Case Study - GeoVideo
Introduction
In 2009 Wilson Pym May launched the first of its products – GeoVideo, a complete GPS video recording solution. This case study is an example of GeoVideo’s use and application within the Highways Industry as an effective solution.
Problem
Every year in Northamptonshire approximately 1,128 miles of the road network receives precautionary salting, just under half of the total road network in the county. Due to the size of the network and the fact that it costs the County Council £32,000 to carry out a single county wide network salting many of the roads cannot be salted.
The joint venture between May Gurney and WSP was named the preferred bidder for the Northamptonshire County Council transport project starting in March 2008 for a period of 8 years. As part of Northamptonshire Highways they are responsible for carrying out precautionary salting and to ensure an efficient operation, the routes need to be examined to determine timing, potential pinch points and overall route efficiency.
Audits must be carried out against the winter maintenance routes and drivers need to be trained and become familiar with the routes before the winter season begins.
Solution
Shortly after its launch May Gurney WSP purchased GeoVideo. The system provides Northamptonshire Highways with a simple, complete and flexible way in which to capture video data from the network which is time, date and position stamped. Information is captured simultaneously from a GPS receiver and video camera, and the data is combined though an encoding process which links the video frames with the position. This video is then imported to a GIS system and is shown against any mapping layers required.
Outcomes
The system is being used for checking and creating winter maintenance routes. The track log is used to verify timing and identify any potential pinch points. The captured video will be used for driver training and route familiarisation and as an audit of winter maintenance runs and routes.
There are many advantages to using this package of solutions to solve the problem faced by May Gurney WSP, these include:
A long term investment has meant that salting can be done effectively for the length of the contract.
The flexibility of GeoVideo means that it can also be used in safety audits, defence claims and pre and post scheme evaluations.
“GeoVideo has proven to be a great asset in planning our Winter Maintenance operations, it has helped us to optimise the routes thereby reducing costs and using the videos for training purposes we have been able to improve driver interoperability. We are looking forward to using GeoVideo to monitor TMA works and generate supporting evidence for fixed penalty notices.”
Garry Nash, Project Manager at MGWSP
