In just one year, the Auckland Motorway Alliance (AMA) has achieved payback by implementing ESRI GIS software, says CIO Tony Darby.
The public-private alliance has a 10-year contract to look after the Auckland motorway network. It encompasses 270 bridges, 2500 IT assets (such as speed cameras), 230km of roading, and handles 900,000 vehicle movements each day, 10 per cent of the total vehicle movements in this country per day.
“The first time we laid out the data, it was evident there were great gaps in the information,” Darby told the recent Eagle GIS senior executive summit in Wellington.
Back then, the data showed a motorway running through the centre of Devonport and 1.2km of motorway extending into the Manukau harbour.
Data had since been accumulated from multiple contractors, based on highway information sheets, which were first introduced in the 1960s.
Darby says the GIS suite now provides 150 layers in the system, with 26,000 map views per month. That means 60 AMA staff access, on average, 22 maps a day.
There are two main focuses: safety, which involves pushing the asset (this may mean extending the surface life); and a common understanding.
“We can now assess the whole network in one hour. Previously, it took weeks against the forward works programme.
“We now have frequency of update, savings in costs and more flexibility and data, and more interaction. It has created an awareness across divisions, giving us cross-departmental coordination.”
There are 27 national motorway contracts; Darby estimates a saving of $1 million a year could be achieved across them using GIS.
“We’re half way through doing Wellington’s data,” he says.