We are proud to be part of this conference. ESRI, our long-term business partner and preferred GIS provider, invited Transmap to participate in their booth in the exhibit area.

You can find us in the ESRI GIS Pavilion. We are the only vendor featured in the GIS area that offers traffic sign inventory and pavement management services.

Why You Should Attend & See US at the ESRI Booth

1. Sign Management & MUTCD Compliance

Transmap can make your organization MUTCD compliant. We use state-of-the-art mobile mapping technology to inventory all of your traffic signs and set up your sign management system in record time.

Without any additional software your sign database can be shared and managed online in ArcGIS.com. Click here to see a real-live example.

2. Pavement Condition Surveys

With the new Highway Funding Bill approved you are probably considering writing a proposal to get Federal money for your highway projects.

We can help! An accurate pavement condition survey gives you all the information you need to exactly determine the amount of funding you need. We even prepare different M&R scenarios for you, so you can choose the approach that’s best for your community.

Here’s a live demo of a pavement condition survey we just completed. This customer was able to increase their funding levels 10 fold, after we completed the pavement management system.

3. WebGIS Solutions

It goes without saying that ArcGIS.com is the most affordable solution when it comes online GIS. It is free and comes with a large selection of base maps and orthophots you can use as a backdrop for your infrastructure data.

Most of all, it is easy to use. You simply upload all your existing ESRI data and immediately share them over the Internet within your organization or throughout your community. Here’s an example of ArcGIS.com maps with an overlay of digital images collected with Transmap’s mobile mapping system.

There’s one more reason to attend the APWA Congress – the ESRI Executive Social on Sunday 8/26/12 at the Hilton Anaheim. This is a gathering of Public Works Officials and decision makers that use ESRI products for asset management and decision support. You are invited to attend the seminar and join Transmap’s team at this event.

Register here for the ESRI Public Works Executive Social.

We hope you are excited about the 2012 APWA Congress and plan to join us in the ESRI booth. This promotional video will get you in the APWA spirit.

Call Howard on his cell at (614) 886-4100 to schedule a time for a private meeting!

During last week’s ESRI’s International User Conference in San Diego, the City of Huber Heights (Ohio) received a prestigious SAG (Special Achievement in GIS) Award. The City was recognized for the implementation of the Huber Heights Geographic Information System (HHGIS) as its city-wide geospatial data infrastructure.

We want to specifically congratulate Anthony Pagan (right) and Ken Carrier (left), who accepted the Award on behalf of the City’s GIS team from ESRI’s president, Jack Dangermond.

Transmap is proud to have contributed to Huber Height’s successful GIS implementation.

While most of the attention goes to public safety and how the HHGIS supports emergency response and 911 dispatching, Transmap played an important role in building the street network as well as the City’s sign and pavement management systems.

Here’s a summary of Transmap’s part of this successful project (from the City’s project report):

City Pavement Analysis and Sign Inventory: With the assistance of TransMap we have been able to implement the pavement analysis and street sign inventory project. With the assistance of TransMap we implemented MicroPaver to help the engineering department with the classification of streets according to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Pavement Condition Index (PCI). This project facilitated the engineering department to better organize road improvement projects. The street sign inventory was done according to ODOT Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) codes; this project facilitated the street department to develop an efficient sign replacement schedule.

Huber Heights was able to implement its GIS quickly by employing a hybrid approach. Instead of hiring a large firm to oversee the project as a system integrator, the City managed most of the project in house, however, they outsourced data collection to private vendors.

Huber Heights saved approximately $500,000 in GIS data digitizing, mapping and data collection by developing 50% of all GIS projects in house and by hiring smaller firms with  little overhead , such as Transmap, to collect specialized data for pavement conditions and a traffic sign inventory. In that way the City was able to keep the cost of developing its GIS to a minimum.

If you need help implementing an award winning GIS, a pavement management or sign management system, please call Howard Luxhoj at 877.263.5589 for a free consultation.

Accurate maps of public buildings are important for police and ambulance to allow them to respond quickly in case of an emergency. Indoor mobile mapping can provide these mission critical data in the most efficient manner.

No longer do you have to rely on blueprints that are older than the building itself. Now you can work with an highly accurate, up-to-date 3D model of the interior of a building that’s enhanced by digital imagery.

Google has pioneered indoor mobile mapping when they started recording Streetview imagery in museums around the world. They even mapped the inside of the White House …

Now Trimble’s Applanix division jumped on the band wagon. They offer one of the first commercial indoor mobile mapping systems on the market. They call it TIMMS.

TIMMS combines LiDAR scanners with 360° imagery on a cart, that can be easily moved around a building. A large office building can be scanned in a single day, saving the owners 80% of the cost of capturing similar data with traditional means.

Public safety and emergency response agencies are interested in this technology and the data it produces. An Iowa High School became the beneficiary of the first successful indoor mapping projects. The video below summarizes the benefits of this project.

Which applications will most benefit from indoor mobile mapping? Tell us by leaving a comment below!

Here are the 5 major benefits of Pavement Management 2.0 that will make your life easier, save you money, speed project completion and improve your safety record.

