U.S. patent application number 13/753085 was filed with the patent office on 2013-08-01 for management tools for quantification of performance and outcome of winter transportation infrastructure maintenance activities.
This patent application is currently assigned to ITERIS, INC.. The applicant listed for this patent is Iteris, Inc.. Invention is credited to JEFFREY J. KUNTZ, JOHN J. MEWES, GREGORY M. OSTERMEIER, KRISTOPHER A. ZARNS.
Application Number | 20130197977 13/753085 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 48871020 |
Filed Date | 2013-08-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130197977 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
MEWES; JOHN J. ; et
al. |
August 1, 2013 |
MANAGEMENT TOOLS FOR QUANTIFICATION OF PERFORMANCE AND OUTCOME OF
WINTER TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES
Abstract
An apparatus and system for evaluating winter transportation
infrastructure maintenance operations includes a quantification
component and a simulation component. Input data representative of
collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data and
observed transportation infrastructure data are modeled in a
comprehensive data processing mechanism to measure and carry out
effective and efficient winter maintenance planning and
operations.
Inventors: |
MEWES; JOHN J.; (MAYVILLE,
ND) ; ZARNS; KRISTOPHER A.; (FISHER, MN) ;
OSTERMEIER; GREGORY M.; (GRAND FORKS, ND) ; KUNTZ;
JEFFREY J.; (GRAND FORKS, ND) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Iteris, Inc.; |
Santa Ana |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
ITERIS, INC.
SANTA ANA
CA
|
Family ID: |
48871020 |
Appl. No.: |
13/753085 |
Filed: |
January 29, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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61592467 |
Jan 30, 2012 |
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13753085 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.38 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/20 20130101;
G06F 30/20 20200101; G06Q 10/0639 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/7.38 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/06 20120101
G06Q010/06 |
Claims
1. A method of evaluating effectiveness and efficiency of winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance activities, comprising:
integrating at least one vendor-independent database, one or more
servers, and multiple data processing functions in at least one
data processing module to enable an effective and efficient
analysis of collected winter transportation infrastructure
maintenance data, the collected winter transportation
infrastructure maintenance data including a plurality of road
treatment data, road network data, weather data, and component
apportionment data; quantifying the collected winter transportation
infrastructure maintenance data by applying the multiple data
processing functions to associate one or more of maintenance
actions, road network information, weather events, and specific
maintenance component applications by applying the collected winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance data to a transportation
network based on a plurality of a GPS position, a determined
direction of travel along the coordinate system defined by the
transportation network, and lane information provided within data
relative to one or more lanes of the transportation network,
segmenting the transportation network to enable an aggregation of
data collected along defined segments comprising the transportation
network, and specifying component materials and apportionments of
component materials in at least one selectable mixture comprising
the component apportionment data to compare utilization of the
component materials and mixtures being applied to the
transportation network; and enabling a plurality of customizable
applications to quantified winter transportation infrastructure
maintenance data, the customizable applications including
manipulating a treatment to a roadway surface and corresponding
component materials, manipulating environmental variables and their
corresponding attributes, managing data from a diverse fleet of
treatment vehicles, and managing one or more treatment vehicle
reports represented at least by GPS tags and time tags and one or
more of associated maintenance, weather, and road-related data
elements, so that the collected winter transportation
infrastructure maintenance data from different routes and different
vehicles across different responsible agencies are processed into
normalized representations of winter transportation maintenance
activities.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the
quantified winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data in
a graphical user interface.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising presenting the user
with selectable characteristics in a plurality of pull-down menus
on the graphical user interface, and enabling a plurality of views
of the quantified data, the plurality of views at least including a
tabular format and a map-based format.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising ingesting the
collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data
from the at least one vendor-independent database.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the ingesting the collected
winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data further
comprises communicating with an external database to receive one or
more treatment vehicle reports, communicating with a road network
database to receive transportation network data, communicating with
a weather database to receive weather data, and communicating with
an applications database to receive material mixture component
apportionment data.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the ingesting the collected
winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data further
comprises communicating with at least one mobile data collection
and automated vehicle location system coupled to at least one
treatment vehicle.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the manipulating a treatment to a
roadway surface and corresponding component materials further
comprises initiating data processing functions that perform
retrieving objects associated with the corresponding component
materials, configuring one or more new treatments comprised of
apportionments of the component materials, modifying and updating
properties or one or more existing treatments, identifying
treatments as deleted, and retrieving objects associated with
treatments.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing a fleet of treatment
vehicles further comprises initiating data processing functions
that perform configuring new treatment vehicles, modifying and
updating properties associated with treatment vehicles, identifying
deletions of treatment vehicles, and retrieving objects associated
with treatment vehicles.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing one or more
treatment vehicle reports further comprises initiating data
processing functions that perform creating one or more GPS-tagged
and time-tagged treatment vehicle reports, retrieving objects
associated with treatment vehicle reports, retrieving an
identification of a most recent treatment vehicle report from a
specific treatment vehicle, modifying and updating properties
associated with a treatment vehicle report, replacing properties of
one or more treatment vehicle reports without deleting associations
of replaced treatment vehicle reports, and deleting treatment
vehicle reports.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing environmental
variables further comprises initiating data processing functions
that perform obtaining variables referenced in an environmental
section of a treatment vehicle report.
