Enhancing Wildfire Mitigation for Utilities Through Asset Visualization

At Pano, I partner with enterprise utilities and state government agencies to implement GIS integrations that significantly enhance wildfire detection, emergency response, and infrastructure protection. A recent initiative involved creating a scalable, repeatable framework enabling utilities to visualize their transmission and distribution assets directly within the Pano platform, integrated seamlessly with AI-driven wildfire alerts and detection cameras.

This solution directly tackles a critical industry challenge: while early wildfire detection provides timely alerts, utilities require immediate clarity regarding the proximity of fires to their infrastructure. Quick identification of assets at risk enables prioritized response and helps determine if utility equipment contributed to ignition.

I led the customer facing portion of the initiative, coordinating closely with product, GIS, and engineering teams to define technical requirements, document detailed specifications, and manage customer engagements throughout the process—from initial concept to operational implementation. My responsibilities included identifying relevant asset types, specifying necessary attributes, metadata, and styling requirements, validating GIS data accuracy, and preparing final data packages for engineering deployment.

An integral part of this initiative involved establishing secure and efficient data-sharing workflows through ArcGIS Online. This process streamlined geospatial data exchanges between utilities and Pano, ensuring data integrity, security, and ease of integration into customers' existing GIS operations.

Given the sensitive nature of utility asset data, I also facilitated critical contract negotiations between customers and Pano’s legal team, clearly defining terms for data use to maintain compliance, confidentiality, and security standards.

The impact has been transformational. Utilities now have real-time, comprehensive visibility of their infrastructure relative to active wildfire threats. This capability has significantly improved their risk assessment, emergency prioritization, and overall wildfire mitigation efforts. One major utility described the integration as a "game changer," further establishing Pano as a critical asset for wildfire preparedness and response.