Why Planning with GIS is Critical for Pipeline Routing Projects

Pipeline SurveyingWhile pipelines do provide a cost-effective method of transporting oil and gas across long distances, it is still crucial for companies to save on pipeline development costs when they can. Pipeline development represents one of the most significant capital investments oil and gas companies will make, so everything they can do to cut costs helps.

One of the key ways oil and gas companies can cut costs on their pipeline development projects is by using GIS mapping tools for pipeline surveying. Of the many factors that drive high expenses for pipeline routing projects, most of them, including things like diameter, distance, and operating pressure, represent fixed costs that companies really have no control over.

On the other hand, companies can control which terrain they choose to route their pipelines through. This means that pipeline routing is one of the few opportunities that oil and gas companies have to easily cut their pipeline development costs, and GIS is one of the best ways to take advantage of that opportunity.

GIS: A Solution for a New Generation of Pipeline Surveying

In the past, oil and gas companies could build their pipelines just about anywhere. Now, as pipeline right-of-ways grow more and more congested, these companies have to be very selective when picking a route in order to avoid both natural obstacles and existing pipelines.

Fortunately, with GIS, oil and gas companies have a new technology that can help them better address this new challenge. GIS helps provide a far more accurate look at a piece of land than ordinary topographical maps could ever provide, offering a clear and complete representation of the spatial relationships around a piece of terrain. As a result, oil and gas companies can get a pipeline route map that helps them make more cost effective decision.

Factors That Define Optimal Pipeline Routing

In pipeline surveying, obstacles like wetland crossings and rough terrain create problems for companies. The pipeline development will have to stop whatever they are doing to find a way to make the pipeline go through, around, or beneath the obstacle. Having to change the pipeline route like this is a waste of time and money, which is why it’s always good to use GIS and just avoid the obstacles in the first place.

It’s also important to recognize that GIS can help you in a variety of other ways as well. When oil and gas companies develop pipelines, they have to account for issues such as how the new pipeline will affect the community. This is important because it helps companies consider things like how the settlements would be affected in the event of oil leakage, and how much the company would have to set aside for compensation payments to existing land owners.

In addition, oil and gas companies have to consider the environmental impact of their project before they can successfully pitch the project to the appropriate regulatory boards. GIS helps planners understand the overall impact of the project, and how to alter the pipeline routing to minimize the damage to vegetation and avoid protected areas like wetlands altogether.

Final Thoughts

In pipeline surveying, what you can’t see definitely can hurt you. Failing to account for poor terrain and other obstacles can delay your project, which costs money. Failing to account for how your pipeline will affect people and the environment can also be very costly, both in terms of financial losses and damage to reputation. Having as much visibility over your pipeline route as possible is key, and GIS can provide that visibility for you.

Ultimately, utilizing GIS services will help you save money and ensure a more efficient and cost effective pipeline route map.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

How Oil and Gas Surveying Will Change in 2015

Oil and Gas SurveyingIn the early days of 2015, the oil and gas industry finds itself at a crossroads: external forces are in play, creating a situation where companies have to get accurate, detailed land surveys quickly, without having to pay too much for them. Those companies that can ensure the most affordability and value possible from their oil and gas surveying will be the ones that are in the best position to succeed in 2015 and beyond.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the future of oil and gas industry and provide a quick overview of some of the ways that land surveying is changing the industry in 2015.

Three ways that oil and gas surveying will change in 2015

1. The surveying technology that companies use will grow more sophisticated.

Whenever an industry faces new challenges, there will always be new technologies available to help companies overcome those challenges. This is certainly true of the future of the oil and gas industry. In order to meet their needs for faster, more accurate land surveys at the most affordable rate possible, today’s oil and gas companies have a number of increasingly sophisticated tools in their toolbox. These include things like cloud-based systems for better communication, collaboration, and storage, advanced handheld devices to facilitate better connections between home offices and job sites, and unmanned aerial vehicles to make it easier and safer to conduct land surveys on remote or dangerous terrain.

Although these solutions are available for all oil and gas organizations, only the ones that make an effort to integrate them into their regular business processes will truly benefit from the opportunities they present.

