Pipeline Alignment Optimization: Automated GIS-Based Approach

Abstract

The shortest route from home to work may not be the best alternative, and a longer route may be fastest or safest. Hence, the best route reflective of one factor may not be the ultimate best alternative. This paper discusses a geographic information system (GIS)–based application to analyze and rank a number of potential pipeline routes based on accumulated weights of individual segments composing the route. The goal of this application was to automate the process of defining more than one potential route. Designers and stakeholders determine project-specific criteria and assign weighting factors to each. Additionally, individual scores are assigned to each segment in the so-called decision matrix which is a project-specific spreadsheet. The weights and costs are extracted from the decision matrix and imported as attributes for each segment in the GIS pipe network layer based on the unique segment ID. A network analyst routine was programmatically used to identify a number of potential pipeline routes that were then stored in an output feature class and eventually exported to Microsoft Excel, where a summary chart was generated to summarize the findings. The application was used on a test case in the western United States. The application was developed using Visual Basic for Application and ArcObjects and was intended for use in ESRI’s ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.