To: PODS Interested Parties
From: PODS Association, Inc.
FIVE NEW MEMBERS - Welcome! This brings our total membership to 31.
Dominion Resources www.dom.com
Hunter McDonnell www.hmpsi.com
MS.GIS www.msgis.com
Quorum Business Solutions www.qbsol.com
SECOR www.secor.com
PODS Release 3.0
PODS Release 3 was approved by members on October 21. The technical committee is working on documentation and some minor modifications that will be included in Release 3.1, expected to be sent to members within the next few weeks.
PDF files of Release 3.0 may be downloaded from the PODS web site
http://www.pods.org/database.htm. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be submitted to
http://www.pods.org/pods3comments.htm and will be forwarded to the technical committee for review. Release 3 DDL (Data Definition Language) was sent to PODS members along with the voting ballot and is not currently available for general download.
The PODS Association has also exhausted its supply of 1000 PODS Release 2 CD's. A new PODS 3 CD will be published with documentation and examples, perhaps by December. Anyone interested in contributing to the PODS 3 documentation and examples should contact one of the officers.
PODS Board Meeting
The PODS Board of Directors met at the GITA Oil and Gas Conference in Houston on Sept. 23. ESRI and Intergraph representatives were present at the meeting. Discussion centered around GIS neutrality, application interoperability and other business items. Ritch Moore of Moore Resource Systems was elected to the Board and Ralph Clark of ConocoPhillips resigned due to business reassignment. We wish to acknowledge Mr. Clarks strong committment and support of the PODS Association.
PODS at GITA Oil & Gas Conference
The PODS Association sponsored the reception at the GITA conference and hosted an exhibit booth. There was a strong interest by attendees and questions focused on technical aspects of the model. Thanks to Kandice O'Malley for coordinating this effort.
On Thursday following the conference, 25 people attended a full-day PODS meeting hosted by Duke Energy. Ritch Moore gave an overview of Release 3; the discussion topics included data acquisition for new construction, ESRI Geodatabase development, and future directions. Thanks again to Duke Energy for hosting this meeting and the excellent facilities!
PODS Advanced Workshop
A full-day PODS Advanced workshop is planned for Tuesday, December 10 in Houston. This will provide an opportunity for advanced discussion on the usage and implementation of PODS. Attendees are asked to bring a laptop with Microsoft Access 2000. A sample PODS database in Access will be used to demonstrate useful queries, how to load data and how to use PODS with GIS. Discussion will focus on Release 3, implementation and data integration issues.
Tuesday, December 10 - Houston
Location: to be announced
Time: 8:30am to 4pm
Please register by December 3 on the PODS web site (
http://www.pods.org/meeting_reg.htm)
Cost: Free to PODS Members, $150 per non-member company
Workshop leaders: Ron Brush and Ritch Moore
ABOUT PODS (www.pods.org)
PODS is the Pipeline Open Data Standard, initiated by and supported by the Gas Technology Institute (www.gastechnology.org) (formerly GRI), pipeline operators and service providers. The PODS Association, Inc. was initially formed in 1998 with the idea of developing pipeline industry data standards, specifically related to spatial attribute and operational data, for the benefit of pipeline operators developing facility databases or GIS systems. Building upon best practices, the goal of the association is to help develop industry data standards that can be used by pipeline operators and vendors to reduce new development risk, speed-up development and implementation, and provide a basis upon which better systems can be developed.
HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER
The PODS Association, Inc. is currently accepting new members. Annual corporate membership is only $1,000 (US) per company. Application and payment can be submitted to Keith Leewis at the Gas Technology Institute. Membership fees cover the cost of committee conference calls, publication of the CD, web site and literature publication and advertisements. The membership application can be downloaded from
http://www.pods.org/Association/MembershipLetter.pdf. If you prefer to be invoiced, please contact myself or one of the other officers.
If you are currently using the PODS data model or plan to, we encourage you to join the association and contribute your time, suggestions and ideas. PODS Association membership is not required to use the PODS data model.
If you have questions about the PODS Association, Inc. or the PODS data model, please visit the PODS web site or contact Keith Leewis, myself or one of the contacts listed above.
Best regards,
Ron Brush
PODS Association, Inc.
_____________________________________________________________
Ron Brush
New Century Software, Inc.
970-267-2002 (direct voice)
970-206-0157 (fax)
ronb@newcenturysoftware.com (e-mail)
