Field teams from DMAE (Municipal Department of Water and Sewer) for the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, are using Leica Zeno 10 GIS /GNSS solutions to improve the quality and accuracy of asset data collection. The investment in advanced technology supports the city’s plan for sustainable growth and a commitment to improve services for consumers. Their challengs is to capture, collect and document accurate position and GIS attribute information of all water and sewer assets to build a complete and accurate record of the water and sewer network and attributes, better manage and improve the network operation for users and be able to make fast, informed decisions when action is required.
Using 13 Leica Zeno 10 data loggers, together with a Leica GR25 reference station, field teams no longer rely on the time consuming and less accurate cadastral survey method for asset data collection. The old workflow involved taking measurements with a tape, collecting the position data with a GPS navigation tool and then sketching all the information on paper. The data collected on site had to be rewritten in the office and was only accurate to 1 m, unlike the new workflow which results in measurements accurate to 40 cm.
All data can now be transferred to the GIS database direct from the field, using Leica Zeno’s “EasyIn” transfer routine and then processed in Zeno Office. The data can also be exported back to the field, when required, using the “EasyOut” tool.
Using the reference station allows all the data loggers to receive realtime positioning corrections via NTRIP (Networked Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol). If communication between the reference station and data logger is not available, the collected combined data can be post-processed in the office. DMAE engineer, Fernando André Neuwald commented, “With Leica Geosystems’ tools the geo-referencing of network assets takes less time, yet achieves greater precision. We are building a high quality Geographic Information System so future decisions affecting assets and consumers can be made from a fully informed perspective.”