ROAD WEATHER INFORMATION AND WINTER MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ICELAND

Transcription

1 ROAD WEATHER INFORMATION AND WINTER MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ICELAND Björn Ólafsson, Head of Service Departament, Public Road Administration, Iceland The following flow chart shows the relation between assumptions, goals, measures and the various factors influencing the winter service. In Iceland, extensive development of the management and information system for winter services has gone on.

2 The winter weather, one of four fundamental premises of winter services, which is determined by the frequency, length and severity of winter conditions, also depends on elevation above sea level and geographical position. Winter weather in Iceland is a cold, oceanic microclimate, characterized by relatively low temperatures, often fluctuating around 0 C, with high humidity, and there are often high winds and heavy snow. The weather conditions are also extremely variable in Iceland by region, and are the weather conditions particularly during winter, very variable and change very quickly. The nature of the weather conditions in Iceland may cause hazards for road users; hence it is essential for road users and the management of the winter road-service to always have detailed information about the weather conditions and the weather forecasts on the road system at any given time. Management and information system: In recent years, the Icelandic Public Roads Administration has established and developed a highly sophisticated information system about the weather and road conditions. In its current format, the system has been used and developed for a period of 10 years. The road users and the management 2

3 of the Public Roads Administration have extensively used this effective system, which is also a part of the administrative system of the winter road-service. Experience has shown that using such a system facilitates An overview of the status and the weather conditions in the road system. Increased efficiency in decision-making on road service and measures. Traffic monitoring and control. A more varied and improved information service for the users. The Public Roads Administration s information system uses a common base with information being gathered into one central database. The system is fully automatic in the dissemination of information, both inside the Public Roads Administration and externally for the road users. The computers in the system s center systematically link to cameras, the weather stations and other monitoring devices in the road system parallel to date being updated to accommodate the needs of the different groups of users. The data is then automatically dispatched to various information mediums. The system receives information from roadside monitoring devices, meteorologists, the police, road users, and from the personnel of the Public Roads Administration. Information, which is entered into the system, relates to the weather conditions, weather forecasts, the driving conditions, traffic intensity, traffic incidents, the roads vehicle-weight capacity, restrictions on vehicle weight, road construction, etc. Information is disseminated to three main target groups in different ways, depending on each group. Operational information for the own activities of the Public Roads Administration. This information is intended to support the planning management and execution of the maintenance and service work carried out by and on behalf of PRA. Information on weather, driving conditions and the status of the roads is disseminated to road users. Technical traffic information is disseminated to and used by the police and for traffic management. Cameras automatically and systematically dispatch photographs of the road conditions, and the roadside weather stations automatically dispatch information about atmospheric temperature, atmospheric humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation and road temperature, while measuring devices record frost depth and icing. There are also vehicle counters that are linked to the 3

4 weather stations, as well as Weight-In-Motion meters (WIMs) forwarding data on traffic quantity and composition. The road users receive this information through teletext, radio, a telephone answering service, an automatic voice simulator, roadside information boards and graphic displays on boards that are placed at the main locations visited by road users. The data gathered for teletext, radio, voice simulator and on the Internet is summarized and simplified in a clear fashion, and the users receive vocal information on weather, road and driving conditions in a telephone answering machine. The Public Roads Administration s web page, has the Vegvísir(Road Indicator) link, which is a graphic monitor information system containing information on driving and road conditions, weather information from weather stations, etc. The system displays a road map of Iceland in geographical format. Through this graphic display an effort is made to provide road users with an overview of the weather and driving conditions, the status of the roads and other important information for travellers. 4

5 The descriptions presented in the information link are considerably simplified with colors being used for each factor. The driving and road conditions are displayed in only eight images and parallel to the colors various symbols are illustrated providing further useful information about weather, road conditions or construction and, for example, wind force, snowing, axle-load restrictions, delays due to road repairs, snow-plowing locations, etc. Specific information windows contain ferry schedules, weather information from the weather stations, and an overview of the traffic load at a given route at any given time. A total of eight pictures are displayed in the information system, i.e., a map of Iceland as a whole, and then seven regional maps. The graphs displayed also provide overviews of all the measured weather factors at each weather station over the last 48 hours. By using special processing software overviews may be obtained on the fluctuations of each weather factor through the year, as well as on the wind rose for the same period. 5

