Enhancing the call before you dig process with FuzionView data sharing.
Skill Level: Beginner
Intended Audience: GIS User, GIS Builder, GIS Developer, Management
Abstract
In 2017, representatives of Gopher State One Call (GSOC) reached out in hopes of learning what could potentially be done to improve the use of geospatial technology in the underground utility community. From ensuing discussions over the next three years, the Underground Utilities Mapping Project Team (UUMPT) came into existence in early 2020. Now comprised of over 25 individuals from various sectors of the underground Facility Operator (FO) community, since mid-2021 the UUMPT has been championing development of software called “FuzionView”. In October 2022, a FuzionView prototype successfully demonstrated the ability to pull together an on-the-fly, web-mapped view, of utility infrastructure within a designated dig area. In 2023, GSOC hired Minnesota geospatial research and development nonprofit SharedGeo to develop a production version of FuzionView which will be used across Minnesota and released as Open Source software. The Minnesota underground mapping project continues to evolve and move forward and will soon be released to the wider community for review. At its core, the FuzionView software engine that has been developed for the project allows for near realtime updating and sharing of spatial data features by the owners of shared data services across the State of Minnesota for the enhancement of the Gopher State One Call ticketing system as well as any other 811 ticket management operator. Early in 2026, the State of Minnesota began its implementation of the FuzionView data sharing engine. FuzionView is not about replacing existing ticket management systems, but instead augmenting them with additional geospatial information access by the ticket requester. Join this session to get a behind the scenes view of the FuzionView software and the elements that make it tick. We’ll do a deep dive into the technical aspects and describe the needs of the project, how we got to where we are, and the solutions that have been developed.
Presenter
Bob Basques
Technical Director, SharedGeo
Currently the Technical Director for SharedGeo, a nonprofit that works with organizations and how they can best implement GIS soulutions. He worked for the City of St. Paul for 37 years, retiring as a GIS systems Developer. He has a background in Municipal Engineering Infrastructure and Spatial Data Management. Well versed in Civil Design software and SQL database design, integration and management. He’s also been developing online web interfaces for end users to access these same systems.