Západoslovenská vodárenská spoločnosť a.s. (ZsVS) is a joint-stock company funded in 2002. It operates in an area in West Slovakia including 11 districts, 507 municipalities, and 950 000 inhabitants. Through seven regional offices, ZsVS is responsible for ensuring water supply for urban, industrial and agriculture needs, building and maintaining water mains,  treating sewage waters and for protecting water sources in the area.

The challenge

In managing water infrastructure, ZsVS needs to know the position of water pipes as well as other infrastructure (gas pipes, fibre) with centimetre accuracy. Traditionally, the company’s surveyors mapped this infrastructure by distance measurements on the field and filling in paperwork. Then, once back in the office, they had to document their observations. This was both costly and time consuming, and left room for errors when filling in the data.

The satellite solution

Since 2008, ZsVS benefits from SmartNet, a network of permanent GNSS receivers, which improves the accuracy of GPS positioning compared to what is available to the general public. ZsVS surveyors now go on field to map the infrastructure equipped with mobile devices which capture a GNSS-improved positioning signal. Using a field computer linked to headquarter systems, surveyors send this information on location, condition, material and state of the infrastructure directly to the office in near real time. These maps are also made available to maintenance workers, allowing them to quickly find objects or damages in the field, or to perform underground works without threats to existing infrastructure.

The result

The Water Company is able to map water infrastructure much more precisely than it was previously possible saving time on paperwork and limiting errors. The improved maps enable maintenance workers to avoid damaging existing infrastructure when intervening on buried infrastructure. Finally, the company provides a more competitive and reliable service to its clients.

“The use of satnav in combination with SmartNet to collect field data makes ZsVS a more competitive company, since it enables savings both in terms of time and money, while enhancing the quality of our services.” Alexander Budai, Western Slovakia Water Company

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Skeyemap is a three-year-old small company located in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. The SME initially developed 3D models of buildings and panoramas to provide virtual reality marketing services to local authorities and tourism or leisure facilities. In 2012, the company started creating interactive visualisation solutions integrated in geographical environments.

The challenge

Skeyemap’s clients need to be visible and provide the various types of customers and visitors they usually welcome with exhaustive information and accurate impressions of their location, surroundings, and services, as their main selling points. The SME identified a market opportunity in providing its clients with the possibility to gather all the information needed by its customers (such as buildings, panoramas, landscapes, available services …etc.), usually scattered among various sources within a single interactive online geo-platform.

The satellite solution

Skeyemap uses Google Earth or Google Maps, combined with other open geographic data, to create an interactive interface based on tri-dimensional models for a given geographical area. A dedicated website is created for each modelled area, accessible on personal computers directly on traditional web browsers.  In a very intuitive way, users visualise the area, as if they were on the ground, target the objects they are interested in and zoom on them.

For example, one can virtually visit the Geopark of Banska Bystrica or the lake of Strba, in Slovakia. The level of precision enables users to experience a very realistic and accurate tour of the areas, with the exact point of view they would have had from a given spot.

The result

By combining virtual reality and satellite data on a web platform, Skeyemap is able to provide a competitive edge to its clients. The SME was the first and unique Slovak company to provide such digital marketing services in Slovakia. Originally named 3Dmodel, the company recently expanded its client portfolio and capitalised on the success of the product to adapt its commercial image and change its name. 

“Thanks to satellite information Skeyemap expands its activities and becomes highly competitive on the marketing services market” Jaroslav Piroh, Skeyemap owner

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