Integrating GPS and GIS Technology to Better Manage Street Sweeping

About the Program

Category: Transportation (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

One of the responsibilities of the Maricopa County Department of transportation (MCDOT) is the sweeping of county maintained roads. To that effect, a third party company is contracted to perform this task. The management of the project traditionally involved random visual inspection, tracking of invoices and maintenance of the information. In order to be more efficient and better manage the contract, Maricopa County requested the installation of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) units on sweeper trucks dedicated to maintain county roads. The GPS units broadcast positional data when brooms are lowered for sweeping. Information is transmitted at 30 second intervals providing the speed and location of the sweepers anytime they are cleaning the roads. Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to process this information and monitor the project. The new automated process supplements the random manual visual inspection providing one hundred percent verification of work completed against the work invoiced, assurance that speed limits are within specifications and to the minute data that can be used as support in customer inquiries and litigation cases.