Envista Takes on Dynamic Infrastructure, While GIS Manages the Static

An article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette caught my eye. It details a new mapping system that will save Allegheny County (Pitt’s county) money by preventing different infrastructure related organizations from ripping up the streets over and over. It’s one of the promises I’ve made (and heard made) about implementing an enterprise wide GIS. The solution being installed is from Envista, a company based north of Boston. The article brought up a few points about the system:

The county is paying $29,500 to Massachusetts-based Envista Corp., developer of the system.

“Envista will enable the county, PennDOT, municipalities and utility companies to easily exchange information and coordinate construction and maintenance projects via the Internet,” said County Executive Dan Onorato. “This will reduce street cuts, save on paving costs and lessen impacts on neighborhoods and commuters during the paving and construction season.”

One key is persuading other municipalities, authorities and utilities to buy the service, said Kevin Evanto, Mr. Onorato’s spokesman. One major utility has purchased the technology, and discussions are under way with others, he said.

So, I took the time to send some questions over to Envista where Martha Bednarz, director of marketing, promptly responded.

What is the licensing? Is this an annual or one time fee?

Envista is a Software as a Service, annual subscription model. For a municipality or county, annual pricing is based on the population; for a utility company, annual pricing is based on the number of customers in a service area.

When the county licenses the software, who gets to use it?

It is an enterprise-wide license.

Can agencies input data without buying a $30k license?

Yes. Organizations often participate in a trial we call “EcoStart”.

Why would a county use such a system as opposed to an enterprise GIS system?

Envista and GIS systems are good at different things that complement each other. Envista lets you import/export shapefiles, so you can fully leverage your GIS investment. But to explain the difference: GIS gives a complete picture of “as is” infrastructure. It is designed to store asset information that remains relatively static (such as pipe size, material, and condition) and is good for queries of static data and creating maps of things like zoning or wetlands.  Envista, on the other hand, excels on working with dynamic data such as project dates, project status, conflicts, and opportunities. It automatically notifies users when project data changes and provides a real-time dashboard of schedule changes, new projects, etc. It also automatically imbeds maps in notifications and reports. In summary, Envista was designed to enable organizations (with both GIS users and non-GIS users) to plan and coordinate in an environment where information changes constantly.