OREANDA-NEWS. Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) introduced today its Trimble GasOps™ solution for natural gas utilities. The cloud-based, integrated mobile asset data collection solution enables natural gas distribution operators to improve data quality, export collected data to systems of record and streamline regulatory reporting and compliance with U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) rules. Through an easy-to-use web interface and complementary mobile data collection app, Trimble GasOps allows utilities to reduce operational costs and data errors, standardize the field data collection process across multiple contractors and support regulatory reporting requirements with compliance data that is trackable, traceable and verifiable.

Trimble GasOps currently operates on Android smart phones and tablets, and high-accuracy Trimble GNSS receivers, providing data collection flexibility based on regulatory or natural gas utility-specific location accuracy requirements. Location accuracy can be confirmed through real-time corrections via VRS network, single base station, Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) and Trimble RTX™ correction services. Trimble GasOps also has the capability to quickly scan industry-based ASTM F2897 barcode standards and auto-populate form fields, reducing user input errors that are inherent in paper-based data collection tasks.

"Whether it's their crews or contractors, natural gas utilities can now quickly and accurately capture field data for construction, inspection and maintenance activities, regardless of which organization is performing the tasks or what Android mobile devices is being used," said Ben Mallen, business area director for Trimble Energy Americas Division. "Trimble GasOps is the latest release in our suite of software applications designed to transform natural gas utility operations by integrating field and back office systems, along with automating workflows across the enterprise."

Trimble GasOps features a standard template library for data collection forms in support of common natural gas utility workflows such as pipe construction and pipe replacement, inspection, maintenance, fusion traceability, gas inspections, gas leak survey and meter changeout. These forms are easily configurable and deliver a number of business intelligence fields that include required and conditional fields, digital photos and signature capture. In addition, a Trimble GasOps proximity function allows work to be completed when a field user is within a specific proximity to an asset. As a result, field workers can more efficiently perform tasks using predefined workflows and intuitive data entry forms that automatically associate to the asset.

Through the Trimble GasOps web interface, supervisors can organize field projects, manage people, select assets, create tasks, and assign work to utility crews or contractors. Once data has been collected, supervisors can also view collected data, perform quality checks and edit data as needed. All data collected within Trimble GasOps can be exported via a number of common formats to update existing GIS systems and geodatabases.

Trimble GasOps simplifies compliance reporting, allowing natural gas utilities to more easily meet stringent regulatory requirements with improved data tracking and traceability. The leak survey report shows proof of a leak inspection and is tied to actual GPS location and not a specific address.