Utilities mapping has become really important nowadays in all modern cities. This is due to the fact that any big city is virtually a maze of barriers, buildings and different allies. The surface does look like it is really complicated but what you will find in the underground is even more difficult to properly map. We have fiber optic cables, telephone lines, power lines, gas pipes, water pipes, sewer pipes, wastewater drains and a whole lot more. To make everything even more complicated, we see new utilities that are being constantly installed while those that exist now will be relocated. There are many utility layers that date back to the nineteenth century.
Utilities mapping has become really important for all excavating contractors. This is due to the fact that if they end up faced with a buried utility line during excavation, it is quite common to end up with penalties, financial problems and delays. Services can be disrupted and workers can be hurt. It is really important to be prepared for such a situation and this is where utilities mapping steps in to help.
In every single situation where excavation is needed the contractor will want to make sure that e buried utility is detected and located so that the plan is not going to be disrupted. The first step is to call a company that is capable of offering utilities mapping. In most situations this service is going to be paid but in return the firm will offer info about all the buried utilities and exact locations. This is going to help out the excavating contractor a lot as it will know exactly what to expect.
You might also want to use different utility tracking services that are present in the town. The problem is that they do not use utilities mapping and there is a very strong chance that the information that the tracking service has is inaccurate or incomplete. It is quite common to have utilities first added and then reported. Sometimes they are never reported. Most excavating contractors will trust the information offered by utility tracking services but this is something that is not at all recommended.
There are many different modern technology and methods that can be used in this mapping process. The most common ones are radio detection, electromagnetic detection and GPRS (ground penetrating radar system). Utility mapping is possible thanks to these methods and the result is an accurate map of the underground of the surveyed area. The really interesting thing is that we can locate a lot of possible buried utilities. This will include cables, metallic pipes and even non-metallic pipes.
In conclusion, we have to say that this is a service that needs to be used by any company that is going to excavate anywhere in the city. You may never know what to expect and even if you get all the maps that are available, there is always the chance that something was not reported. Make sure that you use mapping so that you can be safe at all times.
