ITS Asset Viewer

The USDOT is launching the first-ever ITS Asset Viewer at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) Annual Meeting and Exposition from April 22 to 24, 2013, in Nashville, Tennessee. The ITS Asset Viewer visually displays the location of ITS deployments nationwide, providing a geographic picture of the status of ITS deployment.

The ITS Asset Viewer complements the USDOT’s ITS Deployment Tracking Survey, developed for the ITS JPO by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Conducted 10 times since 1997, the survey measures the extent of ITS deployment within 108 metropolitan areas across the United States. The survey helps guide federal ITS research and program management, inform Congress, and assess the cost and operational impact of ITS at the national scale. However, the survey focuses on the quantity of ITS deployment, not their locations within the metropolitan area.

With the advancement of the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for state asset management, it is now possible to assemble a national database of ITS assets with accurate locations along the Interstate system. The project team launched an effort to gather GIS data from each state department of transportation and assembled the resulting data from a variety of formats into a cohesive picture of national ITS deployment. The viewer visually presents the GIS data from the states (46 states have responded thus far) regarding key ITS technologies such as cameras, messages signs, ramp meters, speed sensors, and roadway weather information systems. Currently, there are over 75,000 assets in the database, and it is expected to grow as the remaining states provide information. 

Researchers, agencies, and the public at large will benefit from this new data resource and platform for analysis. The deployment of ITS technology can now be integrated with other geospatial information such as evacuation routes, major commercial truck routes, and interstate corridors. Other USDOT resources such as the data from the Highway Performance Monitoring System can also be integrated to support various analyses. State agencies will be able to get a picture of how other states have deployed assets to address operational needs, such as along major arterials or around special event venues. The information can also help to correlate ITS deployment with traffic volume or average speed and determine where deployment gaps may exist. “Combining volume, speed, and treatment types opens the lid for all new types of analyses,” notes David Schrank of the Texas Transportation Institute.

The USDOT expects that the nationwide launch of the viewer will encourage other cities, states, and toll agencies to provide their ITS data for inclusion. There are plans to build new functionality into the ITS Asset Viewer to support reports, data downloads, or access via web services, including mechanisms to allow agencies to update their ITS deployment data easily. The result will be a more comprehensive and detailed map of ITS deployment nationwide.

To access the ITS Asset Viewer please visit: http://www.itsassets.its.dot.gov/