The Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA) in Reno, Nevada has purchased seven units of Leica Geosystems’ GS50+ GPS receivers to help create an accurate GIS of its water facilities infrastructure. TMWA’s goal is to update facility maps quickly and accurately, reducing the time between the inspection and mapping processes, which has the potential to save the company more than $100,000 over the next several years.
TMWA inspectors will use the GS50+ high accuracy GIS mapping system to update existing facilities for the company database, while cataloging the location of valves, meters, and other pipeline fittings during the pipeline construction process.
Released this year, the GS50+ is the next level in Leica Geosystems’ GS50 product line. The system features a 24-channel dual frequency GPS sensor equipped with ClearTrak™ technology, a rugged, user-friendly handheld terminal, and centimeter-level Real-Time Kinematics (RTK) GIS data collection.
For a limited time, Leica Geosystems is providing a copy of IMAGINE Essentials®, a powerful mapping and visualization software, to each customer who purchases a GS50 or GS50+ system. TMWA will use IMAGINE Essentials to rectify satellite imagery and conduct image analyses of satellite imagery and local aerial photography. The rectified imagery will be used to map vegetation, wildfire and impervious surface areas, as well as irrigated (landscaping, parks and common) areas in the TMWA watershed.
TMWA is a collaborative water authority between the cities of Reno and Sparks and Washoe County, Nevada. In business since 2001, it serves approximately 72,000 customers in the Reno-Sparks area.
