Britain’s government is mapping underground cables and pipes

Every seven seconds someone in Britain digsa hole. That may sound harmless, but beneath the ground lie some 4m km of cables and pipes—enough to go to the moon and back five times. The problem is that no one knows exactly where they are. That means diggers accidentally sever sunken lines, causing power outages or leaks of gas, water or worse; it makes it harder to guard against hostile attacks. A new initiative aims to help.