2. Oil and gas companies will need to make turnaround time a priority.

Getting a complete and accurate land survey is a prerequisite for beginning any new project in the field. Without the completed survey, projects will have to be delayed, which costs time and money for everyone involved: that’s why it’s so important to be able to turn these surveys around quickly.This has always been the case for as long as there has been an oil and gas industry, but in 2015—when the need for value is the greatest it has ever been, and the technology needed to create that value is readily available for anyone to apply—continuing to turn out slow land surveys is simply no longer acceptable.

In 2015, oil and gas companies will focus on making quick land surveys an established part of their organizational culture. This means adopting new technologies and implementing new processes to ensure that delays are avoided as much as possible.

3. The accuracy of land surveys will reverberate throughout the entire construction process.

Most oil and gas leaders understand that accurate land surveys are important, but just how important are they really, particularly in 2015? The accuracy of a land survey affects everything that a company does after it, from the pre-project planning to the actual construction of the project itself. It’s no exaggeration to say that an accurate land survey is the foundation that the entire project rests on; if there are problems with the foundation, it could result in project delays and additional costs later on in the project.

Final Thoughts on the Future of the Oil and Gas Industry

Oil and gas surveying is changing. The companies that insist on doing things the same way they’ve always done them will find themselves quickly left behind, while those that adapt to the change and ensure quick, accurate, and cost-effective land surveys will flourish. To learn how land surveying services from Landpoint could help your company succeed in 2015, contact us today.

Oil and Gas Surveying: What You Need to Know About Easements

JRocke5As you may already know, an easement refers to the right granted to a person or entity to use a piece of land for a particular purpose. It’s very important that oil and gas companies understand the easement situation in an area when planning projects, as failing to do so could result in higher costs and legal trouble down the line. In this post, we’ll give a brief overview of some of the things every oil and gas company should know about easements; however, working with an experienced oil and gas surveying provider is the best way to truly understand the issue and avoid problems.

Are there any existing easements on a particular piece of land?

If you’re considering a piece of land for an oil and gas project, an existing easement from another organization would legally prevent you from developing it or taking out an easement of your own. Of course, the only way to find out for sure what existing easements there are in an area is to conduct a thorough review of the land records for the area. An oil and gas surveying provider can help with this investigation, thereby limiting the chance that you’ll end up with an unpleasant surprise later on, when your project is already in progress.

Is the piece of land that’s being considered for an easement in danger of experiencing significant erosion?

Over time, land erosion has the ability to significantly alter the features of a terrain. In the case of an easement, this fact matters because it could result in a company being unable to access their easement, or unable to use it for its stated purpose. When this happens, all of the hard work put into gaining the easement ends up being for nothing.

A land surveyor can help you study the possible effects of erosion on a particular piece of land, so that you’ll have a better idea of how that land will function as an easement over time. By taking into account all possible outcomes related to erosion, the surveyor can help you come up with contingency plans, or seek out a new piece of land that might be less sensitive to the effects of erosion.

What type of easement is your company getting?

Legally, land easements are divided into two different types: easements appurtenant and easements in gross. An easement appurtenant is an easement that is tied to the land itself; if the ownership of the land where the easement lies or the land served by the easement ever changes hands, the easement will change hands accordingly. Also, the owner of an easement appurtenant must own a piece of land that is somehow affected by the easement, which usually means a piece of land that is adjacent to the easement.

On the other hand, an easement in gross is owned by an entity that does not need to own land adjacent to the easement. Since this type of easement is not tied to the land, changes in ownership of the land do not affect ownership of the easement.

Will you need to change the easement later on?

If the scope of a project changes unexpectedly after the project is already in progress, this means that the easement might need to change as well. In cases like this, the land owner might choose to request significantly more money for the expanded easement, knowing that the company has no choices other than to pay the increased rate or abandon all the work they’ve already done on the project.

Work with your land surveying firm to anticipate your future needs so that you can get your easement right the first time and not end up paying increased fees in the future.

