Issue link: https://resources.esri.ca/i/1172344
Return on Investment of Evolving Your Road Network Data Management Practice Esri Canada White Paper 6 own, business-specific data structure. An LRS-enabled GIS software product like Esri Roads and Highways enables a tightly controlled and automated yet widely collaborative environment for this purpose. Regardless of where along this spectrum an organization finds itself, there are a few minimum requirements: • At least one person with an appropriate skill set2 to manage the system • Data cleansing and calibration of existing road centerline data • Adaptation and transformation of road asset data into road "event" data • Consideration of the impact on downstream legacy business systems The cost for the resource is relatively well defined; often this individual may already be part of the organization and simply needs some mentorship or training. The next two items are broad, but most project teams will have automated tools to assist in this process and we can estimate a few weeks of data processing. The final item is often the biggest unknown, but the good news is that it can be tackled piecemeal. The best practice is to isolate the project so that it impacts a finite set of business systems, and then evolve its scope as those systems become fully operational. This process could take several months and even beyond a year for some organizations. The timeline should be identified in the initial phase of project planning. It should be noted that evolving a municipality's road network data management system cannot be completed overnight. For most municipalities the external and internal project cost will each be in the low six-figures and the project will take several months to complete. What are the benefits? Much like the cost, the benefits can also vary greatly depending on the organization's objectives. At a minimum, there is a considerable simplification of road segmentation. The individual managing the data gains most from this specific benefit, since splitting and dividing road centerlines is very laborious and difficult to automate. The savings is multiplied by the number of features being maintained. Downstream users will not notice since event data is dynamically segmented. Eliminate the need to split road centrelines, the savings for which could be quantified as the number of features being maintained multiplied by the time to maintain each. The savings may total as much as one person-hour per day. The maintenance of the road network data shifts from managing centreline geometry to managing "routes". While a linear referencing system adds a layer of abstraction to the data structure, the maintenance of every data element is reduced by automating all centreline management and separating the data into "routes" and "events", the latter of which is typically handled by the business units. Automating centreline management by splitting "routes" and "events" will divide the work required among 1) routes, 2) events and 3) supporting data. If the effort is evenly split between the three areas, this reduces the time spent by the data system manager on routine maintenance by as much as 66% 2 Appropriate skill set includes: proficiency with GIS, LRS and relational database systems