11. A method of quantifying performance and outcome of winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance activities, comprising:
ingesting input data from a plurality of external databases that
include a database of winter transportation infrastructure
maintenance activities, a road network database, a weather
information database, and treatment and component materials
database into a data normalization module configured to associate
winter transportation infrastructure maintenance actions,
transportation network information, weather events, and specific
maintenance component applications in roadway treatments; modeling
a performance of the winter transportation infrastructure
maintenance activities by processing the ingested input data in a
plurality of data processing functions to associate winter
transportation maintenance actions with at least one of weather
events and treatment recommendations, the plurality of data
processing functions including applying the collected winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance data to a transportation
network based on a plurality of a GPS position, a determined
direction of travel along the coordinate system of the
transportation network, and lane information provided within the
data relative to one or more lanes of the transportation network,
segmenting the transportation network to enable an aggregation of
data collected along defined segments comprising the transportation
network, and specifying component materials and apportionments of
component materials in at least one selectable mixture comprising
the component apportionment data to compare utilization of the
component materials and mixtures being applied to the
transportation network; and generating output metrics of specific
winter transportation maintenance activities against which an
outcome of a specific winter transportation maintenance
infrastructure activity is comparable to evaluate an effectiveness
and an efficiency of the specific winter transportation maintenance
infrastructure activity.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising executing one or
more program instructions resident in at least one memory module
and configured to be accessed to perform the data processing
functions of the data normalization module.
13. The method of claim 11, further comprising presenting the
output metrics in a graphical user interface.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the presenting the output
metrics in a graphical user interface further comprises presenting
the user with selectable characteristics in a plurality of
pull-down menus on the graphical user interface, and enabling a
plurality of views of the quantified data, the plurality of views
at least including a tabular format and a map-based format.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein the ingesting the collected
winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data further
comprises communicating with at least one mobile data collection
and automated vehicle location system coupled to at least one
treatment vehicle.
16. A system for evaluating efficiency and effectiveness of winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance activities, comprising: a
data normalization module operably coupled to at least one
processor capable of requesting and ingesting information from a
plurality of vendor-independent databases, each database having
stored thereon data relative to winter transportation
infrastructure maintenance activities that includes collected
winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data, the
collected winter data including treatment data, road network data,
weather data, and component apportionment data; one or more program
instructions accessible by the data normalization module and
configured to be executed by the at least one processor to 1)
perform multiple data processing functions to enable an effective
and efficient analysis of the data relative to winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance activities, the multiple
data processing functions including: applying the collected winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance data to a transportation
network based on a plurality of a GPS position, a determined
direction of travel along the coordinate system of the
transportation network, and lane information provided within data
relative to one or more lanes of the transportation network,
segmenting the transportation network to enable an aggregation of
data collected along defined segments comprising the transportation
network, and specifying component materials and apportionments of
component materials in at least one selectable mixture comprising
the component apportionment data to compare utilization of the
component materials and mixtures being applied to the
transportation network; and 2) generate output metrics of specific
winter transportation maintenance activities against which an
outcome of a specific winter transportation maintenance
infrastructure activity is comparable to evaluate an effectiveness
and an efficiency of the specific winter transportation maintenance
infrastructure activity.
17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a graphical user
interface across which the output metrics are capable of being
presented to one or more users.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the graphical user interface
further comprises a plurality of pull-down menus thereon presenting
the user with selectable characteristics for manipulating the
output metrics, and a plurality of selectable views of the output
data, the plurality of views at least including a tabular format
and a map-based format.
