If one sees vertically painted numbering on electric poles, those are the present reference codes being followed by the Davao Light & Power Company.
With the recent completion of the electric distribution utility’s new pole numbering project launched middle of last year, numbers can now be seen painted on all poles within its franchise area.
The painted numbering replaces the old system wherein numbers are etched on aluminum plates and attached around the lower part of the pole.
The latest on pole numbers has numerous advantages over the old method. For one, the boldly painted numbers are visible from afar and can be clearly read by a person on the ground. In comparison, one has to come very close to the metal plates just to get the number.
Because the numbering convention has been reduced from ten digits to seven, it would be easier to record a set of numbers or memorize it if one has to.
Like the aluminum material, paint is also cost effective as it can stand the tests of time such as, whether changes. Meanwhile, wires holding the plates wear out due to rust and could eventually detach from the poles.
The innovation has emanated in-house from the company’s Geographic Information System (GIS) department in search of solutions to address a number of concerns with the old system. The said department had to constantly deal with missing tags, indecipherable numbers, and difficulty of securing a pole number by the customers for reporting purposes.
The data support section of the GIS department, headed by its supervisor Russel Bolivar, implemented the numbering project on poles.
The pole number is an important reference key of the GIS department’s home-grown developed mapping system called Automated Tool for Location of Assets (ATLAS). The software is being used for practically all field operations of the distribution utility which include metering, meter reading, responding to emergency calls, street lighting, and bill delivery because of its capability to locate the customers and distribution line assets.
