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Improving efficiency with a centralised asset management database

One Scotland: Planning and delivery

Improving efficiency with a centralised asset management database
 Our data was previously located in silos, having one central database frees up time for council officers to concentrate on other work instead of chasing paper trails. With the move towards decriminalising parking, we can use the captured features to precisely locate each traffic order and its extent. Information gathering and data sharing is now much easier and we know exactly what we have on the ground.
George Fiddes, Team Leader, Traffic and Transportation, South Ayrshire Council

At a glance

South Ayrshire CouncilInformation about road assets, such as signs, signals and disabled bays, is used by many different departments within South Ayrshire Council. Combining all asset records into a central database means that this can now be easily shared, quickly updated and simply managed to improve efficiency and avoid software costs – leading to savings totalling £25 000.

Printable version: download PDFVisit the South Ayrshire Council website

Contact us to find out more

With its road asset information held in a number of databases, spreadsheets and documents, South Ayrshire Council’s Traffic team wanted a more efficient way to manage its records. By managing this data in one central place, team members would benefit from improved information gathering and a complete picture of the council’s road assets; which could also be used by other departments.

Working with the council’s geographical information system (GIS) team, the Traffic team developed a set of tools and processes that would enable the capture of all existing road asset data into one spatial database. Around 20 000 individual features, including road line markings, bus lanes and parking restrictions, were transferred to the new database using a range of Ordnance Survey map data, including three layers of OS MasterMap. Every feature within OS MasterMap has a unique common reference (a TOID) which enables the layers to be used together, as well as with the users own information.

OS MasterMap Topography Layer, which provides a highly detailed view of Great Britain’s landscape, including individual buildings, roads and areas of land, and OS MasterMap Integrated Transport Network™(ITN) Layer, which maps the road network – from motorways to pedestrian streets and alleys, were used to help create road line information by off-setting features against curb lines. OS MasterMap Imagery Layer; a set of aerial photographs forming a seamless picture of Great Britain, assisted in the visual identification and capture of existing painted lines, particularly in hard-to-reach rural areas. Ordnance Survey raster mapping at various scales was used as a backdrop to provide a geographical context for the asset data.

Additional information for each asset was also collected and photographs and original schematic diagrams linked to the data, so that all relevant information is stored in one place.

Data capture tools and road asset data

  • Savings of £25 000 due to reduced data capture times and reduction in unnecessary software costs.
  • Significantly reduces data capture times and more efficient data management, analysis and updating.
  • Enables more desk-based working, reducing the time staff spend in the field.
  • Creates easier inspection and maintenance schedules to better protect the council against insurance claims.
  • Gives other departments access to a complete picture of road asset data, for example, to add parking information to the council’s website or provide traffic signal and crossing data to identify safe routes to school.

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