System and method to provide an intelligent pipeline management graphical user interface map display

#Pipelines may be used to transport a substance from one location to another. For example, a pipeline may be used to transport propane gas from one location to another location hundreds of miles away. At any given time, various portions of a pipeline may be at risk of malfunctioning, either due to corrosion, mechanical damage, equipment failures, etc. As a result, an enterprise operating a pipeline may need to manage the pipeline to fix anomalies as they arise. For example, an enterprise might assign a work order to a field crew to address internal corrosion that has been detected in the pipeline. Manually managing these various pipeline risks, however, can be a time consuming, difficult, and error prone process. Moreover, it can be difficult for a user to visualize relationships between physical pipeline locations and various types of risk, especially when there are a substantial number of pipeline segments and/or pipeline assets (or even when an enterprise is operating multiple pipelines). It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods to provide an intelligent pipeline management graphical user interface map display in an automatic and accurate manner.

#FIG. 1 is a high-level architecture of a system in accordance with some embodiments.

#FIG. 2 illustrates a method that might be performed according to some embodiments.

#FIG. 3 illustrates an intelligent pipeline management enterprise dashboard display according to some embodiments.

#In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments. However it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the embodiments.

#FIG. 1 is a high-level architecture of a system 100 in accordance with some embodiments. The system 100 includes data sources 110 that provide information to an intelligent pipeline management platform 150. The data sources 110 might include, for example a pipeline database storing current and/or historical information about one or more pipeline and/or segments of a pipeline. According to some embodiments, the data sources 110 include information about subsystem assets, such as pipeline compressor stations, main line valves, meters, etc. The data sources 110 may further include geographic information, such as map data, topographical data, etc. According to some embodiments, the geographic information may be associated with satellite data and/or a Geographic Information System (“GIS”) that captures, stores, manipulates, analyzes, manages, and/or presents various types of spatial or geographical data. The data sources 110 may also include risk parameter information, including weather and seismic related risk parameters.

#The intelligent pipeline management platform 150 may, according to some embodiments, access the data sources 110, execute a mapping module 152, a graphical user interface module 154, and/or an analytics module 156 (e.g., associated with risk prediction), and automatically generate displays for various user platforms 120 as appropriate. As used herein, the term “automatically” may refer to, for example, actions that can be performed with little or no human intervention.