Enterprise GIS for Transportation and Linear Networks
Who uses Linear Networks?
Model and solve routing, logistics, and other transportation/network issues
Whether for network planning and analysis, demand modeling, pavement management, highway inventory, infrastructure condition assessment, traffic management, maintenance scheduling, or environmental studies, accurate, up-to-date, geospatially-oriented information is the cornerstone for meeting the demands of modern network and transportation management.
LRS for managing objects along a linear network
Unlike traditional spatial information which is located using a cartographic coordinate system, most infrastructure and transportation data is located using a system of linear references. For example, pavement conditions, accident data, valve locations, or average daily traffic are referenced by location to known locations on a linear network such as a bridge, street intersection, or mileposts along a highway or river.
A Linear Referencing Systems (LRS) is a way to define a feature or location by its linear distance from a known point on a route such as highways, rail lines, runways, pipelines, and waterways. Analyzing linearly referenced data lets you identify trends, locate problems, and search for causes.
Example LRS & DS Queries
Mapping events and infrastructure data to linear networks - Dynamic Segmentation
Using Dynamic Segmentation, tabular data can be visualized on a map and displayed, queried and analyzed in a GIS. These data includes things like accident locations, infrastructure improvement projects, bridges, valve locations, number of roadway lanes, diameter of a pipe, pavement quality, right of way, ownership, and flow volume. A major benefit is that individual tables can be more easily updated when attributes, performance characteristics, or usage patterns change over time.
Once an event has been dynamically segmented, it can be used in spatial analyses to generate simulation models, maps and reports.