McAlpine maps highways assets with innovative survey tech

Sir Robert McAlpine is mapping both overground and underground highway and utility assets on the A19 DBFO truck road contract using innovative surveying technology from Mobile GIS Services (MGISS).

Liverpool-based MGISS is working alongside Sir Robert
McAlpine to design and implement new workflows as well as converting and
updating historical data to populate the contractor’s works management
database. 

MGISS originally began working with the contractor when it
first introduced the HighStone contract management database from Claremont
Controls. MGISS customised its GeoGrafi app services so that asset condition
data, collected in the field using mobile devices, could be synced to the
centralised HighStone database.

The latest collaboration on the A19 has built on this
initial development by converting and updating potentially outdated historical
utility drawings.

Plans were traditionally printed out for use in the field,
but these have since been converted, so they can be uploaded to a GIS dataset.
Using ArcGIS Explorer (a mobile app that is part of the Esri Geospatial Cloud
toolkit), inspectors and engineers can access location-accurate asset data in
real time and, using Survey 123 that is also part of the same environment,
report defects and condition reports directly to the hosted system.

The system is 3D, augmented reality and BIM ready.

Andy Sinclair, A19 project manager at Sir Robert McAlpine said:
“The highway network is a complex environment. In order to maintain and
operate this essential infrastructure safely and efficiently, we need to
understand where above and below ground assets are on the network. This allows
early conflict management with utilities on site when planning new works or
reacting to incidents.”

“Using the MGISS-developed solution, inspectors and
engineers operating on the highway can live access asset information using
existing mobile devices,” he continued. “We are also able to share
information, which improves our decision making and collaboration, and the
overall efficiency of our inspection routines.”