LOS ANGELES - San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today received a prestigious international award for their innovative use of location intelligence and spatial analytics. Geographic information system (GIS) is the foundational system that provides information about gas and electric networks to enhance situational awareness and decision making for the assets and customers at both utilities. SDG&E and SoCalGas were recognized by Esri for being industry leaders before a crowd of 18,000 international technology experts and GIS users at the Esri International User Conference in San Diego. A photo is available here.
The Enterprise GIS Award is given annually to an organization that uses geographic information system software to provide meaningful business intelligence across the organization “ from staff to field operations to management.
“Esri’s ArcGIS platform helps both SoCalGas and SDG&E deliver energy safely and reliably to our 25 million customers by giving us real-time data to make informed decisions,” said Jimmie Cho, senior vice president of customer services for SoCalGas and senior vice president of distribution operations for SoCalGas and SDG&E. “Whether it’s helping our staff provide excellent customer service to homes and businesses, or using mapping data to monitor pipelines or power lines during an emergency response, Esri’s platform helps us keep our systems in service, increase productivity, and ultimately serve our customers better.”
“SDG&E and SoCalGas are true pioneers in their efforts providing real-time information throughout their organization to offer the best service to their customers,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “Both utilities have created a platform that is agile, helps mitigate damage and provides support to the people who need it, when they need it.”
About 2,000 SDG&E and SoCalGas employees across multiple business areas use Esri’s ArcGIS mapping and analytics platform. Staff from customer service, integrity management, environmental services, emergency response, engineering, field operations, and planning use the GIS data in real-time.
SDG&E leverages the geographic data in the following ways:
- Emergency Operations “ provides real-time data, such as fire perimeters, weather data, and crew locations, for decision making during an emergency event.
- Field Mobile Applications “ allows field staff to view their equipment locations and help streamline their work activities.
- Outage Management Integration “ provides the base network model enabling our operators to geospatially monitor and control the grid.
SoCalGas uses the geographic data in the following ways:
- Emergency Operations “ allows rapid assessment of data using a GIS Portal in the Emergency Operations Center and command post to provide situational awareness for responders.
- Natural Gas Pipeline Map “ provides an interactive map of gas transmission and high-pressure distribution pipelines.
- Spatial Analytics “ supports integrity management programs using ESRI software to perform data analysis and to determine possible risks to our assets by location.
About Esri
Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, offers the most powerful mapping and spatial analytics technology available. Since 1969, Esri has helped customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Today, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including the world’s largest cities, most national governments, 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and location analytics to inform the most authoritative maps in the world. Visit us at esri.com.
About SDG&E
SDG&E is an innovative San Diego-based energy company that provides clean, safe and reliable energy to better the lives of the people it serves in San Diego and southern Orange counties. The company is committed to creating a sustainable future by providing around 45 percent of its electricity from renewable sources; modernizing natural gas pipelines; accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles; supporting numerous non-profit partners; and, investing in innovative technologies to ensure the reliable operation of the region’s infrastructure for generations to come. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information, visit SDGEnews.com or connect with SDG&E on Twitter (@SDGE), Instagram (@SDGE) and Facebook.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest natural gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable natural gas service to 21.7 million customers across 22,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Natural gas delivered through the company’s pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians”about 60 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants.
SoCalGas is committed to investing in its natural gas system infrastructure, while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2013 through 2017, the company spent nearly $6 billion to upgrade and modernize its natural gas system to enhance safety and reliability. The company is also committed to being a leader in the region’s clean energy future, and is working to accelerate the use of renewable natural gas from dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants and the development of renewable energy storage technologies. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.