Contact Landpoint today to learn more about what our oil and gas surveying knowledge and experience can do for you.
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How Professional Land Surveyors Can Assist With Site Zoning

Before you begin your oil and gas project, it’s important that you have a complete and accurate understanding of what you can and can’t do with the particular piece of land in question. The rules and regulations surrounding land use can be very complex and by not fully understanding them you risk major delays on your They can help you take the guesswork out of land use, so that you can be sure your land meets all of the requirements of your project.

There are two similar but distinct subjects that professional land surveyors can assist you with: land use planning and site zoning.

Land Use Planning

Land use planning is a general term to describe what can be done with a particular piece of land. It is usually framed using open-ended descriptions; for instance, a team of professional land surveyors may help you to determine that a particular piece of land is well suited to become a high-end retail center or a utility site, without going into more detail than that. In other words, a surveyor can help you shape land use policy by providing professional recommendations.

If you have questions about the possible land uses of an area you own, working with a land surveyor can help you determine where the boundaries are for the piece of land, while also painting you a picture of what could be accomplished with the land in question. This service is very important, because finding out that a piece of land is ill-suited for a particular project after you’ve already begun to plan the project could be a huge waste of time and resources for your organization.

Site Zoning

When compared with land use, site zoning is a much more detailed description of how the land will be used. While land use provides a very brief description of what the eventual purpose of the land development might be, site zoning actually provides exact details about things like how many stories will be in each building, how densely the buildings will be situated on the piece of land, and more.

While a team of professional land surveyors can be helpful when it comes to preparing a land use survey, they are absolutely essential when it comes to site zoning. That’s because a detailed and accurate site zoning map is required to move forward with getting a zoning permit, which is one of the requirements for being able to proceed with your project. Also, if your project needs to be financed in any way, the lender will most likely ask to see zoning maps before agreeing to provide a loan to your company.

As a result, site zoning is something that you simply cannot afford to leave up to chance. Working with a team of experienced land surveyors will help you make sure you get the site zoning maps you need to keep your project moving forward on schedule. They will inspect the land, meet with you to figure out what your requirements are for the project, and then come up with a plan that meets those requirements, while also complying with all applicable laws and land use standards. Finally, after the team delivers the site zoning maps. They will also assist you with getting the site zoning permits approved for your project.

Whether you’re just in the conceptual land use phase, or ready to get down to business with a site zoning plan, a professional land surveyor can help you understand what can be done with your land, and then help you turn your project requirements into reality. To get started with your land surveying project, contact the team of professional land surveyors at Landpoint today to get a free land surveying quote.

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How Using Drones For Surveying Actually Improves Data Accuracy

land surveying technologyLike any other business, the oil and gas industry is constantly benefiting from new technological developments that can revolutionize the way operations are conducted. A recent example of a new development that could lead to big things for the industry can be found in the field of land surveying technology.

New unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, could go on to provide the ability for oil and gas companies to gain a much more detailed and accurate look at the land they will be using for their projects. Although this new land surveying technology is still being adopted, the possibilities offered by using drones for surveying promise that they warrant a closer look.

Benefits of UAVs Over Traditional Land Surveying Techniques

Drones used for land surveying offer many different advantages over traditional land surveying techniques, which require surveyors to go from place to place to conduct their work. Since this kind of old-fashioned survey work often has to take place in dangerous or difficult terrain, using UAVs instead can lead to land surveys that are much quicker and much less likely to put workers in harm’s way.

However, the most exciting advantage offered by using drones for surveying may perhaps be the increased accuracy it offers. Over recent years, developments in high-resolution camera technology, along with greater battery life and increased levels of control for the UAVs themselves, has finally made it practical to use UAVs to conduct high-resolution photography work from above.

Unlike earthbound land surveyors, these UAVs are able to conduct their work without interference from the land around them, meaning that they can get as close to the terrain as needed in order to get the images required for the project. They are also less likely to have to worry about time constraints, as they can stay in an area conducting a survey for as long as the battery life of the device allows.

As a result, UAVs are able to create highly accurate land surveys that are capable of meeting the needs of all oil and gas projects.

