I have to wonder if this isn't an off-shoot of the AM/FM/GIS concept that
took hold in the mid 1990s??  this Wikipedia article gives a broad-brush
overview of the concept http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM/FM/GIS 

In its early phases, this was introduced as a method of not only tying
drawings, service manuals, and specifications for equipment in facilities
together through the use of a relational database, but it was being
pioneered as a means of asset management that could have been a real
powerful tool for managing services and equipment within facilities.

I think it was doomed by becoming too complex to use in some commercial
facilities, in part due to a lack of processing speed and power at the
desktop at the time, and also due to a lack of the maturation of the GIS models.

What it became was a great tool for utilities to map and manage components
in/on their facilities (pipelines, power plants, processing facilities)
where you could tag devices, assign a GIS point to the device, pull it up on
a map, find the P&ID, tie it to a BOM, pull up the parts and ordering info
or a service manual, and troubleshoot a problem.   Sounds equally as complex
as it might be in a commercial facility (office building or hotel) but in
utilities, you have a lot of commonality of equipment, so there are fewer
digital assets that need to be stored because you can make cross references
to common items.

Now that there is additional processing power and speed, maybe it's being
looked at again in other ventures.

Does it potentially qualify for the "SWIHP" Award?  Well, like many other
things... it depends.   In the utility environment, it COULD.. but it
DIDN'T.  Because you have emergency concerns related to public use issues,
there is a requirement to ensure that "...records depicting actual
conditions at any given time remain persistently accessible..." so unless
you have deep access to multiple datasets and all of them are linked and
supported by backup generators, there's no guaranteeing access to the
content in the event of a major storm, power outage, earthquake, etc. 

When I was last with a utility, we still printed and maintained system map
books, with pointers to physical copies of the emergency operating data that
was housed in two independent locations.  Vital records by planned
dispersal.. sigh... it sets my heart a-twitter!! =)

Larry

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