Locate It. Map It. Trust It.
Okaloosa Gas District connects Bad Elf GNSS, Esri Survey123, and Python automation to build better gas records
“If you're not yet familiar with Survey123, I recommend learning it promptly. It will significantly streamline your data collection workflow, especially when used with the Bad Elf.”
Jamie Key
Mapping Systems Supervisor GIS, CAD, and Survey Operations
Okaloosa Gas District
The goal: Capture the asset before it disappears
A new gas service line does not stay visible for long.
Crews install the pipe, record the work, and cover it. From that point forward, the utility depends on the quality of the record. At Okaloosa Gas District, those records used to start on graph paper. Field crews drew service lines by hand. They added distances from nearby objects, such as power poles, but the sketches did not always include coordinates, bearings, or enough context to identify the correct reference point.
The drawing might show that a pipe sat a certain distance from a pole. It might not show which pole.
That created uncertainty when crews returned to locate, maintain, or repair the buried asset. Jamie Key joined Okaloosa Gas District with a plan to replace that uncertainty with structured field data. Key oversees GIS, CAD, and survey operations. He brought 25 years of experience as a geospatial contractor supporting the U.S. Air Force, along with experience in geomatics, geospatial standards, Python, and JavaScript.
His approach connects simple field tools to a more advanced GIS engine. The crew sees a form. Behind the form sits a full geospatial workflow.
The Implementation: One Connected Field Process
Okaloosa Gas District combined Bad Elf GNSS receivers with a custom application built in Esri Survey123 Connect. The workflow starts when a crew member connects a Bad Elf receiver to a phone. After the first setup, the receiver can reconnect when the user opens the Survey123 form. The receiver uses Florida's free RTK network for corrections. The crew then records the asset at the point of installation.
The form captures more than a coordinate. Key designed the Survey123 form to collect:
- GNSS position
- X, Y, and Z values
- Pole height
- Asset type
- Pipe material
- Pipe diameter
- Asset status
- Installation position
- Field photographs
- Barcode information
Crews can select whether an asset remains in service or has been abandoned. They can record whether the point represents the ground surface or the top of the pipe. When the user submits the form, the record moves into ArcGIS Online. The company can then view the information through its shared web map. This process removes several manual steps. Crews no longer need to sketch a service line, send the paper to the office, and rely on someone else to interpret it.
A Phone Camera Captures the Pipe’s Identity
The barcode tool adds another layer of intelligence.
Key configured Survey123 to use a phone camera as a barcode scanner. A crew member opens the scanner, points the camera at the pipe barcode, and captures available manufacturing information. The workflow can record details such as:
- Manufacturer
- Manufacturing date
- Lot number
- Pipe characteristics
Crews can also enter the asset information manually when a barcode is not available. This matters because the barcode may become inaccessible after installation. Okaloosa Gas District captures the asset’s identity before the crew buries it.
The Bad Elf receiver answers where.
The barcode answers what.
Survey123 packages both
answers into one record.
Three Workflows That Show the Value
1. Replace the graph-paper as-built
Before: A field crew drew a new service line on graph paper and measured it from nearby objects.
Now: The crew records an RTK-enabled GNSS point, scans the pipe barcode, adds attributes and photographs, and submits the record to ArcGIS Online.
Why it matters: The digital record contains a location and structured asset information. Future users do not need to decipher handwriting or identify an unnamed reference pole.
2. Correct a line drawn on the wrong side of the street
During the interview, Key displayed a collected point representing a gas-line end cap.
The point did not match the existing gas-main geometry. The legacy line appeared on the wrong side of the street and failed to connect with the collected assets. The original as-built had mapped the line backward. Key built a custom Python toolbox to correct problems like this. The tool:
- Selects the field-collected points.
- Find the nearby line.
- Adds a vertex to the line.
- Snaps the vertex to the GNSS point.
- Adds the collected Z-value to the geometry.
The tool adjusts the feature in place.
Why it matters: Bad Elf supplies the field evidence. Python converts that evidence into corrected GIS geometry.
3. Return to a previously located asset
Locators sometimes visit the same infrastructure more than once. Without a reliable record, a later crew may need to repeat part of the locate or excavation process. With the new workflow, the locator can open the collected point in Esri Field Maps and navigate back to it while connected to the Bad Elf receiver.
Why it matters: The utility can reuse an accurate field observation instead of treating each locate as a temporary event.
Why Accuracy Matters to Okaloosa Gas District
Okaloosa Gas District serves 63,000 customers.
Its crews also work around contractors installing fiber and other underground infrastructure through directional drilling. Those companies do not always provide maps or as-builts to Okaloosa Gas District. If a gas line sits two feet away from its mapped location, a locator may mark the wrong area. A third-party contractor may then strike the line. Accurate GNSS records help Okaloosa Gas District:
- Improve locate confidence
- Reduce uncertainty around buried assets
- Document where crews marked infrastructure
- Support damage investigations
- Strengthen records during responsibility disputes
Bad Elf does not prevent every third-party strike, but it does help Okaloosa Gas District replace a weak location record with defensible field data.
GIS Beyond the Field
Key also built a separate workflow for market analysis.
Staff once estimated market saturation by driving through neighborhoods and counting homes without gas meters. Key replaced that windshield survey with standardized parcel data, active-meter records, Python automation, and an ArcGIS Experience Builder dashboard. The system allows staff to:
- Standardize parcel fields from different counties
- Compare parcels with active gas meters
- Calculate customer saturation by subdivision
- Evaluate marketing territories
- Export targeted property lists to CSV
Simple in the Field. Powerful Behind the Screen.
Okaloosa Gas District built a workflow that hides technical complexity from the field crew.
The user does not need to understand Python, topology rules, coordinate systems, or geodatabase design.
The user connects the Bad Elf receiver, opens Survey123, scans the pipe, collects the point, and submits the record.
Behind that simple process the sausage is made. Key describes his goal in plain language, “the only thing I'm trying to do here is leave it better than I found it.” Okaloosa Gas District is doing that one connected field record at a time.