Why UAVs Offer Better Results When Used With LiDAR

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology has become the latest word in terrain scanning over the last couple of years. With LiDAR, land surveyors use thousands of tiny sensors that bounce light points off the terrain, and then collect the result of the sensors into a data cloud that forms an extremely detailed and accurate representation of the land in question.

Pairing this new land surveying technology with an aerial vehicle is perhaps one of the best ways to maximize the quality of the results. However, up until now, the majority of the LiDAR work done from the air has been performed by manned aerial vehicles, which are unable to provide the quality of results that UAVs can. For one thing, manned vehicles have to conduct LiDAR from much higher in the air, which increases the likelihood that atmospheric conditions will interfere with the results of the scan.

On the other hand, drones used for land surveying are able to get as close to land as needed to conduct high-quality, accurate LiDAR scans, and as a result, are able to avoid any issues related to atmospheric interference.

While there are still several hurdles that need to be cleared before UAVs can find widespread use in land surveying applications, the potential for better, more accurate surveying already provides a lot to get excited about. As this land surveying technology continues to develop and grow more sophisticated, the possibilities will only continue to grow with it.

To learn more about using drones for surveying, request a free land surveying quote today.

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Ways to Improve Pipeline Route Selection in the Permian Basin

pipeline routingThe recent boom in oil production in the Permian Basin has created a bottleneck situation,where the pipelines that are currently in place are not capable of moving crude to refinery locations fast enough to keep pace with the level of production. While the rate of production has increased significantly over the last couple of years, the infrastructure in place to move that oil has not increased at a similar rate, creating a situation where refiners have to pay an additional premium to acquire crude. This is especially costly with volatile oil prices.

Clearly, there is a need for more pipelines to service the region; the issue is that the pipeline infrastructure in the Permian Basin is already quite significant, in spite of the fact that it can’t keep up with the current level of demand. This fact means that pipeline right of ways in the region are already very congested, making it a real challenge to find efficient routes to lay new pipelines. An experienced land surveying company can help oil and gas companies overcome the challenges that are currently facing them in the Permian Basin by finding an efficient route that does not overlap with existing routings.

4 Ways Land Surveyors Can Help With Pipeline Route Selection In the Permian Basin

1. Identifying the Most Efficient Routing Possible For the Pipeline

It the past, developing pipeline routings depended on topographical maps. These maps were frequently incorrect and offered very little detail, but were usually good enough to get the job done.

Now, in an era where the Permian Basin is already crowded with pipelines, “good enough” no longer gets the job done. Luckily, land surveyors have developed new technologies to help overcome the current challenges facing oil and gas companies. With GIS mapping tools, land surveyors can help their oil and gas clients get a more detailed pipeline route survey than a traditional topographical map could ever offer, allowing them to identify potential issues such as terrain change and chasms.

2. Increasing Accuracy and Completeness of Information

Simply put, if you’re considering a pipeline routing project in the Permian Basin, you can’t afford to enter the game with anything less than the most complete, accurate information possible. Anything you don’t know coming into the project could come back to haunt you later on in the form of higher costs and unexpected delays.

A land surveyor can provide you with all of the studies and analyses needed to make sure your pipeline project progresses according to plan.

3. Performing Environmental and Cost Analyses

Knowing how much a pipeline will cost to build depends on a wide variety of variables, and failing to account for any one of these variables could result in unpleasant surprises down the line.

A land surveyor can help oil and gas companies account for all costs involved with a pipeline routing, and suggest alternate routes that may be more efficient uses of resources. They can also help identify environmental hazards that might lead to higher-than-expected costs.

4. Identifying Potential Legal Issues with a Proposed Routing

When it comes to a pipeline route survey, what you don’t know definitely can hurt you. A land surveyor can help oil and gas companies research legal issues such as land status, right of ways, and easements.

As a result, the company can gather all of the information they would need to feel confident about moving forward with a proposed routing, knowing that they don’t have to worry about legal challenges in the future. This is a particularly beneficial service in a very crowded region such as the Permian Basin.

To learn how Landpoint can help with your Permian Basin pipeline development project, get a free land surveying quote today.

Image Source : U.S. Geological Survey