A GIS BASED ELECTRICTY DISTRIBUTION NETWORK AND FAULT TRACKING SYSTEM
Abstract
The use of GIS in power system has greatly enhanced the efficiency in energy sector. With the prevalence of computer and development of information technology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have long used for a variety of applications in distribution network system. GIS are designed to support the analysis, management, manipulation and mapping of spatial data. The distributions of electrical energy to end users in most urban area is faced with divers’ spatial problems particularly with the use of analogue system. In Malawi, there is no GIS based electricity distribution network and fault tracking system with respect to spatial data, making it too difficult for the electricity utility company to locate their electricity facilities in-terms of fault management. The development and usage of Web applications is one of the most popular directions of research and development in the field of software engineering. Web applications can be of great importance for enterprise information system (IS) development in the field of software engineering. This paper was entitled to design a geospatial database containing electricity distribution data in the study area, to develop a GIS-based web map for visualization and also to create a fault tracking mechanism in the study area to meet the demands of the customers in-terms of fault locating management. All the information was presented on a web GIS platform inform of a website, in this case, the user (customer) and system admin are interlinked in a systematic way to meet the demands of the system users. The system was modeled using waterfall software model development. The system was developed using Node JS, a software that uses JavaScript (JS) to develop web servers, PostgreSQL was used to create the database and it also acted as a database server, to visualize data on the web map, Open layers were used for the development of web map for visualization. At the end of the project, a successful GIS-based electricity management system was developed, whereby users are allowed to create an account, log in and be able to report a fault. The system allows administrators to view the report in the database and view the reported fault on the web map for easy management.
Research summary
In Malawi, there is no GIS based electricity distribution network and fault tracking system with respect to spatial data, making it too difficult for the electricity utility company to locate their electricity facilities in-terms of fault management. This paper was entitled to design a geospatial database containing electricity distribution data in the study area, to develop a GIS-based web map for visualization and also to create a fault tracking mechanism in the study area to meet the demands of the customers in-terms of fault locating management. All the information was presented on a web GIS platform inform of a website, in this case, the user (customer) and system admin are interlinked in a systematic way to meet the demands of the system users. The system was developed using Node JS, a software that uses JavaScript (JS) to develop web servers, PostgreSQL was used to create the database and it also acted as a database server, to visualize data on the web map, Open layers were used for the development of web map for visualization.