6 Management system for winter services: The Public Roads administration is now testing and developing solutions for road services, based on the automatic collection of diverse, statistical and management information from road equipment, such as their position, actions, speed, driving, etc. Many equipment manufacturers manufacture control equipment for their products for the control, collection and sending of information. The Public Roads Administration has chosen to utilize these control devices from the equipment, manufacturers since they are available, and emphasize the development of reception processes for the data sent. The key information from equipment is their position or grid location. Upon receipt of data, the grid position is slotted into the road system, i.e., information about actions is collected for certain roads and lengths of road for further processing. In this way, information can be collected about actions, driving, use of material, lengths of road cleared, etc., for each road, region, etc., for each period. Solutions have been tested for data transport over the GSM telephone system and the TETRA system. The TETRA system is an interesting alternative well suited to data transport since the data are received nearly in real-time. The Public Roads Administration has purchased control equipment with data collection for salting bins from EPOKE, the EPOmaster, with GPS positioning equipment, controllers and implementations to collect data from sensors in the bins, i.e., the quantity of material (salt, brine, sand) distributed, in relation to the speed of the equipment. In addition, the equipment has space to accommodate a road thermometer in addition to two extra sensors (external) that the Public Roads Administration utilizes to monitor the status of the snow teeth (front and rear). Each file contains information from the time that the driver of the equipment presses a button to begin data collection until the button is pressed again to 6

7 indicate that data collection is finished. The measuring point interval is usually set for every 500 m, but it is also possible to select a 100- or 1000-m interval. With each call-up, the data file is transferred to a certain file area in the receiving computer. The file is then incorporated into the database for processing. Included with the Epomaster control equipment was the processing software Vinterman-light, which the Road Administration of Denmark developed from a larger and management system solution, Vinterman, in cooperation with EPOKE. Vinterman-light accompanies the database and call-up monitor for inputting data from, among other things, EPOKE equipment. Vinterman-light enables the on-screen display of each file from pieces of equipment to examine the history, actions, use of material, speed, length of road and times working and inactive, and it is also possible to do various processing there with the software. However, the processing is limited to the setting up of reference processes where particular roads are manually defined. The Icelandic system SiteWatch has been adapted to process data from EPOKE. The adaptation is based on reading the EPOKE data with automatic lookups in the road database of the Public Roads Administration to localize the grid position of the vehicle on the portion of road for later processing. A query to the road database ensures coordination between process data and road data, i.e., changes in the road system reflect new queries of the process data system. 7

8 The SiteWatch server processes data, interprets and displays them. The position and driving history of vehicles is displayed on a map interface where it is also possible to replay former processes and actions. SiteWatch also provides a query form to winnow data and produce standardized reports. Efforts are now in progress to build management information into the system, such as information on service routes and times, areas to be de-iced, information on materials for de-icing (salt, sand), geographical division of work areas, lists of employees, their telephone numbers, names and home addresses, lists of equipment, shift schedules and time schedules, rules on organization, division of labor, work procedures and winter service procedures, unit prices, tender offer rules, agreements and standards, tender offer specifications, bid forms, instructions on winter stations, interpretation of weather reports and other information about weather, instructions on input into accounting and information systems, emergency plans for accidents or natural catastrophes, files of symbols and concepts related to road and weather conditions, etc. Information that is possible to display on screen from the database have nearly inexhaustible possibilities, such as information on the categories of vehicles, drivers, telephone numbers, data with photographs, etc. It will be possible to classify vehicles for different handling and recording as well as choose certain equipment or certain groups specifically to examine their trips and let workshops see to the inspection of each piece of equipment, etc. With software connected to the database, there are possibilities to call out employees, and it will be possible to call all relevant parties directly with the computer and monitor the status of actions. All of the important information necessary to manage services and also provide to those on the roads the clearest possible information about the passability and condition of roads will be possible to process from the management information system. Conclusion: Communications in Iceland are dependent upon the weather conditions; hence it is important for the Icelanders and other nations, living in similar circumstances, that information about the weather, the development of the weather, and the conditions in the public communication system have to be as correct and good as possible in order to ensure the safety of commuters and to ensure that the management and operations of snow and ice control would deliver a more cost-effective and efficient winter maintenance service. 8