Kentucky

T F T N S t r a t e g i c P l a n U s e C a s e

Case Study Kentucky: Linkage of the Transportation centerline to HPMS, other route dependant databases, and e911

March   11

Transportation for the Nation

Overview In the late 1990’s the Kentucky Transportation Public Road Centerline project was originally conceived as the brainchild of Greg Witt from the Kentucky transportation Cabinet (KYTC) as a way to derive better statistical information and analytical products from all of the centerline data for the State. Greg realized very early on that there was a definite need to improve the State’s geospatial data infrastructure in to more spatially accurate geographic information system (GIS) powered by a data model compiled entirely by linearly referenced and routable data. Tremendous effort was put forth to contract with Area Development Districts from around the State to collect all the centerline data. These data were to be the foundation geospatial layer that could be used by other agencies within the state, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as well as the general public. They represent the GPS collection, dissemination, update cycle, statewide E-911 repository and linkage between other data sources that would not otherwise be possible without a high level of collaboration between all stakeholders. Project Background Working with the Area Development Districts as the rural equivalent of a Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet began the development of the Public Roadway Centerline pilot project in 1999. This pilot project was initiated to use GPS technology to collect roadway centerlines in four distinctly different counties in select regions of the State. The pilot project was intended to GPS all the roads in the target regions to help the State identify any issues associated with launching a State wide contract and to provide rough cost estimates. There was also the need to have better highway information so that the State could more effectively submit their data to FHWA HPMS. US DOT accuracy standards took precedent over other challenges of the time but the project met or exceeded expectations and the project was considered a complete success. Based on the findings from the pilot project that ended in 2000, the State was able to contract with the Area Development Districts (ADD) to map the entire State. Several estimates from vendors were established beforehand to do the work and it was discovered that it was orders of magnitude cheaper to take on the project “in house” or through the use of the ADDs than by specialized vendors. The state also attempted several means of data collection including digitizing off of aerial photography, ground survey and GPS collection. It was the GPS collection by actual feet on the ground that was able to meet the cost and accuracy standards and guidelines the teams were required to meet.

The original roadway centerline data that was collected was stored and maintained in ESRI’s ArcInfo coverages as individual county files. The other roadway assets, such as functional class, lane widths, median types, etc., were stored in an Oracle database using the Oracle Highways software. These assets, being stored separately than the actual geometries, posed a problem for proper long term storage and dissemination although much effort went into keeping the individual assets in sync with the roadway geometries. Proper maintenance of the geometries and assets in different data environments did allow for engineering dynamic segmentation to take place so that accurate asset locations could be mapped and consumed. A annual maintenance cycle of the locally owned roads was launched in 2005 so that individual county updates could be completed on a predetermined date once per year. Also, in 2005 State maintained roadway centerlines were updated as road projects were completed. This two processes were initiated to provide a more coherent and interoperable data model to be used in all applications developed by the state. During this time period, the master data set was completely refactored and placed in another GIS application provided by EXOR Corporation (which has recently been purchased by Bentley Systems). This new database now serves as the Kentucky base transportation network for all state agencies. The Division of Geographic Information publishes the data set for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to all other agencies and the public as well as to other KYTC Divisions. This system serves as a data storage mechanism for some KYTC owners of roadway data (i.e. Scenic Byways, Bicycle Routes, Adopt a Highway, Truck Weights, etc) and also serves as a base transportation network to link to other databases for update of its data (i.e. PONTIS). Today the system maintains roughly 360,000 arcs that are a full LRS and routable. A process is run on a weekly basis to rebuild the data set in its entirety to incorporate any new updates from the previous week and then made available for public consumption. State maintained roads are updated within two weeks of the roads opening to traffic. The state maintained roads centerlines are now derived from the actual design files used to build the road overlaid within the database. As time permits, filed spot checks are completed using GPS equipment to verify and or update for as built conditions. The local road centerlines are submitted by the ADD’s working in collaboration with the local governments of their assigned counties using a specialized shapefile that is downloaded from a KYTC FTP site. This shapefile contains all the necessary attributes for the purpose of fully relaying thorough information in order to properly make changes to the local road centerlines

