Application of GIS in Road Inventory System

Complete and accurate roadway inventory is vital for transportation data

reporting, analysis, and decision support. A roadway inventory typically
describes the physical dimensions, properties, and features of a road. It includes
collection of data describing the mileage, condition, status, type, and use of all
public roads. Traditionally, field technicians have visually collected roadway
characteristics while using manual recording methods. With more
accessible Information Technology (IT), opportunities exist to improve
operational efficiency, increase production, and enhance data quality. Now days
various technologies used in road inventory system ;
Global Position System (GPS)
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Distance Measuring Instrument (DMI), and
Data management
to re-engineer current road inventory operations.
GIS roadway inventory application improve productivity and data quality of
data. The system uses a DMI and a GPS to simultaneously collect location data
that is displayed through a map view that navigates vehicle movement in
relation to geo-referenced roadway features on a laptop computer screen. The
system also tracks each surveyed route to create a GIS layer, which allows the
roadway features to be linked to the map. Statistical analysis can be conducted
along a surveyed route, providing such information as the length of bridges or
the type of intersection. Quality control functions for both real-time field-based
data collection and office-based data input are implemented. Field tests show
data quality and roadway inventory productivity can be greatly enhanced
through use of GPS/GIS.
The manual collection method is still widely used today by many transportation
agencies in variant forms. Most agencies use a manual method because they
have a limited ability to support the cost, training, and/or maintenance of
technology-based methods. Alternatively, some agencies use a tape recorder to
record features in the field and key-enter data later in the office. Other agencies
use a computer or menu pad to enter data into a standard desktop application
file. Typically, these methods do not offer significant advantages over the
manual method but may simplify data processing. However, business needs for
faster data capture, processing, and product/service delivery are increasing the
development opportunities for more technology-based collection systems.

Although several of these systems are available in the marketplace, they are
frequently limited in functionality or are technologically immature.
The photo-log method uses a camera to take photos at a fixed distance interval
along a road to capture roadway features. Similarly, the video-log method uses a
video camera to capture a continuous stream of video on videotape. Most
cameras use color film, but digital camera options are expected to increase as
resolution and image compression formats improve. Nevertheless, these media
currently have extensive storage requirements. Unfortunately, the camera
method cannot collect a majority of roadway measurements without several
additional sensors. Typically, DMI devices, gyroscopes, GPS receivers,
pavement imagers, and/or pavement condition sensors are combined with
camera-based systems to create a better picture of the road. This picture is
then taken GIS platform for the proper analysis of road.
The core of this method uses multiple cameras to scan the road environments
obtaining digital images that are analyzed using GIS algorithms that identify
and interpret roadway features.
The roadway inventory system application needs to do the following:
1. Incorporate a standard common geo-referencing system based on a Linear
ReferencingMethod (LRM) to facilitate future data integration within a
new RC database.
2. Collect complete roadway features at one time. The major advantage of
collecting all data items at one time is to eliminate the efforts of spatially
aligning multiple roadway features.
3. Incorporate GPS/GIS features to provide real-time navigation capacity.
4. Incorporate GIS features to obtain the coordinates of a new route for
generating a roadway centerline GIS map layer.
5. Improve data quality by incorporating on-site, real-time quality control
functions to ensure the errors are captured and corrected in the field
before returning to the office.
6. Improve data quality by automatically detecting the variation of feature
change and comparing with the historical data.
7. Minimize the effort and eliminate the error when manually coding and
loading field collected data to the RC database.

8. Facilitate the ease of implementation of the new system.

9. Minimize the impact on the existing operations.
10.Facilitate integration with the existing road characteristics inventory data
stored in the RC database.

A GPS/GIS-based roadway inventory system was developed to respond to these

needs identified.
Four modules are developed for this system.
a) RCFTP Module
b) Download Module
c) Data Collection Module and
d) Tutorial Module.
The RCFTP Module includes the functions of
1) downloading and transferring county-based inventory information from
the central office to the laptop computer located in district offices and
2) uploading and transferring the field collected data to the central database.
The Download Module includes the functions of
1) creating the county-based RC database from the central database with
support format.
2) extracting the historical road characteristics for a specified route
identified by its Road Characteristic Link (RCLINK) from the countybased database to accommodate the Data Collection module.
The Tutorial Module provides the on-line help for defining each data item and
for introducing the user to this system.
The Data Collection Module is the core module for this system. It includes
GPS/GIS functions, field data collection functions, quality control functions,
query and reporting functions, and on-line help functions. Due to the space
limitation, this section only discusses some key functions.
Upon selecting the collection function, the program will force the user to
perform the DMI calibration and activate the GPS function and launch the
GPS/GIS information. All project information about County No., Route No.
Milepost-From and Milepost-To, etc. will be automatically displayed. The GPS
will track the vehicle position and display the street name on the Street Name

text box. Two interface forms, Field Event Entry Form and Office Entry Form,
can be accessed by selecting the Start Data Collection button and the
Complete Office Fields button, respectively, on this form. The Field Event
Entry Form is for entering new data or verifying and updating existing roadway
features in the field. The Office Item Entry Form for entering data items that do
not require connection to the DMI or GPS to enter data. These data items do not
require field confirmation.

GIS Functions
The following are the GIS functions:
1. Real-time navigation function. The operator can use these functions to
check the current location of the van and to identify the segments of the
route to be surveyed.
2. GIS map layer generation. When a route is surveyed, the corresponding
coordinates of the route are also recorded and saved. This allows users to
generate the GIS map layer for the surveyed route(s).
3. Point-in-polygon function. By conducting point-in-polygon analysis with
the GPS location and the maps of the specified features, the spatially
related features, including Rural/Urban code, maintenance area,
Congressional district, etc., can be retrieved.
4. On-the-fly dynamic projection. This function allows users to integrate
other map layers and images, such as aerial photos with different
projections.
5. Visualization of the features along the roadway with statistical analyses.
Through the use of GIS functions, various statistical analyses, such as
number of stop signs, length of bridges or barriers along a route, can be
obtained. Point features can be directly displayed on the map, and linear
and continuous features can be transformed in table format and then
displayed through dynamic segmentation. This gives the operator in the
field a much clearer and more direct view of the survey situation.