Method and apparatus for organizing storing and retrieving information to administer a sewer system

A method of administering a sewer system contained in a geographical region utilizing a computer that includes a memory and a display device, said method comprising the steps of:

• assigning a street code to each street in the geographical region;
• assigning a block code to each block of each street in a listing;
• assigning a manhole code to each manhole in each block;
• merging the street codes, the block codes and the manhole codes to obtain a plurality of composite codes, wherein each composite code corresponds to a manhole in the geographical region;
• determining on a viewable image of the geographical region displayed on a display device an x-y location of each manhole in the geographical region;
• obtaining information about each manhole;
• introducing the obtained information about each manhole into a record for each manhole in the computer;
• associating the composite code for each manhole with its determined x-y location on the viewable image and the corresponding record containing the information obtained thereabout;
• selecting on the viewable image utilizing a computer generated icon a determined x-y location of one of said manholes;
• and
• retrieving utilizing the composite code for said selected one of said manholes, the record containing the information obtained about said selected one of said manholes.

An apparatus for administering a sewer system contained in a geographical region, said apparatus comprising:

• a computer having a computer memory which stores a digitized geographical map data of a geographical region that includes a plurality of manholes plotted thereon, said map data including the x-y location of each of the plurality of manholes plotted thereon, the computer memory storing a unique composite code for each of the plurality of manholes in the geographical region and storing records containing information regarding each of the plurality of manholes;
• means for associating the map data x-y locations for each of the plurality of manholes with their corresponding composite codes;
• means for associating the records containing the information regarding each of the plurality of manholes with their corresponding composite codes;
• a viewing means which displays a viewable image of the map data with said manholes plotted thereon;
• a computer generated icon for identifying one of said manholes plotted on said viewable image;
• means for selecting the one of said manholes identified by the computer icon;
• and
• means for retrieving the record containing information regarding the selected one of said manholes utilizing the composite code associated therewith.

A method of organizing and tracking data for the administration of a utility, said method comprising the steps of:

• displaying on a computer generated display a map of a region containing a utility;
• identifying on the displayed map of the region an x-y location for each of a plurality of elements associated with said utility;
• assigning a unique code to each of the plurality of elements;
• entering into the computer the unique code assigned to each of the plurality of elements;
• associating in the computer the identified x-y location for each of the plurality of elements with the unique codes assigned thereto;
• entering into the computer information regarding each of the plurality of elements into corresponding records in the computer;
• associating in the computer the unique code assigned to each of the plurality of elements with their corresponding record;
• identifying on the computer generated display of the map utilizing a computer generated icon an x-y location of one of said plurality of elements;
• selecting the x-y location of the identified one of said plurality of elements;
• and
• in response to said selection, retrieving the corresponding record of the selected one of said plurality of elements utilizing the unique code assigned thereto.