19. The system of claim 17, wherein the graphical user interface
enables a plurality of customizable applications to the data
processed by the data normalization module, the customizable
applications including manipulating a treatment to a roadway
surface and corresponding component materials, manipulating
environmental variables and their corresponding attributes,
managing data from a diverse fleet of treatment vehicles, and
managing one or more treatment vehicle reports represented at least
by GPS tags and time tags and one or more associated maintenance,
weather, or road-related data elements, so that the collected
winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data from
different routes and different vehicles across different
responsible agencies are processed into normalized representations
of winter transportation maintenance activities.
20. The system of claim 16, wherein the collected winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance data is ingested from at
least one mobile data collection and automated vehicle location
system coupled to at least one treatment vehicle and capable of
communication with the data normalization module.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS
[0001] This patent application claims priority to U.S. provisional
application 61/592,467, filed on Jan. 30, 2012, the contents of
which are incorporated in their entirety herein.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY-SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The present invention relates generally to winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance. More specifically,
particular embodiments of the present invention relate to
quantifying and simulating the performance and outcome of winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance activities to improve
activity evaluation for efficiency and effectiveness.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] Historically, agencies and entities that undertake or are
responsible for winter transportation infrastructure maintenance
activities have measured resource utilization in the performance of
such winter maintenance activities in several ways. At the lowest
level, deicer, abrasive, equipment, and labor usage are estimated
and logged by individuals performing winter maintenance, or by
their direct supervisors. At the highest level, an agency or entity
may also wish to track resource utilization through its procurement
and/or payroll processes (e.g. the agency may have direct
information as to the quantity of a particular resource it has
purchased over a given time frame). In many cases, both approaches
are utilized, with ad-hoc methods used to address the potentially
substantial differences which inevitably result when trying to
integrate data from bottom-up and top-down measurement methods.
[0005] In addition to tracking resource utilization, many agencies
also define goals for the results of winter maintenance activities,
and then attempt to measure the over- or under-achievement of these
goals. This may be considered as an attempt to measure the
`effectiveness` of winter maintenance operations, and is a far more
difficult step due to the inherent subjectivity involved in
assessing road conditions, much less the difficulty of tracking
changes to the road conditions over time in response to maintenance
activities performed in the face of changing weather
conditions.
[0006] Taken together, knowledge of winter maintenance resource
utilization and winter maintenance effectiveness permit the
determination of winter maintenance efficiency. There are inherent
tradeoffs between resource utilization and the road conditions
resulting from it, and efficiency measurement permits evaluation of
these tradeoffs.
[0007] Complicating an efficiency measurement for winter
maintenance activities is the variability of weather conditions.
When comparing data from one area to another, or one storm or
weather pattern to another, the variability of weather conditions
makes it very difficult for winter maintenance managers to know
whether the maintenance response was appropriate for the weather
conditions being treated. This hinders management's ability to
identify which practices and approaches are more effective or
efficient, since it is difficult to ascertain whether any
particular comparison over time, or between maintenance
jurisdictions, is appropriate. Naturally, this impedes the ability
of the agency or entity to identify and implement practices and
policies which improve winter maintenance effectiveness and
efficiency.
[0008] The traditional approach to addressing this problem is to
develop a winter severity index, which is an attempt to quantify,
in a single FIGURE, the impact of varying weather conditions on
winter maintenance. There are, however, numerous problems with such
an approach to quantification. One problem is that this approach is
developed by drawing simplified and often statistical relationships
between past weather conditions and historical agency resource
utilization. Thus, such indices are typically simply a reflection
of an agency's historical response to weather conditions, and thus
not a reliable independent metric.
[0009] This is reflected in the fact that there are few, if any,
instances of an agency successfully adopting and applying a winter
severity index developed within another agency. Almost invariably,
each agency will change the index, or develop a new index
altogether, that better explains the relationship it has
historically experienced between weather conditions and maintenance
data. This ad-hoc, agency-to-agency approach makes
cross-jurisdictional comparisons of maintenance efficiency very
difficult. Additionally, the value of winter severity indices is
inherently limited because of the gross oversimplification of the
underlying relationships. The same weather conditions may elicit an
entirely different (yet still appropriate) winter maintenance
response depending upon traffic patterns, maintenance policies and
resources, and the characteristics of the ambient environment the
roads are embedded in. None of these factors can be accounted for
by a normalizing metric that is based upon weather alone.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] Agencies and entities responsible for winter transportation
infrastructure maintenance are often confronted with the enormously
difficult problem of measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of
their snow and ice control operations. The quantity of resources
utilized, and the effectiveness of these winter maintenance
activities, are both difficult to measure and difficult to
normalize for weather conditions that vary over both time and
space. The present invention provides winter maintenance managers
with a combination of tools to address these problems with
traditional methods and systems of measurement.