5 Benefits of Pavement Management 2.0

1. Safety

Pavement Management 2.0 relies on mobile mapping to collect roadway condition data at regular highway speeds. Our mapping van does not block traffic, it does not stop frequently, and you are protected inside the vehicle.

Your engineers are not exposed to the dangers of being hit by speeding cars or exposed to inclement weather while walking the streets. This reduces the risk of traffic accidents and staff injuries significantly.

2. Experience

Mobile mapping vehicles are operated by professionals. That’s what makes the process predictable and accurate.

You don’t want to rely on summer interns to collect your pavement condition data by walking the streets with clipboards. And, you don’t want them exposed to hazardous traffic and dangerous weather conditions.

3. Speed

Collecting pavement condition data with a vehicle moving at regular highway speeds is the most efficient inventory method. It is much faster than walking every street –  you can capture more than 100 miles a day. It also gives you a true snapshot of your roadway network.

Manual data collection may take weeks or months to complete in the field. As your project drags on, pavement conditions will change before you complete your project and present your final report. You are chasing a moving target.

4. GIS Integration

Pavement Management 2.0 delivers a completely integrated system. It merges roadway distress data and PCI with street centerlines in a WebGIS for easy online access.

There’s no need to buy desktop GIS software, not even a pavement management program. Transmap will process and upload your pavement information in ArcGIS for easy online access. We can host the data, so you can print reports at your convenience.

5. LiDAR

Mobile mapping systems can be easily outfitted with sensors for advanced data collection. We’ve been using LiDAR for the past 3 years to capture extremely accurate and detailed information on your road infrastructure and right-of-ways.

LiDAR scanners capture accurate 3D point clouds of the street surfaces and of all your roadway infrastructure. So you can extract signs, signals, guardrails and any other asset on your computer when you get back into the office.

If you need to install a new pavement management system or upgrade your old one, Pavement Management 2.0 is the way to go. It will make your life easier, save you money, speed project completion and improve your safety record.

Many of the traffic sign compliance requirements proposed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2009 have been relaxed, delayed or completely eliminated. We wrote about the revised MUTCD standards in November 2011 and referred to the revision document at the FHWA website.

Take a look at this document now!  More than half of the proposed changes have been wiped out following the feedback and input FHWA received from its constituents.

Retro-Reflectivity Standards Relaxed

One of the requirements that caused a lot of concern to agencies was the replacement of all types of signs (regulatory, warning, street name, …), if they do not meet minimum retro-reflectivity standards.

This rule was modified significantly. The new rules simply states that you have to Maintain Minimum Retroreflectivity. To do so, you need to implement a management method to accomplish minimum retroreflectivity for regulatory and warning signs only. An inventory of all your traffic signs in a sign management system will certainly satisfy this requirement.

Compliance Deadline Extended

You need to comply with this requirement 2 years after the most recent modification of the  2009 MUTCD document. Based on their webpage, this modification happened on May 11, 2012.

It appears that you still have another 2 years to implement a traffic sign management system. If that’s not enough time for you, please give us a call!

We can help and get you up and running quickly.

Click here for a summary of the new requirements and the related deadlines.

Transmap implemented the City of Irvine CA’s sign management system in less than 3 months – start to finish. Irvine accomplished MUTCD compliance in record time. Now they can manage their 27,000 traffic signs online in ArcGIS.

Substantial Savings through Sign Management

Federal requirements should not be the only reason why you implement a sign management system. It will substantially improve your operations and save you lots of money along the way.

Hillsborough County FL was one of the earliest adopters of asset management for their street network more than 10 years ago. They were able to save $1 million from better sign management alone.

Watch this video to get the details …

I know, this may be hard to believe, and even harder to imagine that it would be more cost-effective to hire Chinese companies to work on infrastructure projects in the US.

What’s your experience? Are Chinese engineering and construction firms actively pursuing work in the US, or was this just an exception?

Let us know in the box below!

Earlier this spring the City of Columbus announced that it will spend $31 million for resurfacing of roadways. This is the largest pavement rehabilitation project in the history of the City.

In addition, Columbus plans to expand its network of bike trails and bike lanes, and add sidewalks to many city streets.

Sidewalks and bike trails are desirable features for many residents who like to go for a walk or ride their bike without having to use a car. These investments will benefit home owners in nearby neighborhoods, as the values of Columbus homes along bike trails will certainly go up.

“We are investing in street resurfacing, sidewalks, bikeways and alleys that will improve safety and the quality of life for people across Columbus.”   Mayor Coleman

The resurfacing project is in addition to the City’s usual spring maintenance activities, such as filling potholes. We reported earlier that Columbus fixed more than 12,000 potholdes in the past 2 weeks.

The pothole repair project did not cost the City a lot of extra money. They redirected their own crews for labor and only had to purchase materials (asphalt mix at a total cost of $320,000).

