An overview road data collection, visualization, and analysis from the perspective of developing countries

Abstract

Road data collection went through dramatic changes over the course of technology enhancement. It started with simple paper sketches of pavement distresses, then manual and automatic road data collection, current trends are mobile phone-based road data collection and in near future connected/autonomous vehicles based road data collection will dominate. The evolution of road data collection methods shows how technology is shaping the way how data is collected, stored and analyzed. Even though the technology is rapidly progressing, most of the developing countries are still practicing manual (visual) road data collection practices. The paper overviews the advantages and disadvantages each approach describes data quantity requirements proposes an approach for road asset management systems in developing countries. It also highlights how to visualize road data by utilization open-source GIS software and briefly overviews turnkey solutions for road asset management.