[0011] The present invention is a system and method of managing
performance and outcome of winter transportation infrastructure
maintenance activities that is comprised of two components: one in
the form of a tool for quantifying the maintenance activities that
are performed (and the results of those activities), and a second
for independently simulating maintenance activities which were
required (and the expected results of those activities) in response
to observed weather conditions. Together, these two components
provide a comprehensive solution that both enables winter
maintenance managers to better understand their current winter
maintenance operations, and provides independent, weather-sensitive
metrics against which the effectiveness and efficiency of winter
maintenance operations can be evaluated.
[0012] The quantification component of the present invention
includes several features which materially improve the ability to
evaluate performance of winter transportation infrastructure
maintenance systems. The quantification component integrates a
vendor-independent database of information collected by snow
maintenance vehicles with hardware and modules configured to carry
out various data processing functions. Among these are functions
for determining a direction of maintenance vehicle travel in the
context of a road network, and using lane information to further
assist registration of data to an agency's road network. Other data
processing functions accommodate a generic system of road network
segmentation for geo-registration of maintenance data based on
location, direction of travel, and/or lane information, and provide
the ability to simultaneously track and register separate
activities a maintenance vehicle may be instantaneously performing
to separate lanes (including opposing lanes) of a stretch of
highway.
[0013] The quantification component also includes the ability to
break down reported material mixtures, or applications, into their
component materials, to facilitate comparisons across maintenance
divisions that may use differing mixtures, and the ability to track
key quantities of interest to maintenance managers that are not
readily identifiable from the GPS- and time-tagged truck reports.
An example of this is the total distance driven with a particular
plow in the down position so as to permit analysis of factors
influencing the rate of blade wear. The quantification component
also includes the ability to aggregate GPS- and time-tagged truck
reports into `maintenance actions` that are more easily assessed
for appropriateness for conditions, or consistency with
agency-provided maintenance guidelines, and leverages an approach
for preventing erroneous accrual of such data owing to GPS stray
while a truck is physically stationary. An example of this is to
set lower limits on speeds and distances traveled at which a
vehicle is assumed to be performing maintenance. This is
particularly beneficial in a situation where trucks are left
stationary all day, yet may be showing low calculated speeds or
distances because of GPS stray. If such a vehicle is unloading
material at the same time, or has a plow in a down position, this
may inadvertently accumulate into substantial quantities over
time.
[0014] The quantification component further includes modules for
viewing and analyzing the collected data with a graphical user
interface. These modules permit specification of user-selectable
timeframes for analysis, ranging from hour-by-hour up to seasonal
applications of the data, tabular presentations organized such that
each row represents data for a single truck/road segment
combination, that can be grouped by truck, road segment, routes
(groups of road segments), and/or all in order to analyze data in
whichever way best accommodates the particular application of the
data, map-based presentations of the data as registered to the
agency's road network, and filters for defining more complex
groupings of trucks and/or road segments, and limiting data
assessments to those groups. Further capabilities include exporting
raw and/or grouped data for external analysis and application.
[0015] The simulation component of the present invention also has
several features which materially improve the ability to evaluate
performance of winter transportation infrastructure maintenance
systems. The simulation component incorporates a road condition
assessment, along with observed or otherwise assessed weather
information, agency-provided information such as traffic profiles,
road construction, etc., and environmental parameters to simulate
the most likely response in the condition of a road to weather
conditions that are experienced. Simulation within the present
invention uses one of two approaches for identifying an appropriate
maintenance response for each situation requiring maintenance: a
response based on agency standard practices, and a
dynamically-determined response based on available maintenance
resources and agency maintenance policies/practices.
[0016] The present invention simulates the impacts of those
maintenance actions, and the subsequent need for additional
maintenance activities, and makes both the input and simulated data
available to a graphical user interface via a series of modules
that permit specification of user-selectable timeframes for
analysis, ranging from hour-by-hour up to seasonal applications of
the data, and tabular, graphical and map-based presentations of
both the raw data and its aggregate characteristics. The GUI also
includes additional tools such as a calculator function that
permits on-the-fly calculation and visualization of multivariate
equations reliant upon this data, including, but not limited to,
calculations which permit the assignment of costs to individual
aspects of the simulated maintenance data to arrive at an overall
cost of maintenance, and the calculation of more traditional winter
severity indices based upon combinations of the input weather data.
