Utilities are maintaining aging networks under wildfire risk, extreme weather and regulatory pressure, usually with fragmented or outdated data and less field time than the problem deserves. This hour looks at what three organizations actually built to close that gap.Speakers cover high-altitude lidar flown to see risk across an entire network rather than sampled sections of it, an end to end geospatial workflow at a utility managing 70,000 square miles and 2.5 million distribution poles under a $73B investment program, and real-time visualization used to bring multidisciplinary teams to consensus on energy infrastructure design. Owner, service provider and technology perspectives on the same problem, each with its own constraints.
Using High-Altitude Lidar to Align Utility Resources, Reduce Risk, and Strengthen Infrastructure Resilience
Presented by Nathan Hopper and Jon Leist, Woolpert
Utilities are under increasing pressure to maintain aging infrastructure, harden networks against extreme weather, reduce wildfire and vegetation risk, and make faster decisions with limited resources. Yet many utility teams are still working from incomplete, fragmented, or outdated data. Traditional inspection methods can provide valuable information, but they often capture only a portion of the system, require extensive field time, and make it difficult to see risk across the full network at scale.
This presentation will explore how ZEUS, Woolpert’s high-definition, high-altitude airborne lidar capability, is changing what utilities can see, measure, and act on. Using a utility-focused use case, the session will examine how advanced airborne sensing can help reveal challenges that may not be apparent through conventional data collection methods, including network-wide clearance issues, vegetation encroachment, asset exposure, access constraints, terrain-driven risk, and infrastructure vulnerabilities across large service territories.
The discussion will focus less on data collection alone and more on what becomes possible when high-quality geospatial data is transformed into operational intelligence. ZEUS enables utilities to move from isolated observations to a more complete, connected view of their infrastructure environment, helping teams prioritize inspections, align crews, plan capital improvements, support regulatory reporting, and direct resources toward the areas of highest risk and greatest need.
A co-presentation between Woolpert and Southern California Edison would provide a powerful industry perspective on how utilities can use advanced geospatial intelligence to improve resilience, strengthen decision-making, and move beyond reactive maintenance toward a more proactive, data-driven operating model.
Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how high-altitude lidar, geospatial analytics, GeoAI, and digital twin-ready data can help utilities see what others miss—and use that insight to act with greater confidence.
How PG&E Built an End to End Geospatial Workflow from Data Collection to Enterprise Distribution
Presented by Greg Itzstein, Pointerra, Matthew Johnson, Teledyne Optech, and Eric Albanese, Pacific Gas & Electric
PG&E manages a service territory spanning 70,000 square miles, 2.5 million distribution poles, and 900+ substations, all under a $73B infrastructure investment program through 2030. While the Land Survey team maintained robust catalogs of their survey data, turning that data from static storage in S3 to actionable intelligence required a major leap forward in technology use. Like many utilities under growing regulatory and wildfire mitigation pressure, PG&E recognized that project-by-project data management could no longer scale to enterprise needs. Starting in the Land Surveying team, PG&E began consolidating its catalog onto Pointerra3D’s cloud native common data environment, and in November 2025 converted multiple pilot programs into an enterprise commitment, with a full migration of PG&E’s geospatial catalog underway across 2026.
A critical enabler of that workflow is analytics-ready data at the point of collection. Teledyne Optech’s Network Surveyor delivers lidar and imagery output that is structured, calibrated, and immediately ready for ingestion, eliminating the traditional processing bottleneck between field capture and usable data. Combined with Pointerra3D’s enterprise common data environment, this creates a seamless end-to-end pipeline: from data collection in the field, through automated QA/QC and ingestion, to instant distribution and analytics across PG&E’s functional units.
This session traces that full journey, from a single team’s lidar archive to a unified platform now extending into vegetation management, gas transmission, distribution engineering, and inspection programs, with users across numerous functional units. Eric, Greg, and Matthew will share how the combined solution cut time to insight from weeks to a few hours, lifted automated QA/QC coverage from 10 to 100 percent, and is enabling a shift from limited data access to instant connectivity from field to office operators. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for building an enterprise scale geospatial workflow, from analytics ready data collection through to cross functional distribution, and the organizational steps required to bring stakeholders along for the ride.
Protecting Critical Energy Infrastructure Through Realtime Applications and Geospatial Visualization
Presented by Matthew Acker and Chris Ott, WSP USA Inc.
As electric infrastructure becomes increasingly complex, engineers must communicate technical information effectively across multidisciplinary teams while making informed decisions that strengthen system resilience. Traditional design reviews often rely on disconnected datasets in conjunction with the use of trigonometry which increases project schedules exponentially. This makes it difficult for stakeholders to fully understand project conditions, evaluate risk, and reach timely consensus.
This presentation explores how WSP is leveraging real-time simulation technology and advanced geospatial visualization to transform the planning, design, and protection of critical electric grid infrastructure. By integrating Lidar, GIS, engineering models, and real-time visualization into an interactive digital environment, project teams can objectively evaluate potential vulnerabilities, improve situational awareness, and collaborate more effectively throughout the project lifecycle.
The presentation will highlight practical applications that enhance communication among engineers, clients, and project partners while improving the evaluation of design alternatives and risk mitigation strategies.
