Mapping the future

Information source

If you’d like to learn more about geospatial technology as it relates to oil and gas, the Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) hosts a GIS for Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition every year in Houston, Texas. This year’s event will take place September 24-26 at the JW Marriott. The conference is the largest event of its kind, and it continues to grow every year, featuring paper presentations, half-day seminars, a large exhibit floor and panels all focused on the latest issues in geospatial oil, gas and pipeline.

The theme for the 2007 GIS for Oil & Gas Conference, Houston, We Have a Geospatial Solution, signifies the importance of learning from the mistakes and triumphs of industry peers to create better, more efficient projects. The program will focus on the five topics below. Abstract submissions are being accepted now at www.gita.org/oilgas.

Public awareness

It’s important for every company to know who its stakeholders are, where those people are in reference to the company’s facilities and what types of facilities are located within the company corridor – as well as the land usage. GIS is an excellent tool for managing these spatial challenges effectively.

Land and environmental data integration and management

Companies are using corporate geospatial systems to integrate and display easement, lease, fee ownership and municipal district data, as well as land use type, environmentally sensitive areas, archeological data and other socio-economic data. Areas of interest include the use of mobile solutions to collect and display data, the costs and benefits of such integration, and any other impacts from a management, regulator or field-user perspective.

Enterprise integration

Enterprise integration covers a wide range of issues relating to the linking of geospatial information throughout various enterprise-based systems and/or the use of geospatial technology as a view into other systems and data stores. Systems to be considered with this topic are work/workforce management, enterprise asset management and document management.

Integrity management

This can include mobile solutions (using mobile technology to better collect information supporting integrity management and reduce the cycle time of field data collection); web-based solutions (using web-based technology to distribute integrity management results throughout the organization); technology solutions (how current technology is adding value to pipeline operators’ decision-making processes); risk assessments (using risk assessment technologies/methodologies to make better-informed decisions); and DOT audits (using integrity management and geospatial technology/methodologies to assist and satisfy current DOT audit methods).

Emergency response and planning

Regulatory requirements are dynamic, and understanding exposure to corporate risk relative to homeland security, risk mitigation, planning and first-responders are examples of leveraging geospatial technology to support critical infrastructure integrity, objective methodologies and response.