Catchbasin Inspections in GIS

Fifteen minutes north of Seattle you’ll find the humble, yet growing City of Mill Creek. The city has been using GIS through the ArcGIS Online environment by creating web maps to view and manage their data and foster public engagement. Wanting to utilize GIS to its fullest, the city brainstormed ways to use the ESRI suite of tools to optimize workflows in the field, eventually deciding to create a digital form to complete catchbasin inspections. At the time, field staff performed these inspections via paper forms that proved unwieldy and inefficient. 

To optimize the process, FLO assisted the city by translating that paper form into a digital format compatible with their GIS. The form, built in Esri’s Survey123 Connect, maintains aspects of the original form that were still relevant to the inspection process while adding features unique to the digital medium, such as taking photos of the catchbasin at the time of inspection or using conditional statements to calculate whether a catchbasin required cleaning. FLO sought to create something familiar enough for field staff to use right off the bat while incorporating functionalities that both supplemented data collection and optimized inspections. 

Creating the form was only one part of the equation. FLO also created a stormwater GIS field map that staff could use to orient themselves on their devices and locate catchbasins more easily. The attribute popup integrated the electronic form into the field map. Specifically, when tapping a catchbasin on the map, field staff would be presented with a pop-up that contained a hyperlink to the Survey123 form; with one click, the Survey123 application opens and is ready to capture that specific asset. Staff then fill out the form with pertinent information and submit it, after which an entry for the catchbasin in question would be created in a dataset that could be accessed in ArcGIS Online or exported into a spreadsheet. FLO is continuing to work with the City to refine the form by incorporating staff feedback to identify pain points, build efficiency, and improve the catchbasin inspection process.