Overview
A correct behaviour of any utilities (Gas, water, electric networks, telecom networks and so on) requires a timely and continuous intervention of maintenance teams for resolve faults and provide network adjustments and control. Frequently the maintenance teams are equipped with positioning devices useful to locate where is required the intervention but, in many cases, the information provided are too inaccurate or worse not available due to the not visibility of GNSS satellites.
The problems above mentioned have limited the application of location based services (LBS) in the utilities domain and the GNSS usage is applied mainly to the survey activities. It is possible, in any case, to envisage a wide range of advantages if the maintenance teams could use a precise, reliable, cost effective, positioning information anywhere and anytime. Our idea is strongly based on EGNOS-EDAS adoption in order to provide to the maintenance teams a terminal able to determine the position with a sub-metric precision and able to update the company GIS database when is needed. Our idea is strongly based on EGNOS-EDAS adoption in order to provide of LBS to the maintenance teams by means of a terminal able to determine the position with a sub-metric precision and a positioning infrastructure. The terminal will acts as an accurate ‘in-car navigator’ in order to indicate the best route for intervention and will able to display contextual information related to the maintenance activities (e.g. a detailed map of the utility network within the intervention area). Respect other similar solutions already available on the market (e.g. Trimble products) our solution will be able to determine the position when the satellite signals don’t are available. This goal will be achieved starting by the last accurate EGNOS-EDAS position detected and using other ancillary positioning methods and devices as GSM triangulation, accelerometers, gyroscopes.