Cambio User Group 2025: Shifting Ground, Shared Goals, and Serious Momentum

This past March, the 17th annual BGC Pipeline Geohazard Symposium x Cambio User Group brought together 101 geohazard rockstars from 38 pipeline companies across Canada, the U.S., and Peru. Half joined us in-person, the other half virtually—making this the most connected, most collaborative User Group yet.

From humble beginnings in a boardroom in 2009 to a global gathering of change-makers, the goal has always been the same: push the boundaries of geohazard risk management together. And this year’s theme drilled right into the heart of it—operational efficiency.

And when we asked attendees which tools offer the most bang for their buck when it comes to operational efficiency? Monitoring and early warning systems and better data integration rose to the surface like a well-placed piezometer reading. While limited resources quickly emerged as a key barrier driving more discussions around better collaboration in the industry. 

So, what’s the core sample from this year’s event? Here’s the bedrock breakdown.

Need for more opportunities to share ideas and collaborate

Sarah Newton from Cambio Earth kicked things off by rethinking efficiency—not just doing things faster, but doing the right things, at the right time, with the right data. She reminded us that real improvement means stepping back and optimizing the whole system, not just polishing one process.

Heavy-hitters from TC Energy, Plains, and Keyera took the stage with insights grounded in real-world challenges. Keyera even dropped a crowd favorite—a “geothanks” to Pembina for their cross-right-of-way data sharing, proving that collaboration can move mountains (or at least stabilize them).

The closing panel with Enbridge, Pembina, and Trans Mountain, hosted by Joel Van Hove, emphasized the increasing importance of data integration, advanced inspection technologies, and leveraging collected data for predictive analyses. 

The Cambio User Group has become a place to swap stories, trade tips, and realize you’re not the only one troubleshooting that stubborn slope — and we’ll be carving out more space for these raw, real convos at next year’s event.

Key Takeaways

This year’s presentations were less about bells and whistles, more about seismic shifts in how we actually work.

Top themes included:

Geohazard maturity: Every operator has a geohazard story. For some, it’s still the early chapters—wrangling spreadsheets, hunting for LIDAR, and doing the annual pilgrimage of slope photos and site visits. For others, it’s full-on program optimization mode, where mitigation strategies, inspections, and budget decisions are tied to real-time data and clearly defined risk thresholds.

During the symposium, attendees reflected on their place in the geohazard maturity model—from ad hoc programs to those embracing data-driven, risk-informed decision making. Sarah Newton captured it best: “It’s not just about streamlining individual tasks. We have to optimize the whole system if we want real impact.”

That means shifting from reactive to proactive, from siloed data to integrated insights, and from one-off interventions to continuous improvement. It’s not a race—it’s a climb. But the view (and the safety stats) from the top? Worth it.

AI and data integration: Data integration isn’t just a buzzword anymore—it’s a baseline. Attendees were crystal clear: if your geohazard program isn’t fusing IMU data, geotechnical instrumentation, LIDAR, and inspection insights, you’re flying blind.

Several sessions (and spirited polls) highlighted the shift toward full-spectrum data use. We’re talking LIDAR change detection + in-field observations + strain analytics—all feeding into Cambio workflows and risk profiles. And while AI might still be earning its stripes, the early applications are promising.

Whether it’s prioritizing sites, flagging anomalies, or supporting remote assessments with predictive analytics, AI is starting to do more than just crunch numbers. It’s helping teams anticipate where the next problem might pop up—and act before it does. Not Skynet, thankfully. Just smarter site screening and better sleep at night.

Risk-informed budgeting: Colin Dooley of TC Energy brought the house down with a hard truth wrapped in a risk matrix: you can’t manage what you can’t quantify. And in a world of competing priorities—geohazard digs vs. facility upgrades vs. new tech investments—having a common framework is game-changing.

His session showed how to integrate quantitative risk from geohazard assessments into a broader budgeting model, allowing leaders to compare projects apples-to-apples. Want to justify a $2M HDD replacement over a $500K instrumentation install? You’ll need data, consequence models, and a clear understanding of value-per-dollar.

The takeaway? It’s not enough to say, “This site feels risky.” You need to demonstrate it—with probabilities, thresholds, and mitigation impacts. That’s how geohazard teams earn trust, secure funding, and make strategic calls that stand up to scrutiny.

Leveraging IMU to optimize geohazard risk assessments: If there’s one tool that’s gone from “nice-to-have” to “critical infrastructure intel,” it’s IMU data. Why? Because pipelines are playing a long game with gravity. They cross landslides on average every 16 km—and the majority of failures aren’t from dramatic washouts or flash floods, but slow-moving landslides creeping along at less than 160 mm/year. Subtle but serious.

This year’s user group featured a deep dive into how Cambio’s IMU module streamlines that workflow, reducing documentation effort while surfacing the kind of strain features that could otherwise get buried in a data avalanche. What stood out? The power of IMU data to:

• Identify active hazards before they’re visible from the air or even on the ground.
• Differentiate between “benign bumps” and actual structural threats, using bend pattern analysis.
• Quantify strain state with precision—feeding directly into FEA modeling and triggering stress relief or monitoring based on real impact, not gut feel.

Final Thoughts (and a Call to Dig Deeper)

This year’s User Group wasn’t just a gathering—it was a ground shift. From better tech to better teamwork, we saw what’s possible when smart people get serious about evolving geohazard risk management. To keep the momentum rolling, we launched Cambio Virtual Labs—focused, hands-on sessions that covered action tracking, instrumentation management, seismic monitoring, and IMU strain management. These aren’t demo days—they’re knowledge-sharing sessions designed to give users the tools (and tectonic tenacity) to build smarter programs. Contact us if you missed them or are interested in joining an upcoming session.