20 EXOR
EXOR 21
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
COUNTY COUNCIL HAS BEEN
A PRINCIPLE ORGANISATION
AT THE FORE-FRONT OF
DELIVERY IN THE UK'S TRAFFIC
MANAGEMENT ACT (TMA) AND
IS THE FIRST LOCAL AUTHORITY
TO SUCCESSFULLY ENFORCE
AN ELECTRONIC FIXED PENALTY
NOTICE (FPN) USING SPECIALIST
STREET WORKS SOFTWARE
FROM EXOR CORPORATION.
LES CLARKE, NRSWA TEAM
LEADER AT NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
COUNTY COUNCIL, EXPLAINS
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TMA
FOR NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
" IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE IT
IS INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT
TO DELIVER AGAINST PUBLIC
EXPECTATIONS AND ALSO THAT
OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT WITH
REGARDS TO TMA LEGISLATION.
FPNS ARE A KEY TOOL IN OUR
ARMOURY AND ALLOW US TO
ENFORCE AND/OR FINE A WORKS
PROMOTER WHO DISREGARDS
THE ESSENCE OF THE ACT."
CLARKE CONTINUES, "WHAT'S
ALSO IMPORTANT HERE IS THE
ACT APPLIES TO OUR OWN
WORKS, AND WHILST WE
TECHNICALLY CAN'T FINE
OURSELVES, WE HAVE TO SHOW
A LEVEL OF PARITY BETWEEN
US AND THE WORKS PROMOTER.
AND IN ORDER FOR US TO
DELIVER AGAINST THE ACT
WE'VE INVESTED SIGNIFICANTLY
IN OUR IT SOFTWARE AND
BUSINESS PROCESSES TO
GET TO THE STAGE WE'RE AT.
" ENGINEERS AND SURVEYORS
ARE VERY SPATIALLY-MINDED
AND AS SUCH, THE SOFTWARE
INTERFACE NEEDS TO HAVE
A GRAPHICAL ELEMENT THAT
PROVIDES STAFF WITH AN
ENGINEERING-FRIENDLY
INTERFACE. THE EXOR SYSTEM
DOES JUST THIS, ENABLING US
TO VIEW A PLOTTED HISTORY
OF EACH WORKS ORDER ON THE
SAME SCREEN. ALL HISTORICAL
DATA IS NOW AMALGAMATED
ON THE SYSTEM, ALLOWING
USERS TO FOLLOW A NOTICE
TRANSACTION ON ONE PAGE,
MAKING A SUBSTANTIAL
ENGINEERS AND SURVEYORS
ARE SPATIALLY MINDED
LES CLARKE,
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
COUNTY COUNCIL
You can't be in four
places at once.
Unless you're looking
at a map.
Pi
o
ne
e
r
s
We were the pioneers of Linear Referencing
Technology and, in fact, involved in its development
in our previous life at Oracle.
Linear referencing allows you to manage all your
assets the way that they are laid out on the ground.
This was a vast improvement on a hierarchical list.
(Although you can have a list if that's what you want
to see.)
However, although linear referencing is excellent, it
is not perfect. Real life is more complicated. It is the
physical, spatial relationship between assets that is
important, not simply their adjacent relationship on
a topological grid. It is also a matter of being able to
understand where an asset is, based on someone's
unique way of describing it.
This description can vary enormously. For example,
pavement engineers might refer to section and
chainage to specify the location of a fault, whereas
a safety engineer's vocabulary would refer to GPS
co-ordinates or reference markers.
Normal infrastructural management systems
cannot cope with this different language, in spite
of what you may have heard.
But Multiple Linear Referencing allows you to
reconcile this disparate information and to
simultaneously manage the spatial representation
of any network or feature, within the same spatially
enabled database, regardless of the terms of
reference. All in a meaningful way, that anyone
can access without compromise.
Most importantly, it is centered and inexorably
linked to your network. If it wasn't, you could find
yourself on the bridge above the road, rather than
on the road, simply because they occupy the same
point on the map.
Maps are snapshots of the outer layer. And it's the
layers beneath you need to look at. One impressive
feature is the ability to dynamically segment, or
slice and dice information, so you can focus on a
particular attribute of a project, without extraneous
detail. Imagine being able to segment a road based
on traffic volume, low skid resistance maintenance
and poor overhead lighting and then display it all
on a map or create a remedial scheme. Well, now
you can.
We brought Multiple Linear Referencing to the world
and believe it gives you the richest and most complete
picture of everything you have. Multiple Linear
Referencing links together bits of information that
might never otherwise meet.
Because they do meet, we begin to get a glimpse
of what the future could be like. We can move from
simple management to prediction and intelligent
modeling. We can look further than a three-year
budget timeline. We can stop papering over cracks.
If we can predict better and analyze better, we
can make more cost-effective, long-term decisions,
spending budgets more wisely and in a more
timely fashion.
DIFFERENCE BY NOT HAVING
TO FLICK FROM ONE AREA TO
ANOTHER TO SEE WHAT WE'VE
DONE. WE WERE ONE OF THE
FIRST ORGANISATIONS TO USE
THE SOLUTION IN EARNEST
AND HAVE SEEN SIGNIFICANT
RETURNS ON OUR INVESTMENT."
USING EXOR'S GRAPHICAL
ENGINEERING MAPPING
SOFTWARE, EVERY PIECE OF
DATA THAT EXISTS IN THE CORE
HIGHWAYS INFORMATION
DATABASE, BOTH HISTORICAL
AND CURRENT, CAN BE MAPPED
ONTO A SINGLE GEOGRAPHICAL
SCREEN TO SUIT EACH
ENGINEER'S OR USER'S
REQUIREMENTS. IT ALLOWS
USERS TO SET UP THE SYSTEM
TO DISPLAY SYMBOLS WHICH
REPRESENT WHAT IS CURRENTLY
OCCURRING ON THE HIGHWAYS.
FOR EXAMPLE A TRAFFIC LIGHT
SYMBOL WHEN MAINTENANCE
IS BEING CARRIED OUT ON
TRAFFIC LIGHTS, OR A NO ENTRY
SIGN IF THE ROAD IS CLOSED.
FOLLOWING THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE GRAPHICAL INTERFACE
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE WAS ABLE
TO REALISE FURTHER BENEFITS
BY UTILISING THE SYSTEM IN
ORDER TO STREAM-LINE ITS
FIXED PENALTY NOTICE
PROCESS AS PART OF THE TMA.
AS CLARKE EXPLAINS, "TO MAKE
POSSIBLE THE REQUIREMENTS
OF PART 2 OF THE TMA WE HAVE
TO COORDINATE ALL ONGOING
MAINTENANCE WORK AND FOR
THIS TO HAPPEN CORRECTLY
WE NEED TO BE PRESENTED
WITH ACCURATE AND TIMELY
INFORMATION WHICH INCLUDES
THE NOTICE OF PROPOSED,
CURRENT AND FINISHED WORK.
BEFORE IMPLEMENTING THE
EXOR SYSTEM THIS REQUIRED
NUMEROUS PHONE CALLS AND
SITE VISITS TO CLARIFY THE
STATUS ON INDIVIDUAL TASKS.
NOW WE CAN VIEW ALL THE
NECESSARY INFORMATION
ON ONE SCREEN, AND KNOW
IMMEDIATELY WHICH WORKS
PROVIDERS ARE LATE IN
COMPLETION OR HAVE FAILED
TO PROVIDE THE CORRECT
NOTICE INFORMATION."