The
National Bridge Inventory mandates that states maintain accurate records
on bridge location. Current databases are in some cases quite rudimentary,
stating location in cryptic and ambiguous textual terms. When these
descriptions are translated into map locations, they can be in error by
hundreds of meters. NCRST-Infrastructure at the University of Madison-Wisconsin
developed a tool, BridgeView, an extension to the popular ArcView®
GIS software, to assist DOTs in their task of improving bridge location
records. The user homes in on a bridge using imagery at various scales
from state to local. At the largest scale, orthophotos are overlaid
with road centerlines and bridge locations from existing records, errors
can be detected and adjustments made. Clearly, with appropriate imagery
resources the utility of BridgeView can be extended to DOT assets across
all transportation modes, such as trans-shipment facilities, bus stops
and traffic control objects such as pedestrian crossings.
BridgeView requires ArcView 3.2 from ESRI. A version for ArcGIS 8.x is not currently planned.
The BridgeView package consists of