The University of Tennessee Center for Transportation Research, United States

University of Tennessee Transportation Center Develops TDOT Viewer to Increase Productivity

aerial view of expressways The Challenge:

The goal of the University of Tennessee Center for Transportation Research (CTR) is to provide research for the Transportation Planning Division at the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to help them meet their workflow and analysis needs. The TDOT Transportation Planning Division wanted to increase the productivity of their planners while taking advantage of the tools and data they were already using. They also wanted to incorporate Intergraph GeoMedia ® into their workflow.

The Project Objectives:

Provide access to all geographic data and related transportation data within the TDOT enterprise
Increase planners’ productivity using GeoMedia in workflow
Take advantage of tools and data currently in use

The Solution:

To accomplish their goal, the team at CTR, located at the National Transportation Research Center (NTRC), developed the TDOT viewer, a client-server application that collaborates with the GeoMedia suite of products to form a single environment for the display and analysis of data. The viewer system provides seamless access to all geographic data and related transportation data within the TDOT enterprise, including GIS data, roadway deficiency data, and advanced planning report information. The TDOT viewer displays data in a variety of formats, such as graphics, PDF files, photo log images, and textual information. TDOT personnel use the viewer to analyze the data provided within the TDOT infrastructure by displaying the information in single GeoMedia map window. The viewer system enables consistent display of GIS data in thematic form and helps eliminate the labor-intensive task of creating hand-drawn maps

The focal point of the viewer screen is the tree display, which provides a structured view of the available data. The system provides logical names rather than requiring the user to know the exact physical storage name. Default feature properties, such as color and size, are assigned for standardization. The tree display enables easy selection of data for spatial or textual display for planning analysts. The viewer displays information seamlessly to the user no matter where the data is located or what format it takes.

When TDOT personnel initiate the application, it displays commonly used gIs features, such as Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Fit all. There is a screen available for the user to display any one or all of the GeoMedia toolbars once the application is loaded. having only the necessary GIS tool buttons available on startup simplifies the interface for beginning GIS users without taking away GeoMedia functionality for experienced users.

The TDOT Viewer has also helped TDOT create a single spatial database for all state aid roads within Tennessee. State aid roads qualify for improvement funds from the state, but cannot exceed 20 percent of the total road miles in a county. Before the viewer, TDOT was managing these roads through 95 hardcopy maps – one for each county. now, TDOT personnel can easily display and analyze all state aid data from one easy-to-access source, saving them time and helping them obtain the funding needed for roadway widening and pavement upgrades.

With the TDOT Viewer system, the Planning Division is much more productive in their query and analysis of roadway conditions and can make solid decisions in record time. The CTR has created an application, based on GeoMedia technology, which integrates all the state’s transportation data into a single, intuitive viewing environment and gives state employees information at their fingertips.

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