Roadmark - Our Road Data Collection & Inventory App

The RoadMark software has been developed in the course of our work, in order to reflect the immediate needs of local road managers who do not access to the sophisticated and expensive technology and expertise usually required from road data collection systems. Whilst it is simple (and fast) to use, requiring minimal training, it utilises modern mobile smartphone technology and provides a comprehensive level of data about all the main types of road assets. This data can then be easily and simply analysed to develop needs-based network plans and budget estimates. It also allows the data to be mapped using the most commonly used GIS mapping software.

Most road data collection systems require a level of technical expertise, knowledge, data management and funding that is too expensive and unsustainable for many road agencies, especially covering rural or low volume roads. These systems are designed for high volume, national roads, where the level of data about the road carriageways tends to be much greater, with a complex analysis undertaken subsequently. This is not appropriate (nor sustainable) for rural roads, nor for organisations with very limited technical (HR) capacity and funding. RoadMark has been developed to address these more practical needs, whilst still providing a high level of useful data about a road network.

The RoadMark suite has the following features:

• It requires no complex or expensive specialised equipment;
• It can be set up and used very quickly;
• It requires minimal specialist knowledge, with training for data collection taking less than 1 hour;
• It requires no internet or mobile phone signal to collect data, so can be used in very remote areas;
• It is robust, designed to be used in challenging circumstances;
• The data is securely stored until it can be uploaded to a server, which can be located anywhere;
• It is fast, allowing a lot of the road network to be inspected quickly, minimising data collection costs;
• It is flexible and versatile, allowing both inventory and basic condition data to be collected about all types or road assets, including the carriageway, shoulders, bridges, culverts, land use, street furniture and administrative data;
• It automatically calculates network lengths, obviating the need for on-site measurement of distances;
• Any data collected cannot easily be falsified;
• All data is located using GPS, allowing maps of the network to be produced easily;
• Progress and inspection programmes can be easily monitored remotely;
• It is a very small application and produces very small data files;
• It provides a comprehensive range of reports and data about the road assets surveyed. These outputs can be exported easily for further analysis in spreadsheets.
• All the data can be mapped (e.g. using the freely available QGIS software), providing a wide range of flexible maps about the road network and its associated assets;
• It can be used on road networks which are poorly defined or documented;
• It is scalable, suitable for short (project) roads or an entire road network;
• It works on all recent Android Smartphones with a GPS function;
• A corresponding Windows 10 application allows all collected data to be stored and analysed quickly and simply.

It has been designed by road engineers and managers with many decades of practical international experience in the issues involved. It is suitable for use by:

• Local or regional road managers and engineers;
• National road agencies;
• Consulting engineers who wish to survey roads quickly and simply.

Please contact us if you would like to know more about this software or how it could be used for your specific purposes.