Also provided are capabilities for exporting raw and/or aggregated
data for external analysis and application.
[0017] Other embodiments, features and advantages of the present
invention will become apparent from the following description of
the embodiments, taken together with the accompanying drawings,
which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the
invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several
embodiments of the invention and together with the description,
serve to explain the principles of the invention.
[0019] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a quantification component of
the present invention;
[0020] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a simulation component of the
present invention;
[0021] FIG. 3 is a tabular representation of MDC/AVL (Maintenance
Data Collection/Automated Vehicle Location) data in the
quantification component of the present invention, with associated
grouping, filtering and sorting options;
[0022] FIG. 4 is an example of a map-based representation of
MDC/AVL data in the quantification component of the present
invention, after being assigned and aggregated over segments of an
agency's road network;
[0023] FIG. 5 is a graphical time-series depiction of weather
conditions, and simulated road conditions and maintenance
activities, for a road segment within an agency's road network in
the simulation component of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 6 is a tabular view of simulated maintenance activities
required on a segment of road within an agency's road network in
the simulation component of the present invention;
[0025] FIG. 7 is a map-based presentation of selected aggregate
weather, road condition, or maintenance data as modeled by the
simulation component of the present invention, in which the
variable displayed is simulated salt usage over the selected
period;
[0026] FIG. 8 is a map-based presentation of selected aggregate
weather, road condition, or maintenance data as modeled by the
simulation component of the present invention, in which the
variable displayed is the average air temperature over the selected
period; and
[0027] FIG. 9 is a calculator tool associated with the map-based
presentation tool for the simulation component of the present
invention, permitting multivariate calculations based upon
available weather, road condition, and/or maintenance
parameters.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0028] In the following description of the present invention
reference is made to the accompanying figures which form a part
thereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, exemplary
embodiments illustrating the principles of the present invention
and how it is practiced. Other embodiments will be utilized to
practice the present invention and structural and functional
changes will be made thereto without departing from the scope of
the present invention.
[0029] Many agencies and entities responsible for winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance collect data from weather
maintenance vehicles, often using mobile/maintenance data
collection and automated vehicle location systems, known in the
industry together as MDC/AVL systems. These utilize global
positioning systems (GPS) and on-board data logging and/or
transmission capabilities to provide instantaneous GPS-tagged
reports of winter maintenance vehicle activities (e.g., plow
position(s), material applications, etc.) and/or observed
environmental conditions (e.g., road temperatures and/or
conditions, etc.). As discussed above, the available data can often
vary considerably from one MDC/AVL system to the next, and because
of these types of data disparities, the aggregation, road network
assignment, and visualization capabilities typically fail to meet
an agency's needs to realize the full benefit of that data.
[0030] The present invention addresses issues such as those above
experienced with existing approaches and technology with a winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance method and system that
includes two inter-operational components. A first component of the
present invention is a quantification component 100 that integrates
a plurality of vendor-independent databases 130, one or more
servers 170, and multiple management-oriented data processing
functions resident in one or more modules to enable agencies to
realize the full benefit of their collected winter maintenance
data. A second, simulation component 200 is discussed further
herein.
[0031] FIG. 1 is a block diagram representation of the
quantification component 100. The quantification component 100
ingests various types of input data from different sources and
maintained by a plurality of databases 130. One such source is
mobile data collection and automated vehicle location systems 110,
which are coupled to winter maintenance vehicles 120, such as for
example snowplows and deicers. The plurality of databases 130 may
include a road network database 132, a weather and maintenance
activity guidance database 134, trucks and applications databases
136, and a truck reports database 138. Other sources of data acting
as input to the quantification component 100 may also be included
in the present invention. The input data therefore represents
collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance
information that at least includes treatment data, road and
transportation network data, weather data, and component
apportionment data.
