In an effort to improve on conventional manual data-collection techniques, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise has put in place one of the transportation industry’s first Wi-Fi-ready highway-asset-data-collection systems.

The new system allows Turnpike Enterprise staff to copy live data onto their laptops, update or collect new data in the field and then, when back in the office, upload the new data to the Turnpike Enterprise Asset Management System (TEAMS). Live data access and maintenance will be available when Wi-Fi is accessible along the entire system. Wi-Fi is already available at some locations.

Previously, the data-collection process required as long as 60 days to get data from the field into TEAMS. The new system will reduce “field to TEAMS” time to hours, and is expected to save the equivalent of two-person-years annually.

The mobile asset management system is built on Acquis ADE Remote and Oracle Spatial technology. According to Jesse Day, TEAMS data maintenance manager, “The ADE Remote system is essentially a map-based ‘spatial’ data-collection tool with GPS capabilities. It provides access to high-resolution aerial photographs, asset photos, and asset data on a field computer. When maintenance staff are in the field, they can quickly and easily track such assets as signs, guardrail or bridges, and then update them with a few simple clicks on the laptop. That information is then uploaded to the TEAMS database. The ADE Remote data-collection application has significantly reduced the cost of data quality control while improving data accuracy.”

The ADE Remote system can be connected to TEAMS or disconnected for use in the field.

One of the Turnpike Enterprise’s first new data-maintenance modules is a sign inventory tool specifically designed to support FEMA requirements for the timely replacement of regulatory signs damaged or destroyed during hurricanes.