We receive reports of lighting issues from many sources, often the public. We also own and operate several thousand structures, but also have installations on third party sites, often other telecoms companies, but also MoD, etc. There are also sites which may be lit as a result of previous issues/goodwill, where the official rules have been bent. I sometimes get into discussion with airfields who claim one of our sites should be lit, and I have to show that it shouldnt. Or vice versa.
GE has become a major operational tool for us, our mapping shows far, far more than just the location of a mast, but is an integrated system showing much technical information about our network. It is also the case that the system is used by other departments who have little understanding of many of these aspects. By having such information as overlays on the map, I can explain an issue to them by direct reference to all the information directly in front of them.
The overlay file mentioned in a previous post has proved to be just what was needed.
I do have structure specific files that show only our reportable structures, and these files have been approved by NATS as our reference for issuing NOTAMs.
A recent problem that demostrates the issue I have, was with proving responsibility for a site which was lit, but below the official height requirement, and located on a site which is not an official airfield, but nevertheless has frequent intense helicopter activity.(I cant say where as this is an MoD site)