Application of information technology to build road inventory in Lao PDR

Abstract

Collection of roadway inventory data is considered a basic task for road management agencies. Maintaining up-to-date roadway information is essential for design, planning, maintenance and rehabilitation. For many years, transportation agencies in Lao PDR have been using traditional method for inventory, typically recording with pencil and paper form to collect the data, and then transferring all data to database on a computer. Such method is time-consuming, labor-intensive, vulnerable to input errors, and difficult to update the data. This thesis proposes the utilization of hand-held device for field data acquisition. The study focuses on using ArcPad application combined with Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) and GPS receiver technology for collection of roadway inventory. With the digital data capture system, point as well as line data input and editing can be achieved in field. This technique, which includes data input forms in the fixed length segmentation of street center line of road network GIS base map, has proven to be of value and would expedite the process of updating road inventory data in the database. The findings of the present study show that the selected methodology is an efficient tool for field data entry which can accommodate feature recognition and navigation purposes. In addition, a comparison of cost and time for data collection by traditional manual and digital method suggests that the digital method is cost-effective and takes less time to implement. The effectiveness of mobile inspection data collection is substantial in term of time-saving from data transcription work and the compatibility of digital field maps.