Checking the exact location and choices of bridges in Texas is an arduous exercise that needs to be accomplished manually and on web site. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) wishes to streamline the strategy and has turned to a civil engineering professor at The University of Texas at Arlington for help.
Checking the exact location and choices of bridges in Texas is an arduous exercise that needs to be accomplished manually and on web site. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) wishes to streamline the strategy and has turned to a civil engineering professor at The University of Texas at Arlington for help.
TxDOT’s Fort Worth District has awarded Nur Yazdani a two-year contract worth larger than $600,000 to develop a database and cell app that will catalog the GPS coordinates and choices of Texas bridges, making information merely accessible from an office or cellphone.
Quick entry and sharing of data amongst engineers, surveyors, growth crews, maintenance crews and planners are key options of the enterprise.
“At the moment, crews are typically expected to go to a site and collect all of the necessary information every time they need to work on it,” Yazdani talked about. “That information may not be saved for future reference, so the process is not efficient in terms of personnel and cost. Our work will create a comprehensive catalog that will allow someone to get all the information they need through the app.”
TxDOT has a Geospatial Roadway Inventory Database (GRID) that includes incomplete particulars about bridges. Yazdani and his workers will fill throughout the gaps and make it possible for all the information contained in GRID is appropriate and full. For some bridges, they will go to the scenario and get the coordinates; for others, they will use Google Earth, ArcGIS and associated property to map areas.
Once the GRID system is full, they will validate the information at quite a lot of areas, then develop the cell app and be a part of it to the database.
“With the rapidly expanding need in civil engineering for automation, machine learning and mobile access to location databases, this project is timely and unique, and will allow TxDOT to efficiently move into the arena of big data and beyond,” Yazdani talked about.
Yazdani’s intensive experience with TxDOT duties will serve him correctly on this work, talked about UTA Civil Engineering Department Chair Ali Abolmaali.
“Using technology to streamline processes and make data easier to access and update will ultimately save time and money for all involved,” Abolmaali talked about. “It’s a testament to him and to UTA that he was chosen to create this app and database.”
- Written by Jeremy Agor, College of Engineering
DOI
Texas Department of Transportation
