Federal law requires state highway departments to digitally map assets
British technology firm OMG plc said Wednesday its highways technology and surveying division, Yotta DCL, is helping U.S. states comply with a new federal law requiring them to digitally map along the nation’s highways as part of risk-based asset management plans for the National Highway System.
Headquartered in Leamington Spa, United Kingdom, the company said its Horizons online software platform, combining GIS and pavement and asset management, will provide state highway departments with tools to comply with the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act.
MAP-21 was signed into law by the Obama administration in July and provides over $105 billion in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 to fund highway surface transportation programs, including state risk-based asset management plans.
Among MAP-21’s provisions impacting both highway and flood mapping programs, is one calling for “wherever necessary acquire new ground elevation data utilizing the most up-to-date geospatial technologies” for FEMA flood mapping.
Using Yotta’s Horizons software, state highways departments can input and integrate a wide range of asset, condition and social data to give an integrated, visualized perspective on highways assets and their condition.
The assets are mapped digitally and presented in a user-friendly format to give fast interpretation of data by highway engineers and helps them communicate their findings in a meaningful way to colleagues, officials and public, the company said.
By bringing together these datasets into one system that combines GIS, pavement and asset management, engineers can develop efficient maintenance and repair schemes using the most cost-effective treatments to maximize return on investment, the company said.
“Instead of using disparate applications, [Horizons] brings together GIS, pavement and asset management into a single unified user-friendly hosted system,” said Nick Smee, Yotta’s managing director. “This combined functionality allows users to manage multiple sets of data, make cost predictions, plan and model various road maintenance scenarios, build schemes and ultimately, make better, more informed decisions.”
