Utility Poles & Google Maps

So this weekend the power was out in our neighborhood because the top spontaneously snapped out of one of our utility poles.  This sorta thing doesn't happen very often, but across the nation as a whole I bet it's not an infrequent occurance.  What does this have to do with software?  Well, I read about an interesting company today called Alden Systems that creates software for inventory tracking of utility poles and attachments to those poles.  In speaking with friends that work for AT&T I've heard mention of the largely unknown world of utility pole resource management; now I've come to see there's a company dedicated to helping the utilities manage these valuable assets. The software is pretty cool and includes the ability to upload GPS coordinates and pictures of individual poles overlayed on what appears to be a google maps interface.  This is all important because utility companies "lease" the right to attach lines to their poles.  So, if Comcast throws some cable up, they are supposed to report it and pay an annual lease for attaching their wires to AT&T's pole.  The Alden JRM software allows this to be tracked in an efficient manner.

As it turns out, Alden also offers services for analysis on the condition of wood poles.  Poles aren't cheap and there's treatments that can be applied to prolong their life.  There are a number of drilling and analysis methods for determining the condition of a utility pole - at least two of which include bluetooth integrated electronics to transmit the data into Alden System Software!  Crazy stuff, but the optimization of assets and overall efficiency gains Alden provides for it's half dozen or so telecommunications clients is very cool.