Using Google My Maps as a Geospatial Ticket Management System for Scheduling and Monitoring Power Distribution Network Works

Abstract

The need to ensure the long-term ability of power distribution systems to meet demands means that upgrades and alterations/expansions, as well as inspection and maintenance works, are constantly necessary. This paper presents an approach to use custom Google Maps as a ticket management system for scheduling and monitoring such works. A geospatial representation is rather useful in networks that are great in length and follow irregular routes (which is typically the case for power distribution networks). However, acquiring a representation of such networks, especially for the Low Voltage side, is an enormous task. This paper presents a cost-free and easy-to-implement approach that can be used in the absence of a full geospatial representation of the network. This approach utilizes an assign-to-the-feeding-transformer (for all Low Voltage issues) and assign-one-indicating-point (for each Middle Voltage issue) scheme, thus, requiring a minimum amount of data easily retrieved from the network. This approach provides a georeferenced ticket management system that can be employed for improved monitoring and scheduling through a user-friendly and free-to-use web-based application which use requires no additional costs or training. The presented approach has been applied in the area of Patras, Greece and initial results, showing a significant improvement in productivity, ranging from 10% to 42%, along with background information are further presented and discussed in this paper.