Charles County, Maryland, is located less than an hour southeast of Washington, D.C., along the western banks of the Potomac River. The county's Department of Public Facilities recently completed a project that included field data collection and data validation services related to its automated pavement management system. A purpose of this project was to properly segment the county's road network (as defined by the county, a segment is any change in road over one mile in length) to support the data model required by the County Roads Division's PavementView Plus software from Esri Business Partner Cart�Graph Systems, Inc. (Dubuque, Iowa). An additional goal was to develop a solid Esri database of the county highway network to be included into the county's already existing Esri data sets. The county needed a consultant to update attributes and relevant information in the existing county roads database. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was released by the county to acquire the needed services.

In addition to training and software and hardware procurement, the major goals of the project included

• Establishing analysis settings for the Cart�Graph Systems software
• GPS/Distance measuring instrument (DMI) road segment definitions
• Field data collection and database population
• ArcView 3.3 and 8.2 project compatible
• Software and hardware procurement
• Training

In response to the RFP, Esri Business Partner Enterprise Information Solutions (EnterInfo), headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, developed a video-based asset tracking solution for use in the project. The county chose the joint venture team of Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT), headquartered in Sparks, Maryland, and EnterInfo to perform the work based on their innovative approach to road asset data collection.

"We were very excited with the video captured during the field data collection," says Stephen Staples, chief of the County Roads Division. "We all felt it was a cost-effective and innovative solution to say the least."

The joint venture recognized the importance of preserving the value of the established pavement management system. One primary project deliverable was that the database contained the updated information to support the analytical and budgetary functions of the Cart�Graph software. This would allow the county to move away from its traditional, paper-based management system to an automated pavement management system that not only reduces costs, but also improves efficiency and quality through the use of GIS.

The Solution

To ensure the project was completed within the budget and schedule constraints, the EnterInfo/JMT team used an innovative and cost-effective application, EnterRoadInfo, to complete the road inventory for this project. EnterRoadInfo is a MapObjects software-based asset-tracking system developed by EnterInfo. MapObjects was used to enhance the mapping display and navigation interfaces of EnterRoadInfo, convert the projection between latitude/longitude and State Plane coordinates received from the GPS and data collection processes, and provide spatial query functions. EnterRoadInfo uses an Esri foundation that integrates GIS with GPS, DMI, and multimedia technology to provide video asset tracking. The solution components include the integration of multiple camera digital imaging technology, GPS, DMI, and a MapObjects interface with cameras for in-vehicle monitoring, as well as data collection using rugged touch screen laptop computers.

The EnterRoadInfo system met and exceeded all the criteria for the project. "We were looking to use something effective and affordable. Even new technology approaches were considered," Staples says.

The project approach minimized the time required in the field and allowed the collected data to be validated in the office. Although most of the data was collected by team members while in the vehicle using the touch screen input panel, data could be verified and added using the Playback module of EnterRoadInfo back in the office. The data collected included all types of signs described in the county Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices including type, specific side of street, and location (determined by GPS and DMI); number of lanes per side; and width of lanes, road shoulders, and cul-de-sacs (courts).

Data

For the project, Maryland State Highway Administration digital maps were used as the basemaps. The two-member data collection team drove every county road listed in the database with the map displayed on the EnterRoadInfo screen. The images were collected at a rate of two frames per second. GPS coordinates and DMI values were collected and synchronized for every image. Two cameras were used; one camera was pointed forward and the other was pointed rearward. This camera configuration allowed traffic signs in the opposite driving direction to be seen in the video. The required road characteristics were collected while viewing the video in the office, so the sign collection requirements could be completed in one pass. All of the data was stored in a Microsoft Access database. In the office, the project staff used one of the built-in EnterRoadInfo functions to calculate offsets and capture additional data. After all the required attributes were created, a synchronization utility uploaded the data to the Cart�Graph database to complete the process.

All the data and images captured were then used to create a shapefile to be viewed with either ArcView 3.3 or ArcView 8.3. This allowed the county to verify all the data that the team provided as well as use the images for any other purposes the county might have.

The Result

Upon completion of the field data collection, the average distance of roadway covered was 50 miles per day for a total of 825 miles of county roads. The most significant, and only, delay was caused by the weather (Maryland received historic amounts of snowfall in the winter of 2002-2003). The completed data sets included more than 5,000 inventoried signs and 4,500 attributed road segments that integrated all of the required information.

The EnterInfo/JMT team successfully delivered a functional and portable data entry system that can be used to maintain and update the pavement database in the future. Not only did Charles County complete the project cost-effectively, but it also gave the county's GIS users the capability to click on an ArcView screen to view the road attributes and images.

For more information, contact Stephen Staples, chief of County Roads, Charles County Department of Public Facilities (e-mail: stapless@govt.co.charles.md.us), or Tim Palmer, EnterInfo (tel.: 410-381-7898, ext. 140; e-mail: tpalmer@enterinfo.com).