Application of Geographic Information Systems and Vibration Mobile Apps in Road Condition Assessment of Bike Trails

This paper discusses the application of smartphone technology in conjunction with geographic information systems (GIS) software to develop a pavement management system and relate the pavement deterioration to vibration intensity. As municipalities and highway departments experience reduced budgets, they are asked to do more with less. Efficient allocation of scarce resources is critical. Combining vibration intensity data with a GIS platform can help public agencies with a strategic plan to prioritize maintenance schedules for bike trails. Using affordable and readily available smartphone applications to collect vibration and location data presents new possibilities for pavement evaluation. The objective of this paper is to investigate the suitability of integrating this method of data collection into a GIS software to spatially relate and analyze the data to identify maintenance priorities, while reducing the time and cost spent collecting data. A demonstration project was implemented on the Northern Arizona University campus while riding bicycles along designated biking routes. A level platform accommodating two phones was attached to the bike to ensure consistent and synchronous data collection. Vibration data were analyzed, interpreted, digitized, and displayed to a GIS platform for identification of pavement deterioration based on gravity of acceleration values recorded during biking. Maintenance staff can review pavement problem points as listed on GIS maps, make a visit to evaluate the severity of pavement conditions, and prioritize areas that will need immediate maintenance or repair.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Standing Committee on Bicycle Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Ho, Chun-Hsing
  • Slim, Gerjen
  • Monahan, Shannon
  • DeGeyter, Jeremy
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
• Date: 2016

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References;
• Pagination: 21p
• Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bikeways; Data collection; Deterioration; Evaluation and assessment; Geographic information systems; Mobile applications; Pavement management systems; Vibration
• Identifier Terms: Northern Arizona University
• Uncontrolled Terms: Pavement conditions
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Maintenance and Preservation; Pavements; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; I60: Maintenance;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01587787
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 16-1424
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 27 2016 5:11PM