Temetra Newsletter March 2007
GPS, Meter Management and Temetra
GPS is a useful addition for asset management and meter reading, allowing meter locations to be mapped and located quickly. Since the initial version, Temetra has had the ability to store GPS locations for meters, convert among the common formats - Irish Grid, WGS84 and UTM, and show the locations on Internet based mapping sites.
For Ireland, the ready availability of digital maps that cover the entire country, at reasonable cost, has been a hindrance, but the mapping company Navteq has now completed a comprehensive mapping of the Irish road network, down to the smallest of laneways, and for the first time such mapping is available on consumer level GPS devices.
These devices have a large memory capacity, allowing all the meter
points in your network to be stored as Points of Interest (POI), along
with basic information about the meter, (eg meter type, size, phone
number for access etc). Not only does this help in meter reading to
locate the meters, but also allows meter readers and maintenance
personnel to quickly return to any meter location, with turn by turn
driving instructions. Simply enter the connection number and the
device will speak out the directions, taking into account one-way
streets and cul de sacs, and then show the meter location on the
device's map as you approach. This can save a huge amount of time
finding and returning to meters.
Temetra, GPS and Garmin Nuvi
To make the job easier, Temetra now has the ability to download all
your meter locations as a GPX file, the standard interchange format
for GPS devices, converting from common co-ordinate systems, including
Irish Grid. The meters appear on the map as small yellow boxes with
the Temetra logo and can be configured to pop up on the display when
driving within, say 50m distance of the meter location.
We now have the Garmin Nuvi 310 and 360 for sale, and when purchased through us they will come pre-loaded with your meter locations. Contact us at (052) 22722 for more information.
Latest Customers - Wicklow County Council
Wicklow County Council will use Temetra for meter management and meter readings after the design and construction stage, undertaken by Coffey Contrstruction.
Temetra ensures that Wicklow will have a single system to manage readings coming from diverse sources - eyeball, AMR and GSM.
Latest Features in Temetra - Network Consumption
Temetra has a new report to allow consumption to be calculated across your entire netowrk, between any two dates.
While this information was possible to extract and calculate before, the new feature makes it much easier and less error prone.
Meters are grouped by DMA and show total consumption and daily flow rates, with a grand total at the end. Additionally, the top consumers in your network for the period are shown, again with total consumption and daily flow rates. Finally, as usual, all the information can be downloaded in XML and spreadsheet format.
Following feedback since introducing this feature, we will shortly enhance the paramters to allow more refinement in the calculations.
Billing Deviation and Cross Reference
For customer of Temetra Billing, we've added features to make it easier to get summary information about billing that has taken place in Temetra, and a cross-check the information transferred to your financial systems. This keeps Temetra at the front for metering, billing and customer service integration with an easy to use interface for all personnel involved in water metering and billing.