News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Sparta workers will soon have new GIS equipment to use while traversing networks like sewers or waterlines.
Sparta City Administrator Tonya Tindle said the current GIS is at least 15 years old and nearly unusable. Tindle said the $20,000 price tag of a news GIS is well worth the time and money the city will save.
“It makes it so much more efficient and so much easier on our employees,” Tindle said. “And more accurate, instead of having to hunt for hours for some six-inch water line which you can not see because it’s under the ground. They can take these maps that’s on GIS and they can go right to where they need to go.”
Tindle said that trying to find problems without GIS can result in unnecessary digging causing inconvenience for workers and residents. Tindle said crew workers are able to access the system using iPads. Tindle said the GIS base station is in City Hall and the new system’s cost will be shared between the departments that utilize it.
Not only with the new arrival assist workers in the field, it will make things easier with other software that depend on the GIS data.
“It’s just like, I guess, service from a really old cell phone,” Tindle said. “The system is so old it’s not talking really well with the new 5G and everything. So, it has to reset itself, and when it does it takes like 24 hours to re-coordinate all of those points.”
Tindle said that the GIS also does not give an official prior warning when it is preparing another one of many system resets.
“He could be out there trying to map out a new section of water-line and it just goes dead,” Tindle said. “And it’s not a battery. It’s not being able to connect to the satellite and it’s not able to connect and get the data that he wants.”
Tindle said that departments that use the GIS include electric, water, sewer, and sanitation. The City Council approved the expenditure earlier this month.