[0032] Data from the mobile data collection and automated vehicle
location systems 110 is communicated to a data ingest and
normalization module 140. This data ingest and normalization module
140 is composed of a plurality of data processing sub-modules, and
data from the plurality of databases 130 is communicated to at
least one of such data processing sub-modules. For example, data
from the road network database 132 may be communicated to a road
network referencing module 142, data from the weather and guidance
database 134 may be communicated to a weather and guidance
association module 144, and data may also be communicated from the
trucks and applications database 136 to a component materials
module 146. Other sub-modules involved in performing data
processing functions in the data ingest and normalization module
140 at least include an activity cohesion module 148, which
coalesces a series of GPS-tagged truck reports based on time and
location(s) being treated. Each sub-module is configured, as
described further herein, to perform one or more data processing
functions to arrive at quantified output data 102 for use in
determining evaluating effectiveness and efficiency of winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance operations.
[0033] Output data from the ingest and normalization module 140,
together with relevant information about treatment vehicles and
treatment applications from the database 136, are aggregated with
treatment vehicle reports stored in the truck report database 138
in an aggregation module 150 that generates output data to a
quantified maintenance activities database 160. The present
invention also includes one or more servers 170, configured to
manage a plurality of processors to perform the various data
processing functions of the quantification component 100. Together,
all of these databases and data processing modules in the data
ingest and normalization module 140 provide a comprehensive
framework for compiling, maintaining, processing and normalizing
data within the quantification component 100.
[0034] The quantification component 100 therefore aggregates road,
weather, treatment vehicle, and treatment application information
collected from a plurality of sources. According to one aspect of
the present invention, one way of processing this input data in the
quantification component 100 is a comprehensive mechanism for
associating GPS-tagged and time-tagged "truck reports" to an
agency's transportation infrastructure network, based on data such
as GPS position, direction of travel, and lane information.
Direction of travel is based upon successive locations relative to
a coordinate system, so that the system functions properly in
situations with switchbacks, crossovers, underpasses, or other
attributes which may not be easily amenable to application of
heading-based assignment of a direction of travel (especially in
the presence of longer intervals between GPS-tagged reports). Other
data, such as for example lane information, is treated in a generic
manner amenable to different agencies' lane identification systems,
and permits assignment of differing activities being undertaken by
the vehicle, at the same instant, to differing lanes (e.g., the
vehicle may be treating lanes A and B, but plowing only lane A,
where lane B could optionally be in an opposing direction of
travel), and thus to potentially differing segments of the agency's
transportation infrastructure network.
[0035] The quantification component 100 therefore allows for
assigning information not only based upon location, but also based
upon lane and direction of travel. An associated mechanism for
segmenting an agency's transportation infrastructure network in one
or more ways is also supported, along with processes for
aggregating information based on these defined segments. The
quantification component 100 thus permits data assignment and
aggregation, e.g. for a particular snowplow route, so that
maintenance activities are not only measurable per vehicle, but
also per snowplow route, or any number of other defined
segmentations of the transportation infrastructure network of
interest to the agency.
[0036] According to another aspect of the present invention, an
additional method of data processing to normalize input data in the
quantification component 100 addresses the issue of understanding
the component breakdown of material treatment applications being
applied to the road network. Snowplows may be equipped to spread
arbitrary mixtures of deicer and/or abrasive, in one or more forms
(e.g. liquid, dry, pre-wet). For a variety of reasons, the
maintenance materials and specific mixtures that are used may vary
substantially from one maintenance route to the next. The
quantification component 100 of the present invention permits
agencies to specify the component materials and apportionments in
any particular mixture their fleet may choose to apply and report,
so that data from routes or trucks from all across the agency can
be compared upon utilization of the component materials that make
up the mixtures being applied. This is a significant and valuable
feature for agencies, as they may have many different mixtures
(e.g. "10% Salt/90% Sand", "15% Salt/85% Sand", "15% Salt/80%
Sand/5% Ice Slicer", etc.) in use across a given agency, but a much
more limited number of component materials that serve as the
fundamental building blocks for these mixtures. The present
invention thus permits managers to filter through the variability
in material applications and address the more important question of
where, when and to what extent the particular component materials
they purchase are being utilized.
