Hope Gas (Hope) provides gas services to approximately 125,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in 35 West Virginia counties. As part of an acquisition, Hope transitioned its legacy geographic information system (GIS) to the latest Esri technology and ArcGIS Utility Network data model. Hope also needed an Esri solution to support field operations.  

Screenshot depicts selecting a leak class to place.

Challenge

To improve customer service and further promote safety, Hope required the implementation of a new mobile solution for documenting gas leaks and performing asset inspections that could run on Windows field laptops. The deployed app had a very tight timeline and needed to be implemented and deployed to the 150-person field crew within three months, including time for training and testing.

Screenshot depicts entering attributes for a leak.

Solution

Hope partnered with RAMTeCH on this project, which involved developing a GIS mobile application for viewing and collecting data using the ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET. The app uses the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF .NET) UI framework and was deployed on Hope’s Windows 11 field machines. One crucial aspect was the ability to operate offline so Hope’s crews could collect data without interruption in areas where there isn’t cellular connectivity.

Hope leveraged RAMTeCH’s Esri-based gMobile^TM solution to deploy the mobile application. The app uses the ArcGIS Field Maps configuration, including Arcade expressions, allowing users to configure forms in ArcGIS Enterprise. By providing an underlying application platform, gMobile^TM allows the rapid deployment of mobile applications, which includes common GIS functionalities along with specific workflows to meet unique client requirements.

This process allowed Hope staff to meet the compressed timeline to provide an app that allows users to perform mission-critical field tasks. The solution development and configuration work began in October 2023, with a round of field testing and training in December 2023. The production application was deployed on January 1, 2024.

Screenshot depicts attributes completed.

Results

The gMobile™ solution was able to support the deployment of a built-to-purpose native Windows solution in a compressed timeline. Hope avoided unnecessary spend on mobile app software licensing by using a solution which utilized core Esri licensing. The gMobile™ solution supported rapid development, maintainability, and scalability while increasing Hope’s ROI. The proven methodology was designed to identify key business needs and align them with Esri’s software capabilities for business-focused deployments for Hope’s field staff. The application is designed to operate offline allowing field crews to collect data uninterrupted in areas without cellular connectivity. The solution provides continuous background data synchronization, keeping Hope’s field crews up-to-date in near real-time.

Screenshot depicts leak placement completed.