What is the difference between PIMMA and the Public Map Viewer?

The NPMS website contains two web map viewers designed to assist government officials and the general public with displaying and querying pipeline data.

The NPMS Pipeline Attribute Data Dictionary describes the pipeline attribute data available in both PIMMA and the Public Map Viewer.

PIMMA

The National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) Pipeline Information Management and Mapping Application (PIMMA) is a web-based mapping application designed to assist federal, state and local government officials and pipeline operators with displaying and querying data related to:

  • gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines,
  • liquefied natural gas plants, and
  • breakout tanks

under Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) jurisdiction. Please note that this application does not contain distribution or gas gathering pipelines.

An NPMS account and internet access is required to use PIMMA. Access to NPMS data in PIMMA is limited by the type of user you are. Pipeline operators may only view their submitted data. County, local and tribal government officials are limited to the NPMS data within the county. State government officials are limited to their state. Federal government official users may view the entire NPMS dataset. NPMS accounts are assigned to a single user and must be kept confidential. Sharing of NPMS accounts between individuals is expressly prohibited by multifactor authentication (MFA) protocols and in the NPMS Access Policy. A contractor (e.g., consultant, subcontractor) cannot request an NPMS account. However, a current NPMS account holder may act as a sponsor and request an NPMS contractor account on their contractor’s behalf. A sponsor NPMS account holder must verify the individual is currently employed as a contractor by their government agency, tribal government, or pipeline operating company, and that the contractor should have access to the same NPMS data and applications as the sponsor. This sponsor must provide this verification by filling out the following form, including all the requested information about the contractor, before NPMS staff will process the NPMS contractor account request. Otherwise, NPMS contractor accounts must meet the same requirements as other NPMS accounts, including an official government, tribal, or NPMS pipeline operating company business email address. The NPMS GIS Manager can consider exceptions on a case-by-case basis if applicable contract staff will never have an official government, tribal, or NPMS pipeline operating company email address. NPMS contractor accounts can access the same NPMS data and functionality in NPMS web applications as the sponsor NPMS account holder.

All information obtained and all maps produced from PIMMA must be treated and marked as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and DOT proprietary information. Only NPMS staff have the right to redistribute maps or information from the NPMS.

NPMS Public Map Viewer

The National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) Public Map Viewer is a web-based mapping application designed to assist the general public with displaying and querying data related to:

  • gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines,
  • liquefied natural gas plants, and
  • breakout tanks

under Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) jurisdiction. Please note that this application does not contain distribution or gas gathering pipelines.

Within the Public Map Viewer, the user may have access to the NPMS data for one county at a time. Information obtained and maps produced from the Public Map Viewer are for general information only and may be re-distributed as needed. In accordance with PHMSA’s NPMS Data Access Policy, the scale in which the user may zoom into NPMS data is restricted. The user may zoom into the NPMS data at the map scale of 1:24,000.