Esri provides a vast number of resources and applications that enable their users to collect, update, and analyze their asset management data. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at how we can use those Esri apps and resources available to us on ArcGIS Online to manage our PCI (Pavement Condition Index) ratings on our road centerlines layer. The use of the Collector App will allow users to view the road centerline features in the field and which roads need inspected. The Survey123 App enables users to perform inspections to update their road PCI ratings directly in the field, and Operations Dashboard is used to analyze those PCI ratings and make informed, data driven decisions on how to move forward with future construction projects to improve their roads. Combined, these ArcGIS Online applications make managing PCI ratings a breeze! Let’s take a deeper look into all the aspects of this PCI Inspection workflow, and how we’ve had great success implementing it here at Cloudpoint Geospatial.
ArcGIS Collector: Manage PCI in the Field
The first step to managing PCI ratings is to utilize the Collector application to take our PCI data into the field, creating the infrastructure to perform mobile PCI rating inspections. That infrastructure is built using ArcGIS Collector, Esri’s mobile data collection application for editing and inputting data in the field.
Cloudpoint Example - In our Collector map, we created a join layer between our Road Centerline feature layer and a related Inspection Records table. We have symbolized our map based on that join layer to show which road centerlines have had an inspection record submitted within the last 11 months or less (green), within the last 12-18 months (yellow), or that haven’t had an inspection record in over 18 months (red).
This allows users out in the field to prioritize which road centerlines for inspections, and plan out their inspection routes. We created a hyperlink in the pop-up (as shown in the image) titled, “Add a PCI Inspection Record” that opens the Inspection Survey123 Form directly in the Survey123 app.
Survey123: Performing PCI Inspections
Once we have our Collector map ready to take out into the field, we can then use the Survey123 application to perform inspections and update our PCI ratings. In the Collector map, we can create a hyperlink to open a survey form directly in the Survey123 app while populating fields in the form with attribute data directly from the selected road centerline feature. Refer to this previous blog post on how to accomplish this workflow.
Cloudpoint Example - The biggest key to create a user-friendly form for PCI inspections is to build the survey form around the PCI calculation factors. Every organization may have their own PCI rating system for how they calculate their PCI ratings, so those factors must be accounted for in the survey. It’s worth noting that in our particular example, we’re using a client-specific Modified Pavement Condition Index, or MPCI.
We built our survey form to add together the total of all the factor fields in the PCI, and output that total into another field in the survey that categorizes the PCI rating into 1 of 3 rating categories specific to the organization: New to Good, Moderate to Poor, and Very Poor to Failing.
Once the survey form has been submitted, it lives as a related record in the PCI Inspection Records table from which we can create join layers on ArcGIS Online to symbolize our Road Centlerlines feature layer based on the the date of the last inspection record, the PCI rating, and more.
Operations Dashboard: Analyze PCI Data
Once inspections have been performed and the PCI ratings data has been updated, Operations Dashboard can be utilized to take a deeper dive into the data and evaluate the updates. Operations Dashboard is a great way to interact dynamically with data, and leveraging a dashboard to analyze PCI inspections allows users to create an operating plan for road construction improvements based on the PCI rating inspections previously performed with Survey123 and Collector.
Cloudpoint Example - Our Dashboard is constructed with data filters on the side panel (left) so that users can view data through the control of the filters to better allow them to view the data they want to see. The data filters control other dashboard elements, such as the average PCI chart (bottom), the total number of inspection records indicator (top right), the PCI Ratings pie chart that break down the number of inspection records by rating category (middle right), and the average PCI rating of the inspection records (bottom right).
Through these 3 Esri applications, performing PCI inspections and analyzing the data is easier than ever. If you want to learn more about implementing this PCI Inspection workflow in ArcGIS Online, or any of the other solutions from Esri that Cloudpoint Geospatial can assist in implementing - Contact us or visit www.cloudpointgeo.com.