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Locating Service Vehicles in Northern VirginiaAVL is a hot idea for northern Virginia, where snow affects commuter and commercial travel only 19 days a year but causes a deep freeze to descend on business deals being made in the nation's capital. After the Blizzard of '96, in which the Virginia DOT spent more than $44 million on snow removal, AVL capabilities were researched and approved for use in a pilot project. Orbital Sciences Corp. (Germantown, Maryland) was selected to conduct the pilot and evaluate AVL's potential impact on operations. The system is being installed on 80 Virginia DOT vehicles assigned to snow removal and other maintenance duties. These Smart Plows provide real-time information on the vehicles' locations and route progress. A GPS receiver sends signals to the Traffic Operations Center (TOC), where the vehicle's location appears on an electronic GIS map. Viewing the data in ArcView GIS, operators can double-check that contractors have completed assigned routes and can help determine why delays in plowing have occurred. "We know the location and status of all vehicles in the fleet, which roads have been plowed, and the percentage of roads still to plow," says Renee Hamilton, a Fairfax maintenance resident engineer. "During intense, dynamic situations, priorities for the fleet might need to change quickly," she notes. The system will also ensure proper payment since contract vehicles can be monitored and contacted in real time. The system will also help the agency reduce inefficient use of the vehicles. For example, when planning to replow a street, they will know exactly how many hours have elapsed since the last pass. Additional uses of the AVL system will be to automatically flag unusual field operations, which might indicate an operator is having mechanical or other problems. Virginia DOT intends to utilize AVL for applications other than snow removal operations, says Orbital's Lawrence L. Schulman, vice president of Business Development for the ITS division. The system will be tested on safety service patrols, signal technician vehicles, project inspector vehicles, and other fleet vehicles, making the agency a progressive site for AVL, global positioning system (GPS), and GIS technologies. For information contact |
