In the world of urban maintenance and Smart Cities, not all assets are created equal. Most software on the market is designed to manage "Points of Interest" (POIs): a streetlight here, a dumpster there, a boiler in this building.
However, the critical infrastructures that keep a city alive are not points; they are lines. We are talking about water supply networks, sewage, fiber optic cabling, high-voltage power lines, or the road network itself (asphalt and highways).
Managing these Linear Assets presents a technological challenge that 90% of conventional CMMS cannot solve because they treat a 10 km pipe as if it were a simple "item" in a list. To truly manage them, you need a platform with a topological heart, like Maptainer.
The Problem: "The Invisible Is the Most Expensive to Break"
The great challenge of utility networks is that they are often unseen. They are underground. When a main pipe bursts, the operator doesn't need to know that the pipe exists (that's obvious because water is gushing out); they need to know:
- Where are the exact shut-off valves to isolate the fault while cutting service to the fewest neighbors possible?
- What other services run nearby? (Gas, electricity) to avoid causing a bigger disaster when excavating.
Without a precise GIS, this is done by consulting paper maps (often outdated) or relying on the memory of the most veteran operator. Both methods are recipes for disaster.
From X/Y Coordinate to "Network Topology"
This is where Maptainer makes the difference by broadening the scope towards integral management. While basic software gives you a coordinate (latitude/longitude), our system manages Complex Geometries (MultiLineString).
This enables critical functionalities for water and energy companies:
1. Dynamic Segmentation A 100 km road is a single asset administratively, but maintenance-wise, it has sections in different conditions. Maptainer allows incidents to be assigned to a specific segment (from Km 12.5 to Km 12.8) without having to split the asset into a thousand pieces in the database.
2. Connectivity and Traceability (Upstream/Downstream) Thanks to the PostGIS engine, the system understands that Pipe A is connected to Valve B.
- Use Case: If you close Valve B, the system can automatically tell you which buildings (subscribers) you have left without water downstream. This is vital for sending proactive service outage alerts.
3. "Onion Layer" Visualization In an urban trench, space is finite. Maptainer allows networks to be visualized in superimposed layers. A technician can turn on the "Potable Water" layer, then "Sewage," and then "Street Lighting," seeing how infrastructures cross underground before bringing in the excavator.
Preventive Maintenance on Linear Assets
How do you perform preventive maintenance on a cable? You don't check the whole thing every year. You inspect it by sections or nodes. Maptainer allows generating Work Orders based on routes.
- Example: "Visually inspect control cabinets on the North Line." The mobile App guides the technician along the line, forcing them to validate their passage through each critical node via GPS.
If your company or municipality manages networks, you cannot afford to use separate tools (a GIS to see the pipes and an Excel for repairs). That disconnection causes data loss.
Maptainer unifies both worlds. Whether it's a streetlight (point) or a pipeline (line), the platform offers the geographic precision needed to manage the complex infrastructure of a modern city, reducing risks and response times in critical interventions.