GIS-ALAS Phase III Proposal: Applications and Implementation
Background
The Iowa DOT has developed an accident location and analysis system (PC-ALAS) that has been well received by users. PC-ALAS has a user-friendly interface and is easy to learn. Agencies can use the system to obtain accident statistics for specific locations and time periods, to query the database by accident or driver characteristics, and to generate reports to be sent to the screen, to a file, or to a printer.
The original PC-ALAS effort stemmed from a widespread desire for a user-friendly, fast, portable system for accident data retrieval and analysis. The product has been useful for the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), county and city engineers, municipal planning organizations, regional planning affiliations, law enforcement agencies, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, and the Iowa Office of the Federal Highway Administration. The intent of the GIS-ALAS project is to build on the success of PC-ALAS by making use of the spatial display, query, and analysis capabilities of geographic information systems. The DOT's Engineering Division, the developer of PC-ALAS, sees GIS-ALAS as a natural progression of the current system.
In 1997, Phase I of the project, CTRE and the Iowa DOT developed a core system for GIS-ALAS. In that phase, PC-ALAS functions were replicated in the ArcView environment using Avenue programming language. A viewing package, based on ESRI's Explorer package (Explorer ALAS) was also developed, complete with documentation and a CD. During this phase, many meetings and focus groups were held to provide guidance from internal and external (to DOT) users in the Iowa highway safety community.
In 1998, Phase II of GIS-ALAS, CTRE enhanced GIS-ALAS in several ways, especially in areas related to the menu-driven interface, more consistent display of crashes and other features, on-screen selection of crashes, and report generation and formatting. Also, a beta version of a program to convert crash locations from x.y to link-node is being tested; this procedure will facilitate access for ACCESS ALAS users to crashes located using x,y coordinates. Several technology transfer efforts were undertaken. Copies of Explorer ALAS were distributed to several agencies around the state, and beta test versions of ArcView ALAS were delivered to the Governors Traffic Safety Bureau, the Iowa State Patrol, and the Iowa DOT. A variety of presentations were given to transportation safety professionals, informal training was provided, and a users guide was prepared. Also, a series of maps was created for the Fire Service Institute that illustrate the system's utility in emergency response applications; these maps depict fire service districts in southeast Iowa and focus on areas whose emergency services could be affected by the Avenue of the Saints.
In 1999 (Phase III), CTRE proposes to address the following three tasks.
- investigations of the relationship between selected geographic characteristics and crash rates in Iowa
- analysis of right-turn lanes on expressways
- identification of access management problems and strategies
- routing of emergency services, pre- and post-corridorization
- analysis of data generated by Iowa's CODES effort
1) System enhancements and safety program support
This task will address several activities related to enhancing GIS-ALAS and providing support for DOT safety program activities.
These activities include:
a) Continue to support the application in the
area of training and software maintenance, including
the development of a long-term maintenance strategy,
in consultation with DOT GIS, data and computer
support personnel.
b) Continue to support marketing and educational
activities on behalf of the DOT regarding the
safety program.
c) Continue to support Engineering Division
requests for training, design and system modifications.
d) Continue beta
testing of GIS-ALAS.
e) Investigate the use of simplified map displays,
such as point-stacking procedures and strip
maps.
2) Develop intersection database management and
analysis capabilities
The need for improved intersection analysis has consistently been identified by transportation safety professionals. This task will promote intersection analysis by:
a) continuing the development of an interface
with Intersection
Magic, in a manner consistent with related
DOT data management efforts (e.g., CARE);
and
b) investigating the development of an intersection
database containing data associated with the
legs of intersections.
3) Provide two case-study applications of the system.
These case studies will illustrate the utility of GIS-ALAS in facilitating specific types of applied safety analyses. The specific applications developed will be chosen in consultation with the Office of Transportation Safety. Potential topics include the following:
last modified on 25. March 1999 by Michael D. Pawlovich (ISU/CTRE)
