Case Study: Charlotte Water achieves rapid, accurate mapping of 300,000 water meters with Trimble MX7 mobile mapping and AI

How mobile mapping and artificial intelligence (AI) combine to identify and map water meters

Charlotte Water, which serves about one million customers in North Carolina, faced a major asset-management challenge: only about 30% of its nearly 300,000 water meters had verified locations. Past methods (as‑builts, Street View, surveys) were time-consuming and expensive—about $400,000 in 2019—and an initial GoPro/AI test showed detection was possible but lacked the spatial accuracy needed for reliable mapping.

The utility implemented a Trimble MX7 mobile mapping system with GNSS/IMU (Applanix POS LV/POSPac, Trimble Business Center) and Esri’s AI/ArcGIS Pro to automatically detect and geolocate meters from 360° high‑resolution imagery. The solution delivers 2–10 inch accuracy, is far faster and more cost‑effective than manual methods (projected to map all 300,000 meters in 2–3 years vs. 8–10 years manually), supports regular updates, frees staff for other work, and creates additional value by enabling mapping of other assets.

Charlotte Water

Shannon Martel

GIS Manager