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Applications of Enterprise GIS for Transportation, Guidance for a National Transportation Framework (AEGIST)

There are now many advantages to adopting an enterprise perspective to the roadway inventory for those states that have not yet done so. State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are taking a more integrated approach to transportation system management. Adopting such an approach requires business rules that address data quantity, quality, and the need to integrate data across and between multiple levels of government. This is a massive undertaking, even for those DOTs that already have an integrated highway inventory. Many DOTs are struggling to deploy enterprise linear referencing system (LRS) that will relate work processes, transportation system data editing, and publication (data reporting, distribution, and sharing). At its core, the problem they face is a lack of understanding of entrenched business processes on the part of those implementing and using enterprise LRS management systems. It is common that the DOT workgroups responsible for map editing do not generally include staff familiar with the business data that will be placed on the maps by others. Many people doing the work today do not have the institutional knowledge regarding how and why the systems were developed, and implicit business rules were not formally documented. Adding to the problem is the absence of knowledge across functional business groups regarding each other’s business data, as well as, the fundamentals of geographic information systems (GIS). As a result, most DOTs have evolved as a collection of “stovepipes”—independent groups that focus on a single aspect of the state’s transportation system (e.g., pavement management, bridges, traffic operations, planning, project development, etc.). While making the transition to an enterprise LRS that provides the roadway facilities upon which these functional units are expected to base their own data, DOTs are dealing with legacy systems and work processes that were developed within this stovepipe environment. Most of these functional units have long-established data systems and work processes that evolved over time and often lack a documented set of rules. This is further complicated by incorporating new (to the functional units), geospatially-based workflows. As a result, DOTs across the country are struggling with such questions as: (1) What are the data business rules and who is responsible for them? If they presently exist, are they well documented and understood by staff? (2) Who owns or acts as a steward for what data? (3) What cartographic abstractions and standards are needed by each user group? (4) Do existing business rules need to evolve to reflect current and future needs/technology? (5) All States uses an LRS. What LRM(s) do they use? Is it ingrained in their culture (6) How can the DOT maintain a statewide map of local roads to meet the ARNOLD mandate when the agency may or may not directly work with local roads or agencies? (7) Should the DOT’s LRS be extended to non-DOT facilities, or do they need a different approach? (8) How does the DOT address the evolving nature of the transportation system (changes over time, eliminated roads or future roads to be built, realignments, etc.)? (9) How does the LRS support non-DOT functions, like NexGen911, local road traffic, local road traveler information (511), and other essential functions. This pooled-fund project will assist DOTs, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and local governments create enterprise GIS data management systems based on data governance best practices that support collaboration through shared business rules and standards that support the principle of “measure once, use many times,” with the goal of a single roadway dataset that meets the needs of multiple groups. The first phase of the project will develop guidance to be named, a document that will guide the Nations DOT's to one geospatial transportation standard. Once the guidance is finalized, the Pooled Fund Study will provide assistance to the participating Sates to implement the guidance.

Language

  • English

Project

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01709671
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: Federal Highway Administration
  • Contract Numbers: TPF-5(431)
  • Files: RIP, USDOT, STATEDOT
  • Created Date: Jun 30 2019 5:38PM