Determining the optimal data solution
National Highways
Introduction
In recent years National Highways have made great advancements in digitising the Strategic Road Network, as part of their future vision to 2050. Vehicles, planes, satellites and drones have been deployed by National Highways, and their supply chain, to capture vital imagery and point cloud data to support this vision. However, to date there has not been a clear solution on where this data is stored to provide simple access to those that need it.
Consequently, effective storage and sharing of imagery and point data is limited and therefore, so is the value this data can provide to the business.
The Challenge
The data captured by National Highways holds significant potential for enhancing operational efficiency and decision-making processes across the business, and has been valued at over £60Bn in recent studies.
However, the lack of systems for managing and sharing this data led to inefficient data sharing and underutilisation of both the data and the collaborative platforms available. It had been recognised that not using this data effectively would impact National Highway’s ability to deliver on its strategic imperatives of improving safety on the roads, improving customer experience and delivering a network fit for the 21st century.
As a result, National Highways required support in understanding potential solutions to meet their imagery and point cloud data hosting needs - needing these solutions to overcome limitations of their current workflows, and enhance data hosting and sharing.
The solution
Ajuno conducted a thorough discovery analysis of National Highways’ current GIS solutions and GIS tools not currently being used by National Highways.
Following this, we conducted a detailed functionality gap analysis to recommend an optimal GIS solution for National Highways to adopt, maximising data hosting and sharing, and ultimately to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of National Highways’ operations.
We produced three core deliverables over a six-month period:
Discovery Analysis: Identifying and mapping potential GIS solutions against a functionality and performance framework.
Functionality Gap Analysis: Assessing tool performance against User Personas for roles across National Highways to determine the most optimal solution.
Report and actionable way forward: Condensing the key steps forward into a concise and comprehensive report, providing evaluation justification and clear recommendations.
The impact
The project has provided National Highways with:
A comprehensive understanding of current GIS solutions - from limitations to benefits,
The confidence in which tool to adopt, through independent, research-based recommendations, and
An understanding of the effectiveness and use of imagery and point cloud data collected by the business.
Through this National Highways can manage a growing portfolio of data worth over £60Bn and deliver the highways of the future.
