With the building of a new village hall and an updated police station, the Village of Wheeling took the opportunity to put in a new sprinkler system for the outdoor areas of both buildings. The sprinkler system consists of roughly 600 sprinkler heads varying in size, flow, and type tied into a computer system. The Village of Wheeling requested that a map be created showing the location of all the features within the system overlaid on aerial imagery.

To get accurate locations of all the sprinkler heads, a village engineer went out and used a GPS unit to collect all the location information. The points were then loaded into GIS and mapped out on top of the village’s aerial imagery. Using engineering drawings, attributes and line work were added to the map to complete the entire system. Finally, sprinkler zones were added using notes provided by public works and building maintenance crews.

The final product displays the entire sprinkler system on top of the aerial imagery so that maintenance crews can locate any part of the system. By adding the map into the village’s online mapping program, maintenance crews can select a sprinkler and see all the attributes for that specific feature. This allows them to easily make repairs and replacements. Because the computer tied into the system references errors by zone, the zone numbers were added to the system allowing maintenance crews to see exactly where a specific error is located and what other parts of the system are going to be affected. By adding the sprinkler system into GIS, the maintenance crews are able to get a clear look at the system and then make quick and informative decisions on any maintenance or issues.