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In the absence of a statewide inventory roadside feature
program, you will find at WSDOT many individual business
areas have and are collecting roadside feature information
(i.e. utility poles, signs, guardrail, tree groupings, slope
information...). These efforts have all been independent
of one another and have caused duplicate effort and expense.
Data is not consistently stored in a corporate standard
format that would allow shared use and maintenance of the
data.
Because of the advancements in technology such as GPS mapping
grade equipment business areas have the potential to collect
roadside feature data quickly and accurately. WSDOT's new
GIS Workbench is but one example of new tools recently developed
or being developed that allow the business area the opportunity
to analyze and work the data efficiently and effectively.
These two elements combined have caused an exponential increase
in data gathering within the department.
Typically business areas take care of their own needs
and have not worked in a collaborative fashion regarding
data collection and maintenance of that data. There has
not been any infrastructure or program that would cause
the collaboration to occur. In fact, generally, we have
more incentives not to collaborate than to collaborate.
A few of the notable business requirements that could benefit
from an agency wide collaborative approach to feature inventory
are: Maintenance needs the data to fulfill environmental
requirements and inventory management; Program Management/Project
Design needs it to strategically spend safety, unstable
slopes, and major electric and drainage dollars; Environmental
needs it for regulatory compliance; and Utilities needs
it for system wide safety analysis.
Goal
A statewide roadside feature inventory
program where the data becomes a corporate asset by:
- Having consistent data definitions and values throughout the department
- Having methods and procedures that everyone follows which will minimize the cost of collection and maintenance of data
- Allowing the sharing of accurate and timely data
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