Project Snapshot
| Category | Details |
| Client | Florida Power & Light (FPL) |
| Project Name | Facilities Graphic Management System (FGMS) Data Conversion |
| Location | Dade County (Miami), Florida |
| Date | 1992–1993 |
Project Overview
Introduction
Underhill collaborated with Field Data Services, Inc. (FDSI) to support Florida Power & Light (FPL)’s Facilities Graphic Management System (FGMS) data conversion—a major IBM GFIS project that involved over 1,000 square miles of urban electrical infrastructure in Miami’s Dade County.
Project Background
Spanning 459 map sheets, the FGMS project covered 800,000 customers and 490,000 cadastral parcels. The goal: convert and align electrical facility data to a high-accuracy, GIS-compatible format. The existing grid-based system needed extensive cleanup, field validation, and translation to IBM’s proprietary format.
FPL demanded extremely low error rates:
- 0.1% maximum factual (content) error rate
- Positional accuracy within 5 feet at 90% confidence
Underhill’s Contributions
Underhill delivered several critical components of the project:
- Developed field data collection methods tailored to FPL’s infrastructure
- Created custom software to check data integrity and ensure network connectivity
- Converted the electrical data and land base into IBM’s IFF format
- Translated ESRI ASCII inputs into topographical and cadastral features, building outlines, map elements, and power pole locations
The translator was written in C and optimized for 640K DOS systems, showcasing Underhill’s efficiency in working within technical constraints of the era.
Project Impact
- Delivered GIS-ready utility data that met or exceeded FPL’s high standards
- Proved the value of custom data migration tools for utility-scale projects
- Helped FPL transition from rough grid-based mapping to precise, digital infrastructure management
- Supported improved customer service and operational planning for over 800,000 end users
