{"id":6540,"date":"2025-08-15T15:52:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T19:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/?page_id=6540"},"modified":"2025-11-25T12:25:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:25:35","slug":"zuo-groundwork-data","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/zuo-groundwork-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Digitizing Massachusetts Gas System to Aid in Resilient Energy Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<ul class=\"profile-listing profile-format-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-2503 profile type-profile status-publish hentry\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/profile\/zhenpeng-zuo\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\">\n\t\t\t<img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/urban\/files\/2020\/08\/ZZuo-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Zhenpeng Zuo headshot\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2020\/08\/ZZuo-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2020\/08\/ZZuo-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2020\/08\/ZZuo.jpg 294w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Zhenpeng Zuo<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">Earth &#038; Environment<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Project Partner:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.groundworkdata.org\/\">Groundwork Data<\/a>, Spring 2025<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project Summary:\u00a0 <\/strong>Massachusetts faces the challenge of aging natural gas infrastructure and high replacement costs. A proposed solution is a phased transition to electricity, but strategically decommissioning parts of the gas grid without destabilizing the remaining system requires sophisticated simulation. This project addressed the lack of a digital model needed for such analysis.<\/p>\n<p>Zhenpeng worked with Groundwork Data to create a foundational, GIS-ready map of the gas system for the company&#8217;s hydraulic modeling. He integrated disparate data sources, including pipeline and property records, to accurately map main lines, service lines, and end-users. He then developed a standardized and repeatable workflow to automate this process for any Massachusetts town, efficiently correcting duplicates and locational inaccuracies with minimal manual input.<\/p>\n<p>The high-fidelity digital maps are a critical input for hydraulic simulations. By enabling planners to foresee risks such as system failures and pressure drops during a phased shutdown, Zhenpeng\u2019s work provides the foresight necessary for a managed, reliable, and safe transition to cleaner energy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project Deliverables:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gas system maps for Oak Hill Park and Winthrop.<\/li>\n<li>A standard workflow to repeat the technical procedure for other communities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6541\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6541\" style=\"width: 340px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/image.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"330\" height=\"465\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6541\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6541\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Example digitization outcome of gas system model<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Watch Zhenpeng&#8217;s URBAN Internship Lightning Talk <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/kV5WuwPzYZk\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Project Partner: Groundwork Data, Spring 2025 Project Summary:\u00a0 Massachusetts faces the challenge of aging natural gas infrastructure and high replacement costs. A proposed solution is a phased transition to electricity, but strategically decommissioning parts of the gas grid without destabilizing the remaining system requires sophisticated simulation. This project addressed the lack of a digital model [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24039,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24039"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6542,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6540\/revisions\/6542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}