December 2009: Hartlepool Water's assets go online

Hartlepool Water is the latest utility company to improve the availability of its asset location information. The water company has become the fourth utility to have its asset maps hosted on digdat.

digdat is also host to online asset maps for Anglian Water, Thames Water and Virgin Media.

More and more utility companies are recognising the benefits of an online asset viewing facility, not least because it ensures that when ground works are carried out local authorities, other utilities and their contractors can access the most current asset data whenever and wherever they need to.

The availability of an internet based secure system such as digdat on which to view utilities’ assets is important for the industry. The service enables asset maps to be accessed via the internet from anywhere in the world at anytime assisting with business continuity and disaster recovery planning. It also helps to improve business efficiencies, providing cost savings and increased profits by enabling companies to reduce their paper usage and staffing levels.

digdat was launched in 1999 and was one of the first mapping services of its kind in the UK, providing utility asset location maps at the click of a mouse.

Today nearly 300 councils - from Aberdeen to Cornwall – have access to digdat and thousands of their employees make use of the service every month.

Kevin Brown, Business Director commented “digdat continues to go from strength to strength and the number of users is increasing daily. Hartlepool Water has recently been added to the list of clients and we are in advanced discussions with a number of other utilities interested in employing the digdat system.

“We are fully committed to the ongoing development of digdat and there are plans for a number of enhancements and improvements to the service over the next 12 months and beyond.”

At present, to ensure assets are avoided when excavation work is carried out, local authorities, other utilities and their contractors contact numerous different utility companies to obtain their asset maps for the area. There is clearly a need for a one-stop shop for the online mapping of underground assets and with four major utilities already displaying their assets in one place, digdat is on its way to delivering it.

For further information on digdat please click here.