Geographic Information System

H2M utilizes GIS technology to provide a variety of products and services, including Fire District maps, water/wastewater/drainage system mapping and asset management, environmental analysis, and wetland permit maps. Utilizing National, State, and County base map data and aerial imagery, H2M’s GIS maps provide up-to-date representations of actual conditions within a given area. GIS technology provides highly developed spatial analysis tools that increase effectiveness in countless fields, such as emergency management, risk analysis, environmental modeling, etc.

Nassau County Fire Districts:

Suffolk County Fire Districts:

H2M was contracted by SUEZ Water New Jersey, Inc. to provide design coordination, construction administration, and construction observation of the replacement of multiple miles of water mains throughout Hudson and Bergen Counties in New Jersey.  As part of these duties, H2M had to efficiently quantify and document: 1) existing site conditions; 2) new materials that got installed; and, 3) any deviation from the original design plan.  The highly detailed documentation demanded by SUEZ and the high workload throughout multiple counties led H2M to develop and implement a real-time construction management program catered specifically to SUEZ. Throughout the lifetime of a water main replacement project a given asset is entered into and categorized using numerous software platforms – AutoCAD, ArcGIS, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, etc.  There was no clear and efficient way for the data to navigate and migrate through the programs until H2M decided to implement a GIS-centric modus operandi. A GIS-centric modus operandi means that all asset information and data is uploaded to a GIS program initially and a GIS program is used to manage the data.  An H2M engineer migrates the pre-construction site survey and all design features from AutoCAD to H2M’s ArcOnline account before construction commences. H2M’s construction inspectors and field engineers are then able to access the design data on-site since they are equipped with a tablet that has the Collector and Survey123 mobile applications installed.  Inspectors are given the ability to edit pre-existing data in a map that is live-fed from the ArcOnline server; if a water service line is found they can add the depth of that surveyed feature to the GIS cloud so the construction crew recalls how deep the service line is when it comes back in two months to complete the service connections. Also, the inspector can show the foreman and SUEZ staff on-site the design for a given intersection as it approaches; if the crew foresees issues, they are able to communicate effectively and visually with SUEZ personnel to ensure the best design is executed.  Combining Survey123 and Collector has reduced the turnaround time of H2M inspection reports from weeks down to less than 24 hours.  Survey123 is pre-formatted to ensure inspectors obtain and document the necessary information, such as the number of vehicles on-site or standby time due to a mis-marked utility being damaged.  Rapid daily inspection reporting leads to efficiencies in testing, notifying customers of shutdowns, payment requests, and notification of hydrant availability to the Fire Marshall. The GIS-centric modus operandi allows for the QA/QC to be focused upfront, thus limiting the likelihood of bearing the “fruit of the poisonous tree” throughout a project.  Feedback can be given and received instantaneously and clearly on multiple levels.  A construction administrator in the office can view uploaded data immediately and gain additional information, if needed, from the inspector on-site.  The presence of the construction administrator adds an element of QA/QC that was not present before.  When paper copies were used for reporting, it often took days for QA/QC to occur on daily reports, which is too long considering assets are constructed and paved over daily.  Once an asset is in the GIS system as a geospatial data point with all pertinent attributes, the information can readily be exported to Excel for payment and material quantities tracking, to AutoCAD for Record Drawings, to ArcMap for finalizing a geodatabase, to Microsoft Word for finalization of a daily report.

H2M migrated the District’s existing GIS distribution system map from Desktop GIS format to the ArcGIS Online cloud. ArcGIS Online has extended the reach of the District’s GIS map to all personnel, both in the office and in the field.  Distribution System water mains, valves and fire hydrants were all placed into the GIS along with the necessary data attributes, such as main sizes and hydrant numbers. Over 1,500 historical valve sketches were scanned and attached to the geographic valve location as well as over 11,000 tap cards, which were scanned and linked by account number to the parcel layer. The attached features allow District personnel to instantly access and view documents in the field.

H2M migrated the District’s existing GIS distribution system map from Desktop GIS format to the ArcGIS Online cloud. ArcGIS Online has extended the reach of the District’s GIS map to all personnel, both in the office and in the field. The ArcGIS Online map contains all desktop layers, including water mains, valves, fire hydrants, plant site, water main breaks, tank locations, boundary lines and parcels. Over 1,500 scanned records were attached to the GIS data. The attached features allow District personnel to instantly access and view documents and plans in the field. Utilizing Esri’s Collector app on mobile devices, District personnel maintain hydrant flushing, hydrant maintenance and valve maintenance logs in the field. District personnel populate data and attach pictures in the field. The maintenance logs are instantly updated to the valve or hydrant layer in ArcGIS online.

H2M migrated the District’s existing GIS distribution system map from Desktop GIS format to the ArcGIS Online cloud. ArcGIS Online has extended the reach of the District’s GIS map to all personnel, both in the office and in the field. The ArcGIS Online map contains all desktop layers, including water mains, valves, fire hydrants, plant site, water main breaks, tank locations, parcels with account numbers, and boundary lines. Distribution System water mains, valves, and fire hydrants were all placed into the GIS along with the necessary data attributes, such as main sizes and numbers. Additionally, fire hydrants have been color coded to indicate if they are valved or not. Almost 1,100 valve sketches were scanned and attached to the geographic valve location. The attached features allow District personnel to instantly access and view documents in the field.

H2M was selected to implement and manage the creation of a GIS database for mapping the Storm Water assets for the Storm Water Consortium of Rockland County, which is comprised of 23 municipalities in the County. H2M, leveraging ESRI’s ArcGIS Online, hosted a data website which provides access to a centralized web mapping system. A mobile application was also developed using Esri’s Collector for ArcGIS app to assist the 23 Towns/Villages in the collection of field data for the compilation of information on the Storm Water assets to satisfy the requirements of the SPDES MS4 program. Combining the original data collected from existing storm water system maps and the additional field work to identify storm water outfall locations, the project will result in a comprehensive mapping of the municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4).

H2M overhauled the City’s master plan to shape the physical, environmental, and economic future of the City. The updated master plan provides a framework for preserving the City’s character, ensuring its diversity, supporting investment and promoting desired change.  As part of the master plan, the City desired a graphic-intensive document that would be easily understood and could be referenced by residents, developers, City officials, and the general public. The GIS-based cartographic services provided for this master plan ensured that the maps were colorful and easy to interpret. Many of the maps were further manipulated in Adobe Suite products before being placed into the 200+ page document.

H2M’s GIS specialists compiled field documentation and tabular data of storm water assets collected through field survey services to satisfy the NYS SPDES MS4 program. Once all storm water assets were compiled, the GIS data and the associated field documents were packaged for submission to the NYSDEC compliance with the SPDES MS4 program. H2M’s GIS specialists converted tabular data to GIS and a KMZ file to store map details for simplified viewing in Google Earth. The KMZ file allows the Village to view the storm water infrastructure as an overlay on Google Earth imagery. This allows the Village to efficiently locate the infrastructure to its surrounding area and view a summary of the data collected for each structure. The data summary in the GIS map includes a link to individual field sheets and photos.