Gopher State One Call GIS Tool

Background

In 2020, the City of Minneapolis hired HEI to build and deploy a geographic information system (GIS) tool for Gopher State One Call (GSOC). GSOC is a non-profit utility company that the state of Minnesota approved in 1987. Homeowners or companies call GSOC when they are planning on excavating their land to ensure they will not damage utilities or get hurt.

The Project

To develop this mapping application, HEI assisted the Surface Water and Sewers Department with reviewing Python scripting that it GSOC uses. This project aligned existing automation tools with new Korterra software to help the automation tool function properly. Our team also helped clean up the Python modules to help ease future script changes in the event of changing scripting environments. This included the target locations for Korterra, email, backend data mining, the GIS area of concern, and consultation and/or modifications to ArcGIS Online (AGOL) used for GSOC.

While completing this project, HEI created a test environment to ensure it met the client’s needs. Our team performed tests, debugged issues, and developed a Python script. We also acquired data that helped guide the application’s development. The City was kept up to date on this development through several project meeting updates and calls throughout the project.