Hawthorne Utility Management Partners with Nobel Systems to Advance Connected Water Operations
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
GeoViewer brings GIS-guided meter reading, field operations, infrastructure management, and utility intelligence together for the City of Hawthorne.
Water utilities increasingly need more than accurate infrastructure maps. They need an operational environment where asset information, field activities, maintenance records, service orders, regulatory reporting, and customer impacts can work together.
Hawthorne Utility Management, LLC (HUM) is advancing that objective for the City of Hawthorne through a new Enterprise Cloud Geographic Information System initiative with Nobel Systems.
This agreement establishes GeoViewer as the cloud GIS platform supporting HUM’s water utility billing and operations for the City of Hawthorne. GeoViewer Online and GeoViewer Mobile will create a shared environment for billing, water-system mapping, field data collection, work management, infrastructure maintenance, reporting, and system integration.
A key immediate focus of the partnership is even more operational: providing HUM with a mobile meter-reading application with GIS-based routing capabilities that can support the customer billing process.
For HUM, the project goes beyond cloud-based mapping. It creates a stronger digital foundation connecting water infrastructure, people, field work, operational records, and utility decisions.
Making Meter Reading Easier to Navigate and Complete
Meter reading is essential to utility billing, but route execution can depend heavily on the experience and local knowledge of individual employees.
A long-time meter reader may know the sequence of hundreds of meters from memory. A new, substitute, or cross-trained employee may not.
GeoViewer Mobile’s Meter Route Module addresses that challenge by converting GIS meter locations into an ordered field workflow. Each meter is assigned a visible sequence number, directional arrows show the intended route, and map symbols distinguish completed meters from those still requiring a reading.
Once a route is configured in the utility GIS and published to GeoViewer Mobile, field workers can follow the prescribed sequence directly from the operational map.
The workflow allows readers to:
Select an assigned meter route
Review the complete sequence before starting
Follow mapped directional arrows
View meter numbers and previous readings
Access location notes
Enter and save current readings
Move to the next or previous meter
Monitor overall route completion
For HUM, this creates a more structured process for gathering the meter information required to support customer billing.
Reducing Dependence on Institutional Route Knowledge
One of the strongest operational benefits of the Meter Route Module is the ability to capture route knowledge within the system.
Without digital routing, meter-reading continuity may depend on employees remembering neighborhood sequences, meter locations, or the most efficient path through an assigned area.
With GeoViewer, the route itself becomes part of the utility’s GIS.
That can help HUM improve:
Cross-coverage: Substitute or temporary readers can follow unfamiliar routes.
Training: New employees require less reliance on verbal directions and ride-along knowledge.
Consistency: GIS-defined sequencing creates a standardized process across employees.
Productivity: Readers spend less time deciding where to go next.
Completion Accuracy: Outstanding meters remain visible before crews leave the area.
This is particularly valuable when staffing changes or routes need to be reassigned.
The knowledge stays with the utility—not only with the employee who has traditionally completed a particular route.
Giving Field Crews the Right Information at Each Meter
Routing alone does not guarantee an accurate reading.
Field personnel also need enough context to confirm that they are working with the correct meter before entering data.
GeoViewer Mobile displays the meter number, previous reading, and location notes as part of the reading workflow. Employees can then enter the current reading, save it, and continue sequentially through the route.
The application also provides clear progress indicators, including:
Active meter
Completed count
Total route count
Completion percentage
Read/unread status
Previous and next navigation controls
These details create a more guided and auditable process.
Instead of simply collecting a number, the field worker can confirm the correct asset, compare against previous information, and immediately see how much of the route remains.
Seeing What Has Been Read and What Has Not
Meter routes can contain dozens or hundreds of locations, making completion visibility particularly important.
Throughout the route, GeoViewer keeps the GIS map visible so field personnel can see where they are, what comes next, and whether any meters were missed.
Completed meters appear in green, while unread meters remain red.
This simple visual distinction can help crews identify incomplete work while they are still in the service area rather than discovering missing readings later.
For supervisors, route-wide status also provides a clearer picture of progress and remaining workload.
The operational outcome is a guided, auditable meter-reading process where each assigned meter has a defined place in the route and an immediately visible status.
Connecting Meter Reading With Broader Water Operations
The Meter Route Module is an immediate priority, but it is being implemented within HUM’s broader GeoViewer environment.
That means meter reading does not have to function as a standalone application disconnected from the rest of the utility.
GeoViewer Online gives authorized staff access to infrastructure records, imagery, property information, and other spatial data, while GeoViewer Mobile brings that information into daily field operations.
This creates the potential for meter-reading activities to work within the same mapped environment as:
Water infrastructure and pipelines
Properties and customer locations
Service information
Work activities
Inspections
Field documentation
Other operational GIS data
For HUM, the broader value is integration.
Field crews can work with meter routes in the same geographic context used to understand the water system as a whole.
Integrating Existing Systems Instead of Creating New Silos
Another important aspect of the Hawthorne initiative is its focus on integration.
The project includes a path toward connecting GeoViewer with HUM’s existing OPUS21 Service Order application. Service-order information can be made available through GeoViewer desktop and mobile environments, so field personnel can work with assignments in geographic context.
Subject to the necessary OPUS21 capabilities, updates made through GeoViewer can also be returned to the service-order environment.
This approach helps HUM reduce information silos without replacing every existing business application.
GeoViewer can instead provide the geographic layer that connects service activity with customers, infrastructure, and field operations.
The same principle applies to meter reading: the goal is not simply to collect meter values, but to support the flow of reliable information needed for customer billing while keeping field activity connected to HUM’s broader utility operations.
A Scalable Foundation for Hawthorne
Beyond meter reading, the Hawthorne agreement establishes a broad operational foundation that includes GeoViewer Online and Mobile, work and inventory management, valve isolation, hydrant workflows, DigAlert integration, backflow management, leak data collection, GPS field collection, ongoing GIS updates, configurable field forms, training, and technical support.
The importance is not simply the number of capabilities.
It is that they can operate from the same underlying water-system information.
As HUM’s needs evolve, additional workflows, reports, integrations, and field processes can be incorporated without creating a new disconnected system for every operational requirement.
Advancing a More Connected Water Utility for Hawthorne
The partnership between Hawthorne Utility Management and Nobel Systems reflects a practical approach to utility modernization: start with real operational needs and connect them through a scalable GIS platform.
For Hawthorne, one of those immediate needs is meter reading.
By combining GIS-defined routes, sequential navigation, meter-level context, reading entry, and visual completion tracking, GeoViewer Mobile can help HUM create a more consistent meter-reading process that supports customer billing.
The opportunity, however, extends beyond the meter route.
With GeoViewer, HUM is establishing a foundation connecting meters, water infrastructure, field personnel, operational workflows, existing systems, and utility decisions.
Nobel Systems brings decades of GIS, cloud, integration, and utility experience to the initiative. Founded in 1992, the company has supported more than 100 public and private organizations with enterprise GIS programs focused on accessible information, system integration, and operational efficiency.
For the City of Hawthorne, the result is more than a smarter meter-reading application.
It is another step toward more connected, field-ready, and data-informed water operations powered by GeoViewer.
About Nobel Systems
Nobel Systems, Inc. is a leader in Cloud GIS and Smart Utility Solutions, delivering innovative mapping technology, data services, and strategic consulting to support sustainable public service operations. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Redlands, California, Nobel Systems, Inc. serves clients across the United States and internationally.
Learn more at www.nobel-systems.com
