames Water mains water pipes;

Figure 11 is a sub-map produced by the process of the present invention and corresponding to Figure 10;

Figure 12 shows an officially obtainable map showing UK Power Networks buried extra high voltage cables;

Figure 13 is a sub-map produced by the process of the present invention and corresponding to Figure 12;

Figure 14 is an officially obtainable map showing extra high voltage cables;

Figure 15 is a sub-map produced by the process of the present invention and corresponding to Figure 14; and

Figure 16 shows a map of the present invention and comprising all the information in known sub-maps.

Referring to Figure 1, there are shown preferred steps in a process of the present invention for producing a map of the present invention of an area. The map of the area is referred to as PALM. The process steps are given in writing for ease of understanding. It will be noted that the first step is for listing six utilities of gas, water, sewerage, electricity, Openreach and Virgin. The finally produced map contains details of all of these utilities and the various sub-maps may be regarded as being map layers in the finally issued map of the area.

The officially obtainable maps and their counter-part sub-maps shown in Figures 2 - 15 are self-explanatory. It will be noted that the sub-maps corresponding to the official maps may be of the same scale or of a different scale, which will usually be an enlarged scale if not the same scale.

Figure 16 shows a map 2 of an area 4. The map 2 shows the layout of a plurality of different utility services provided in the area 4. More specifically, the different utility services are electric services 6 provided by UK Power Networks, water mains service 8 provided by Thames Water, water sewage services 10 provided by Thames Water, gas services 12 provided by Scotia Gas Networks, telephone services 14 provided by Openreach, and CAT services provided by Virgin Media. Also shown are communication services 18, tunnels and pipelines 20, and transport-LUL HV services 22.

The map 2 is such that each utility service is in the form of a sub-map. The sub-maps are taken from official maps of that utility service in the area, as will be appreciated from Figures 2-15.

The map 2 is in electronic form for display on a display screen of electronic apparatus such for example as a mobile telephone, a laptop, or a computer. The different sub-maps are also able to be displayed on the display screen either one at a time, or in various combinations of two or more of the sub-maps as may be required.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the map 2 may be produced in hard copy form, for example on paper.

Each utility service is shown on the map in a different colour. This enables the different utility services easily to be identified.

From the drawings, it will be appreciated that the map 2 is able to be produced by apparatus comprising:

(i) reader means for reading a plurality of the sub-maps of the area 4, with each one of the sub-maps showing the layout of a different utility service in the area;

(ii) integrator means for integrating the sub-maps to produce the map 2 of the area, with the map 2 showing all of the utility services of the sub-maps; and (iii) colour-providing means for causing each one of the utility services in the sub-maps to be seen in a different colour in the map 2 of the area 4.

The apparatus may advantageously include geo-referencing means, and also a three-dimensional display of the utility services.

In the production of the map 2, the data is obtained through the Utility Record Search of the existing infrastructure. For the United Kingdom, this is preferably C2 under NRSWA, Quality Level D (QL-D) under BSI’s PAS 128:2014 Specification for Underground Utility Detection, Verification and Location. A detailed “layered” A3 pdf of the affected utility infrastructure surrounding the site is provided. For larger sites, bespoke sizing of maps (e.g. AO, A1, etc.) are able to be provided. View ports may be created to cover specific areas.

Details extracted from the utility services are mapped. The details extracted may be, for example, from electric, water (clean and waste), gas,

Openreach (formerly BT) and Virgin Media plans. Additionally utility services and their details may be added as may be required.

The produced sub-maps may show electric cable lines, ducts, chambers, gas/water mains, pipe sizes and material (where stated), flow arrows, poles, cabinets etc.

Each utility sub-map/layer is able to have a unique colour coding for ease of identification and can be isolated as a single layer or overlay in a suitable pdf reader.

The sub-maps can be printed collectively or individually from one file benefitting from a consistent background format not associated with the original utility company service records.

Pdfs can be saved and used on hand-held devices in the field so that records can be used in an easy format. This helps to identify utility plant before disconnections, demolition, earthworks, or piling works commence.

A layered .dwg, .dwf, .dgn, .dxf, .shp, or .kml file with an OS mastermap map base or other suitable format can also be supplied for use in auto cad, micro station or GIS software to enable subsequent designers to change line types and adjust lines following further investigation.

The map, process and apparatus of the present invention enable the easy use of information for risk assessment in order to meet responsibility of designers, clients, contractors, and planning co-ordinators under appropriate local or national regulations.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention described above with reference to the accompanying drawings have been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected. Individual components shown in the drawings are not limited to use in their drawings and they may be used in other drawings and in all aspects ofthe invention.

Claims (12)

1. A map of an area, characterised in that:

(i) the map shows the layout of a plurality of different utility services provided in the area;

(ii) each utility service is shown on the map in a different colour; and (iii) each utility service is in the form of a sub-map, with the sub-map being taken from an official map of that utility service in the area.

2. A map according to claim 1 in which the map is in an electronic form for displaying on a display screen of electronic apparatus.

3. A map according to claim 2 in which the different sub-maps are also displayable on the display screen of the electronic apparatus.

4. A map according to claim 3 in which the sub-maps are displayable such that only one sub-map is displayable at a time, or such that combinations of two or more sub-maps are displayable at a time.

5. A map according to claim 1 in which the map is in hard copy form.

A map according to claim 5 in which the hard copy form is a paper form.

7. Apparatus for producing a map of an area, which apparatus comprises:

(i) reader means for reading a plurality of the sub-maps of the area, with each one of the sub-maps showing the layout of a different utility service in the area;

(ii) integrator means for integrating the sub-maps to produce the map ofthe area, with the map showing all ofthe utility services of the sub-maps; and (iii) colour providing means for causing each one of the utility services in the sub-maps to be seen in a different colour in the map of the area.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 and including geo-referencing means.

9. Apparatus according to claim 7 or claim 8 and including display means for providing a three-dimensional display of the utility services.

10. A process for producing a map ofthe area, which process comprises:

(i) reading a plurality of sub-maps of the area, with each one of the sub-maps showing the layout of a different utility service in the area;

(ii) integrating the sub-maps to produce the map of the area, with the map showing all of the utility services; and (iii) providing each one of the sub-maps in a different colour in the map of the area, and thereby to facilitating a reading of each submap in the map of the area.

11. A process according to claim 10 and including providing geo-referencing means.

12. A process according to claim 10 or claim 11 and including providing display means for providing a three-dimensional display of the utility services.

Intellectual

Property

Office

Application No: GB1618223.0 Examiner: Mr David McWhirter