Downtown Avalon Park-based Data Transfer Solutions, LLC, which provides professional Asset Management, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software engineering and web development services to local and state government agencies, has expanded the capabilities of its Mobile Asset Collection Vehicle (MAC-Van) to help state and local transportation agencies inventory and manage transportation infrastructure facilities and assets.

A.M. “Trey” Fragala III, AICP, chief operating officer at Data Transfer Solutions, said the MAC-Van can inventory above-ground infrastructure assets ranging from stoplights and speed limit signs to guardrails and curbs. The new capability will allow the van to also collect pavement condition information which can be used for condition analyses, project prioritizing and capital planning purposes.

“The MAC-Van is a specially equipped van that digitally records infrastructure assets by driving roads. These assets can then be extracted from the video, geo-referenced, attributed and stored in GIS database systems,” Fragala explained.

“Once the data is integrated, municipal transportation planners and engineers can inventory and monitor assets from their desktop computers,” Fragala said.

Fragala said the MAC-Van is particularly helpful to disaster planning agencies.

“In hurricane-prone regions, GIS-integrated video and image inventories of infrastructure assets can aid planners and substantially speed FEMA reimbursements for damages assets,” Fragala said.

To aid long-term transportation management, Fragala said Data Transfer Solutions has equipped the MAC-Van with specially designed pavement cameras that record pavement condition information.

“High-definition video images of roadway surfaces enable transportation engineers to analyze road surface conditions and plan more cost-effective strategies to reduce maintenance costs,” Fragala said. “To trained analysts, cracks in road surfaces tell an ongoing story of roadway use,” Fragala said.