Before submission to the State, each county must standardize their data in accordance with what is in that shapefile. The update schedule permits an update of local roads in all 120 counties every 2 weeks to attempt to serve E-911 and local initiatives. In reality most counties are updated once or twice per year due to varying local issues. During the initial maintenance period the KYTC began collaboration with KSP who had gained access to a grant to help enhance their E-911 system. This meant that each police cruiser was going to be retro-fitted with a mobile computer with software that would ingest the State transportation data set for use in a variety of different applications including emergency response. Working with the state police prevented overlapping efforts and helped build a better data product for all 120 counties in the State. The address-enhanced centerline dataset is the state centerline with value added attributes like to/from address ranges for each arc on each route and specific codes, which attaches geometries in the system with the exact attributes for any location along a specific route. Because several counties in the state do not have a dedicated staff for maintaining their own roads data sets, regional efforts from better equipped counties help those counties if they are willing to participate. Additionally, counties that border other states work with the adjacent counties to ensure that the data has a fluent transaction across state boundary lines. This collaboration is especially important in the case of the Ohio border where E-911 operators maintain close relationships between other operators from different states. The HPMS program was one of the original catalysts for the project in 1999 so that more accurate statewide statistics could be reported to FHWA concerning the status and condition of our roadway network. Today the State uses and participates in the HPMS program and has established a rating system based on the rideability of the route, congestion or volume, and safety which is derived from accident rates, against a homogenous road segment for the entire federal aid eligible sections of roads. This data is used for statewide needs analysis to identify possible future roadway projects. Lessons Learned and Challenges o Political issues at the local level are still prevalent. o There were at least 20 different assets/attributes in the original working data model

before the move to the EXOR database. Any changes were made manually after communication took place between the GIS and data sections. After the move to EXOR the update of asset locations became automated when GIS edits take place. The process helps to eliminate the “human factor” in the update cycle.

When a change is performed on the road centerline the asset LRS location updates automatically without much human interaction. The new database now housed nearly 50 asset with more planned for the future. Some of these assets are actually stored in the database and some are asset location links that update the LRS location of assets stored in other databases. During the initial collection phase of this project, there were issues with accuracy, qualified staff and GPS technologies in general. The staff had to be trained to use the technology (both hardware and software) and there were tremendous challenges related to topology especially in the eastern part of the state where getting a “good enough” signal from the GPS satellite constellation was not an option due to interference from the surrounding terrain.

o Better local buy in for more timely updates of locally owned roads and road name issues at the local level (i.e. 911 designated name of road vs. Fiscal Court official name). Better involvement at the Highway District level to include locals at an early stage in the design of new state maintained roads so that issues of bypassed roads and maintenance and ownership issues can be resolved before the new construction opens.

o The State does not anticipate (m)any problems with the new HPMS guidelines because of original project that began in 1999resulting in the data being complete and very well maintained. The HPMS submission is therefore considered relatively trivial and a low risk activity.

o The State realized very early on that data from other sources was nowhere near as accurate as the HPMS standards. This was an enticing factor for carrying out the data collection in-house using high quality GPS equipment.

Conclusions Kentucky's main success was putting forth the resources and effort into building a spatially accurate route network to use as a foundation to build many, many uses and applications. The building of the network was purposefully planned to be used by many different organizations and entities and issues were discussed and considered during the planning stage. The second most important success was the resources and efforts were also equally applied to keep the transportation network as up to date as possible. These efforts have allowed countless consumers to use the information in their everyday jobs and they have confidence the network is accurate and complete as possible. Any and most all roadway assets can easily be applied and made much more useful because the base network is accurate and complete. Sources: Keith Dotson - Systems Consultant IT (Oversees all data issues with the Data Management Branch, Transportation Systems Branch, Traffic County Branch, and cabinet wide Asset Management pertaining to the Highway

Information System). Josh Wentz (Geoprocessing Specialist 3, Team Leader of Asset Management Team in the Data Management Branch). Bob Goodman (Branch Manager of the Administrative Branch, Acting Branch Manager of the Data Management Branch), Kevin Cornette (Area Development District Lead GIS and technical advisor for the Roadway Centerline project), Greg Witt (Retired former Department Head at KYDOT). Additional team members include: Arthur Box (GIS Team Lead), Angie Willhoit, Willard Jackson, Kevin Bishop (Team Leader Highway Information Team), Jeremy Ray, Gretchen Sanford, Charlie Nowlin, Jadie Tomlinson (Traffic Counting Branch Manager), Melissa Brown, Carol Brent (Transportation System/Cartography Branch Manager), Crystal Casey, Bonnie Lynch, Dawn Mattingly, Casey Wells.