Goulburn-Murray Water is a utility involved in providing irrigation and drainage to a large area of the north central part of Victoria in Australia. The irrigation systems contain some 60,000 assets. As part of asset management HP Palmtops have been used in the role of data loggers. A simple Lotus 1-2-3 file was set up on the Palmtops and four members of my team trudged along some 3440 km of channels and 2000 km of drains, logging physical features and assessing the condition rating of the channels, drains, and associated structures. This information was subsequently automatically loaded into a computerized Asset Management System.
Generally the Palmtops behaved very well under the exposed conditions. However, one mishap did occur when one of the team members forgot to be a "good soldier" and took his Palmtop with him when he fell into a drain. I must say that I didn't exclaim "gee, golly, gosh" when I found out that he had lost some five days of data.
Victor Zurawski Executive Engineer, Distribution Assets Group Goulburn-Murray Water