Driving in-house technology to minimize off-road impacts
'Navigator' is a helpful and reliable friend in remote areas.
- Aramco's innovative mobile app helps reduce the environmental impact of remote driving in the Kingdom’s arid areas
- The app assists with the safety challenges of the Company’s remote work within Saudi Arabia
- This easy-to-use app allows authorized workers to quickly search and navigate to wells, pipelines, and flow lines
Aramco operates within many corners of Saudi Arabia. And safety and the environment are priorities when Aramco’s field workforce ventures across the Kingdom’s remote and often unforgiving landscapes to operate our sites, maintain infrastructure, and explore for hidden deposits.
A newly developed app named “Navigator” gives reliable travel directions to the Company’s facilities, helping workers travel more safely. By assisting drivers to stay on the designated roads and follow optimal routes, the environmental impact of remote driving can be reduced.
Off-road's environmental impact
Uncontrolled off-road driving disturbs the Kingdom’s ground, vegetation, and wildlife, and is regarded as a significant contributor to land degradation in its arid regions.
Careless driving by off-road vehicles can impact desert ecosystems by disturbing sands, and damaging vegetation and root systems, as well as accelerate erosion. By accurately pinpointing the best travel route, Navigator assists with mitigating the negative impacts of off-road driving, helping to maintain and conserve native biodiversity and ecosystem processes.
Remote work safety and environment considerations
Working in a remote area has particular challenges, such as vast distances and extreme weather, and serious consequences can result if employees become stranded. Environmental impacts from unplanned remote driving can lead to loss of biodiversity, and other consequences such as more frequent dust storms and increased waterway sedimentation.
“There are a number of concerns when working in remote areas,” explains Drilling and Workover Services Department manager, Nayef K. Al Ghafel. “Having reliable and planned travel directions is a key way to mitigate against the risk of not reaching your destination on schedule, and mitigate against impacts on the surrounding fauna and flora.”
Being well prepared and careful about driving in nature reduces these negative consequences. Using technology to calculate efficient routes and mitigate against remote driving mishaps equates to less energy, maintenance and repair costs, which can result in lower environmental and business costs.
Works offline and online
Achieved collaboratively by Aramco’s Wellsites Division, North Ghawar Producing Department (NGPD), and Information Technology (IT), Navigator uses satellite-based tracking technology to provide a highly reliable and secure navigation system, which helps to alleviate environmental impacts. The powerful native mobile navigation app combines commercial road data with our own mapping data to search for locations, complete with on-screen routing and voice directions.
Describing Navigator as a great tool that is simple to use, Corporate Applications Department (CAS)/Solution Services Division head, Khalid A. Al Arfaj, says the app runs on both iOS and android portable devices, and works whether online or offline in a disconnected environment.
“You can select, download, and visualize Aramco mapping data, search for and add destinations for remote assets, plus navigate using a preplanned route or a field trip created in the office, giving you a systematic way to reach a destination,” adds Al Arfaj.
According to CAS manager, Abdulaziz S. Al-Shafi, the solution is part of continuous efforts by IT to optimize fieldwork.
“Navigator reduces the chances of drivers getting lost off-road when traveling to remote facilities, bringing a positive impact to both the safety and cost of field operations, as well as the environment.”
The Navigator app was tested by 25 workers, including (from left) North Ghawar Producing Department assistant superintendent Hussain Khaiwani, field services foreman Nasser Al-Qahtani, and Northern Exploration Unit survey party chief Ali A. Al Gamdi.
Company testing
NGPD tested the app with five of its employees. Assistant superintendent, Hussain Khaiwani, who has worked with Aramco for 29 years, noted that Navigator was particularly useful in an emergency situation: “The area managed by NGPD covers approximately 14,000 square kilometers, Navigator assists us to go directly to where we need to be.”
“As well as directions, the app calculates distance and time, which makes you feel safer when traveling remotely,” adds Ali A. Gamdi, a survey party chief who is one of 20 Wellsites Division remote workers also testing the app since earlier this year.
Secure digital transformation
Navigator is one of Aramco’s approved suite of applications, complying with our strict security standards. If a device is mislaid, the Company can quickly delete the data. Development of the app is part of the Company’s Digital Transformation Program, which looks to transform Aramco into the world’s leading digitalized energy corporation.
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The information in this article is provided for general informational purposes only and it reflects information available at the time of publication. It may be subject to change, and Saudi Aramco does not undertake any obligation to update or revise this content following publication.