Figure 4: Organizational chart for the Georgia Department of Transportation
(adapted from https://www.dot.ga.gov/AboutGeorgia/Documents/OrgChart.pdf).
CONTACT: TEAGUE BUCHANAN, ENTERPRISE GIS MANAGER, (404) 463-2860 X137
E-MAIL: TEAGUE.BUCHANAN@DOT.STATE.GA.US
Georgia DOT (GDOT) first used GIS in the early 1990s, when it released the Georgia Navigator System, an ITS (Intelligent Transportation System) application. This system, which contained components of ESRI's ArcInfo software and used a purchased spatial dataset, helped state government personnel to locate traffic incidents, view them in context, and efficiently plan and communicate alternate routes. Once in place, the utility of the Georgia Navigator quickly became widely apparent. GDOT studies indicated that, for every traffic accident Georgia Navigator helped to clear efficiently, 14 additional accidents were prevented. Given this success rate and the timing of the system's development and implementation (it was in place and working in advance of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta), a strong case was made for GIS implementation to improve decision-making in the state.
Shortly after deployment of the Georgia Navigator System, GDOT decided to begin developing its own spatial data. Since GDOT is responsible for tracking and mapping all public roads in Georgia, the manual updating of general highway maps — a task performed by the Department from 1960 to 1992 — was extremely time-consuming. In 1992, GDOT formed a contractual partnership with the Information Technology Outreach Services (ITOS) Center of the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government to digitize all road data contained in GDOT's map sheets. The partnership also worked to digitize linear referencing attributes from GDOT's roadway characteristics (RC) inventory database. University students performed much of the digitizing work, providing them with hands-on GIS experience and delivering cost savings to GDOT.
Since then, GDOT has worked to overcome a variety of challenges, such as:
GDOT is working to continue improving the ways that it maintains, shares, and displays geospatial data as well as to create applications accessible to users throughout the agency and to the public.
In 2000, personnel from many divisions across GDOT who had a certain level of computer skills were brought together to form the Division of Information Technology (IT) (Figure 4).
By 2003, the Division had reached an organizational maturity level at which it was able to provide the expertise required to maintain and grow GDOT's spatial data infrastructure as well as to support customers throughout GDOT, including engineering, planning, and environmental staff. Currently, there are approximately 150 people in the IT Division, 24 of whom work with GIS.
Funding and Data Maintenance
The annual budget for GIS at GDOT is approximately $1.8 million, most of which comes out of State Planning and Research (SPR) funds. A steering team has been formed to assist the IT Division in deciding how to allocate its budget across projects. Although GDOT's two largest GIS costs are labor and hardware, software is also a significant expense; the Department is the largest government customer in Georgia of ESRI GIS software. Interagency negotiations are currently ongoing to arrange an enterprise-wide GIS software licensing agreement through the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA), a statutorily established entity. Georgia will collaboratively develop a set of commonly used statewide GIS databases needed by multiple agencies.
Agencies that purchase ESRI software through the GTA licensing program must agree to provide their data to the Georgia Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI).10 The GSDI was formed to allow state agencies to collaboratively develop a set of commonly used statewide GIS databases needed by multiple agencies. The GSDI is home to a GIS Data Clearinghouse, a shared effort between the University of Georgia and Georgia Institute of Technology to make the application of spatial information technologies more efficient by eliminating duplication in the production and distribution of spatial data. It is expected that the GIS Data Clearinghouse will help agencies with limited funding or staff resources to develop and maintain their GIS infrastructures. Similarly, since GDOT maintains only transportation spatial data and cannot afford to maintain all data layers for the state, it is dependent on other agencies for information such as boundaries and hydrology data. The GIS Data Clearinghouse is a significant resource for GDOT.
At the state level, GDOT plays an active role in the GIS Coordinating Committee, which consists of representatives from various interested state agencies and the private sector. Participation is on an ad hoc, voluntary basis. The GIS Coordinating Committee provides a forum for raising a greater awareness of statewide GIS needs within its members.
According to GDOT, cost recovery has not been a viable option for GIS at a statewide level since data on this scale are often more generalized than are local data. It is possible that the selling of data products might be more feasible for city and county organizations that have created localized data containing high levels of detail. The real return on investment for GDOT has been realized through information sharing with state-agency counterparts and through being able to offer staff and the public firsthand access to data.
GDOT's Transportation Explorer (TREX)
For many years, uneven GIS expertise prevented a majority of GDOT staff from accessing the Department's GIS data and resources, and it became apparent that GIS knowledge could not be a prerequisite for the wide diversity of customers that could benefit from GIS. In response, GDOT developed the Transportation Explorer (TREX), now the Department's most prominent GIS application. TREX is a web portal system that serves as both an internal GIS information clearinghouse (85 available layers) and an application that allows the public real-time access to GDOT maps, reports, plans, videologs, and ITS cameras for the entire state (23 available layers). In 2005, TREX received the Georgia Technology Conference Best of Georgia Award for Redefining Government and was runner-up for the URISA Exemplary Systems in Government Award.
Recently, the TREX architecture was redesigned to better support non-GIS users' ability to create, modify, and print maps. GDOT engaged ESRI professional services to assist with the technical aspects of the redesign. GDOT technology developers were trained to create and support applications under a new technology framework.11 As a result, Georgia DOT believes it has better defined an applications development framework to incorporate GIS into IT applications.
Enterprise GIS Needs Assessment
In 2005, GDOT conducted an enterprise GIS needs assessment, which documented the Department's internal baseline needs for GIS. Seven enterprise GIS program initiatives were identified as priorities:
IT development activities and resources have been aligned to begin the implementation of projects to deliver these capabilities. Mapping on Demand, CAD Interoperability, and Building the GDOT GIS were selected as the first three initiatives in which projects would be implemented.
In 2006, GDOT documented its existing GIS architecture and identified needs and gaps in developing an enterprise GIS. The resulting recommendations, which served as a valuable communications tool with IT staff and contractors, formed a basis for aligning an enterprise GIS architecture as effectively as possible with the business needs of the Department. Now, GDOT has defined, and continues to refine, a framework to support an enterprise GIS. Later in 2007, GDOT anticipates pursuing activities to improve the stability of the enterprise GIS. In addition, an enterprise GIS Strategic Plan is being developed to better communicate to decision-makers how the enterprise GIS program will be delivered to fulfill the business needs of GDOT.
GDOT is currently evaluating the subsidization of high-quality GPS units for use within the agency and the provision of a support framework for those units. Some of the current local data collection is performed with inexpensive, imprecise equipment. If better equipment were available, data quality could be improved to the point where it could be shared more easily across the entire organization.
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