PROTOTYPE VAN ANALYZES ROAD DIGITALLY

Many state transportation departments examine roadways using special vans equipped with traditional video cameras. However, Kelvin Wang, a researcher at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, has built a prototype van that uses digital cameras to record images at a higher definition and produce data that can be stored on disk rather than tape. With the system, image-processing software can sift through the digital footage to find cracks and holes in the roadway and help generate a map noting the cracks' sizes and locations. The data provided are much more precise than what can be gleaned from video. The prototype equipment costs $500,000, but Wang predicts that the system will become more affordable because of continually decreasing computer costs. For municipalities that cannot afford digital equipment, Wang and some of his associates developed a system that can digitize analog video material and combine it with engineering data to create a digital file similar to one generated by a digital record. The state of Arkansas is using this system to enhance its video data.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/10480594
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  1801 Alexander Bell Drive
  Reston, VA  United States  20191-4400
• Publication Date: 2000-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 26
• Serial:
  • Civil Engineering
  • Volume: 70
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
  • ISSN: 0885-7024
  • Serial URL: http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/newce/html

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Costs; Digital cameras; Digital maps; Digitized photography; Optical scanners; Pavement cracking; Pavement performance; Potholes (Pavements); Prototypes; Software; Technological innovations; Vans; Video cameras
• Geographic Terms: Arkansas
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Finance; Highways; Pavements; I23: Properties of Road Surfaces;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00797274
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 28 2000 12:00AM