The resurfacing project, however, is a major capital expense. Here are the stats:

• 198 lane miles of City streets will be resurfaced at a cost of $31 million
• 7.3 miles of sidewalk will be added to Columbus streets costing $6 million
• 13 miles of new bike trails will be constructed at a cost of $6.4 million

Columbus has surveyed roadway conditions on a regular basis over the past 10 years. Their pavement management system certainly came in handy, when they planned the allocation of funds to different street sections (see picture at the beginning of this post).

Now let’s take a closer look at the costs of these 3 projects. We would like to find out how they stacks up to pavement maintenance costs in other Cities. So, please give us your feedback and leave a comment at the end of this article!

The cost of resurfacing one lane mile comes to $156,565. Let’s assume the average lane width is 12 ft. This means that the cost per sqft is $2.47.

One mile of sidewalk costs $821,918 and a mile of bike trail costs $492,308. It appears that the cost of installing a sidewalk is twice as expensive as installing a bike trail. Sidewalks are usually 6 ft wide. This means that sidewalks cost $25.94 per sqft, and bike trails (8 ft wide) are $11.66 per sqft.

Do you agree with these numbers?

Did Columbus get a good deal or are these costs too expense?

We’d like to hear your opinion! Please leave a comment below!

The more we keep looking into these systems, the more UAVs pop up from manufacturers all over the world.

To top the news, Trimble, one of the largest GPS manufacturers in the world, just announced that they acquired Gatewing, the Belgium manufacturer of a fixed-wing, smartplane that has been widely used for aerial mapping and photogrammetry.

This acquisition makes a lot of sense for Trimble. They have been known as a leader in the surveying and mapping fields. They have purchased other advanced mapping technologies before, including Geo3D, a manufacturer of mobile mapping vans, and Applanix, the integrated GPS-IMU positioning and orientation platform.

There’s only one problem: UAV’s like the Gatewing are currently not legal for commercial use in the US.

Yes, this is true.

While every other country in the world from Argentina to South Africa and Germany to Australia has commercial companies flying UAVs for surveillance, mapping, news reporting and emergency response, the FAA is still struggling to define rules on how to regulate these systems in the US.

The US is the world leader in military applications of UAVs. Drones over Pakistan and Afghanistan have been used by the US military for years. However, we are lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to civilian and commercial use of UAVs.

The good news is that this will change. The FAA is feverishly working on establishing rules and regulations that will allow private companies to operate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).

Unfortunately, this may still take a few years.

I just listened to a webinar on proposals for the selection of test sites. These proposals are due by the end of 2012. The FAA does not expect to have final rules in place before 2015.

What are the Rules for UAVs in the USA?

Remote control aircraft for hobby use, like RC model airplanes, are exempt from FAA regulations. A bill has been reauthorized in March of 2012 that protects Radio Control Model Aviation.

The commercial use of unmanned aircraft is not permitted in the USA:

“Currently, civilian companies may not operate a UAS as part of a business without obtaining a Special Airworthiness Certificate – Experimental Category (SAC-EC). However, this SAC-EC is very limited in scope of operational use. Only public agencies operating an unmanned aircraft” [can apply for such a Certificate]

We took some of the data published by the City and put them in a graphic (below), so you can see, how pothole repairs have evolved over the years. We also wanted to see, if pavement management impacts the cost of repairing potholes.

How Does the City find Potholes?

There are 2 ways for the City to find its potholes: City maintenance crews recording pothole locations while they are out on jobs or citizens reporting potholes to the City.

In an effort to make it easier for citizens to participate in the repair effort, Columbus incorporated social media for reporting potholes. If you find a pothole, you can report it on facebook, twitter (@ColumbusDPS), and by contacting the 311 service center.

In case you use mobile devices, the City reminds citizens NOT to tweet potholes while driving. Makes sense!

Now let’s see how costly Columbus resurfacing and pothole filling projects are.

According to the City, the pothole project does not cost taxpayers any extra money, because they have assigned staff that’s already employed. The pothole patching patrols also work on snow removal, street cleaning and mowing, as well as alley surface treatment. The City does not specify how many crews they need to accomplish the job.

With the cost of asphalt at around $75 per ton and the total number of potholes that need to be filled at 190,000, the average cost to patch one pothole is only $1.68. This does not include labor, but it seems really cheap.

The chart below shows how the overall cost of pothole repairs in Columbus has dropped over the past few years to less than $320,000 (red). That’s the cost of asphalt and does not include labor.

At the same time the City was able to increase the number of potholes repaired to 190,196 in 2011 (blue). This is substantial improvement of 42% as compared to the previous year.

The City reports that they fixed 12,646 potholes in just 2 weeks. This is fewer than in previous years, because the City invested heavily in street resurfacing since 2010. The warmer winter certainly helped, as there was less damage from snow plowing.

Pavement Resurfacing and Road Construction

Columbus goes way beyond filling potholes when it comes to roadway maintenance. As a matter of fact the City proposed the largest-ever budget to resurface and rebuild numerous streets. It includes $31 million for resurfacing, $6 million for sidewalks and another $6.4 million for bike trails.

I plan to review details of this budget and how it relates to pavement management activities in an upcoming post.

How does this activity in Columbus compare to your community? Leave a comment to let us know!