SPATIAL DATA TECHNOLOGIES

The efficient planning, construction, and operation of transportation facilities depend on access to the right spatial data, in the right format, and at the right time. The provision of spatial data has undergone a series of profound technological changes. Already being used for precisely mapping facilities, counting cars, or locating accidents, new spatial data technologies have become a fundamental component of the transportation information system. Such applications are enabling transportation professionals to function more effectively by allowing them to make decisions more quickly and with better data. Changes in spatial data capabilities are continuing at a rapid pace. Methods for the collection and use of the data are being defined largely by the convergence of a number of widely used technologies, such as the Global Positioning System, geographic information system technologies, and the Internet. The new millennium will herald an era of spatially referenced data that are not merely a little better than those presently available, but much better. These advances are coming at a very important time for many transportation agencies. This will be an era of multidisciplinary teams and integrated technologies. The anticipated advances offer the promise of enabling the transportation community to evolve into a cross-agency enterprise through the power of accurate, timely information. This article concludes with some visions of how spatial information might be used by transportation professionals in the year 2010.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Page range: pp 15-18, 37.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Turner, A K
  • Bespalko, S J
• Publication Date: 1999-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: 5 p.
• Serial:
  • TR News
  • Issue Number: 205
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0738-6826

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; Geographic information systems; Global Positioning System; Internet; Spatial analysis; Technological innovations; Transportation facility operations; Transportation planning
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00784471
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 4 2000 12:00AM