Students Map Waterlines and Learn Skills

Staff Writer


   As University of Arkansas at Monticello students map waterlines of Monticello, they learn real world skills and contribute to the community.

   The University paired up with the Monticello Economic Development Commission to create new maps for the city of Monticello’s waterline systems. The city’s engineer, Tony Beard, said the maps will help current and future employees with finding the locations of the water valves, meters and fire hydrants. This information contributes to the efficiency of the replacement of pipes and the location's shut off during the process will be more precise.

    “Our maps are in bad need of updating, the college has the ability to put the global positioning system coordinates on a lot of our valves and fire hydrants,” Beard said.

   The information collected will be provided in paper and digital forms to the city for private use, unless otherwise needed by contractors, city officials, and others. Beard said other reasons for the project include leaving and retiring employees.

   “The city presently relies on employees that already know where things are. The elimination of that need ensures future productivity,” Beard said.

   Brandon Kaufman, Cole Cates and John R. Carroll are participating in the project as a group for their senior-level Spatial Information Systems Practicum class. The students walk around and collect data, including locations of meters, valves and some fire hydrants.

   The students said they find the work an interesting and enjoyable assignment. The equipment used for the collection process includes a GPS, map and grade. With its intermediate software and fast and easy use, the students said it gets the job done.

   The group faces problems such as not finding meters for apartment complexes, landscape covering meters and a few GPS problems.

   They said the project continues to increase their knowledge of SIS and communicating with the public and city officials. The students said they feel confident they will meet the deadline at the end of the semester.

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