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About the PODS Association The PODS™ Association, Inc. is a non-profit pipeline trade association charged with the specific mandate of developing and maintaining pipeline data standards and data interchange standards for the pipeline industry. These standards primarily include pipeline operations, facilities, integrity management and regulatory compliance. The Association manages and maintains the PODS™ data model. By becoming a a member of the PODS™ Association, you have a direct say in the development and content of PODS™ Association and data standards that are developed. Your organization will not only directly influence the content of PODS™, but will benefit from the collective experience and expertise of the pipeline industry, vendor community and the many specialized consultants that form the association. About the Data ModelPODS™ (Pipeline Open Database Standard) is an independent database modeling initiative applicable to gas and liquid gathering, transmission and distribution pipeline systems. It represents an initiative to develop a completely open data structure that encompasses the requirements of pipeline companies in general. The objective of PODS™ is to provide a common platform that will enable pipeline companies to create a standards-based GIS database. The PODS™ data model represents the requirements of the industry as a whole–it provides the framework that will enable your organization to concentrate of the unique aspects of your company rather than the generic requirements of the pipeline industry. PODS™ is being developed utilizing the latest information management principles with due regard to the capabilities inherent in current relational database technology. With a PODS™ compliant GIS, your organization will have the flexibility to select technologies from multiple vendors and change vendors based on your current and dynamic requirements without the need to rebuild or re-structure your data. With PODS™, you share a common database with your competitors and partners, maintaining the freedom to be innovative and unique while minimizing the need for specialized consulting services. You benefit from the collective experience of other pipeline companies, vendors and contractors thus minimizing your investment in data design activities. Since the PODS™ Association has done the data design for you, you are free to deal with more company-specific issues, letting the PODS™ Association deal with industry, regulatory and technology-specific components. The PODS™ data model is implemented as a relational database in Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server. The model can also be spatially enabled providing tight integration with leading GIS software platforms. The PODS data model is the most widely implemented and working pipeline data model in the industry. It has allowed many major oil and gas pipeline operators to quickly migrate from paper and legacy databases into a standards-based data model that has a strong organization behind it.
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