[0037] Other issues managers are faced with when evaluating the
winter maintenance operations of their agency are whether a
maintenance response was appropriate for the weather conditions,
and whether or not recommended maintenance activities are being
followed, regardless of whether they are developed from the
agency's published set of standard practices or provided by a
maintenance support system. The quantification component 100
addresses both of these issues with logic that performs a cohesion
of specific GPS-tagged and time-tagged truck reports into coherent
maintenance actions representing the collective activities of their
fleet during a single treatment of a particular segment of road
(e.g, "Trucks A and B collectively spread an average of 235
lbs/ln-mi of pre-wet sodium chloride on road segment C between time
D and time E", as opposed to working with the potentially hundreds
or thousands of GPS-tagged and time-tagged truck reports that may
constitute that maintenance action). These maintenance actions can
then be associated with both weather events and specific
maintenance recommendations, the characteristics of which are both
also stored in one or more additional database storage locations
operably coupled to the quantification component 100. Thus, a
manager can evaluate the extent to which a particular truck or road
segment has been treated in accordance with the agency's
maintenance policies, or recommendations that have been received,
and the extent to which the treatments being made are considered
appropriate for the weather events being treated (e.g., the manager
can easily discern whether a particular deicer is being used
outside its intended range of pavement temperatures).
[0038] The quantification component 100 and simulation component
200 also include, in one aspect of the present invention,
interrelating database tables to process and assess collected data
as discussed above. Database interrelationships are utilized in
conjunction with the block diagram of components in FIG. 1, in
addition to the block diagram of components in FIG. 2, and it is to
be understood that the present invention is also comprised of a
server, protocols, functions, logic, data objects, program
instructions, and related software modules for managing the
insertion, extraction, and manipulation of the data among the
various database components discussed herein. Program instructions
may be resident in one or more memory module components of the data
processing modules discussed herein, and called to perform the data
processing functions necessary to model, analyze and interpret the
input data and output data in each of the quantification component
100 and the simulation component 200.
[0039] As it pertains to the quantification component 100, data
processing is performed across a plurality of functions in one or
more of the modules therein for conducting various operations on
the input data, including but not limited to data processing
functions for manipulating treatment applications and component
materials, data processing functions for managing vehicles, data
processing functions for managing GPS and time-tagged truck
reports, and data processing functions for managing environmental
variables.
[0040] Functions for manipulating treatment applications and
component materials include a get_materials function, which
retrieves data objects associated with available component
materials from one or more databases for processing. Similarly, a
get_applications function retrieves data objects associated with
specific applications from the one or more databases. A
create_applications function may create, configure and name one or
more new treatment applications comprised of one or more component
materials. An update_applications function permits modification of
properties of one or more existing applications, and a
delete_applications function marks one or more applications as
deleted. It should be noted that the application itself is not
deleted from the database; the application itself remains
accessible for interpretation of items such as previously-received
truck reports, which are dependent on them.
[0041] Treatment vehicle management functions within the data
processing functions of the one or more modules in the
quantification component 100 include functions for creating,
updating, deleting, and obtaining information related to
maintenance vehicles such as trucks. For example, create_trucks is
a function for creating and configuring one or more new vehicles in
the one or more databases. Update_trucks serves the purpose of
updating existing properties associated with one or more vehicles,
and get_trucks retrieves one or more data objects associated with
vehicles. Delete_trucks marks vehicles as deleted, but does not
actually delete them, so that they are still accessible for
interpretation of truck reports dependent upon them.
[0042] The quantification component 100 also includes specific data
processing functions managing GPS-tagged and time-tagged vehicle or
truck reports. For example, a get_truck_reports function retrieves
data objects associated with vehicle reports from the one or more
databases, while get_latest_truck_reports retrieves the identifiers
of most recent vehicle reports from specific vehicles. A
create_truck_reports function creates new GPS-tagged and/or
time-tagged vehicle reports, update_truck_reports updates the
properties of one or more vehicle reports, replace_truck_reports
replaces all the properties of one or more vehicle reports without
deleting associations of the vehicle reports replaced, and
delete_truck_reports deletes specific reports from the one or more
databases.
[0043] Data processing functions for managing environmental
variables may also be included. For example, a get_variables
function may be accessed to return a dictionary of qualitative and
quantitative variables used in the environment section of vehicle
reports.
[0044] It is to be understood that these functions may be built and
incorporated into one or more of the modules with any name and with
specific purposes that differ than those explicitly described,
depending on the type of data processing to be conducted in the
quantification component 100. Regardless, these functions are
integrated to carry out tasks associated with modeling the input
data to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance activities in the present
invention.
[0045] No aspect of the present invention is to be limited by any
method of creating or storing "raw" data, and therefore it is
contemplated that input and output data may be presented,
maintained, manipulated and stored in a number of ways for the
above data processing functions. For example, a data object for
passing truck reports between the server and external processes may
be formatted as JavaScript Object Notation-(JSON) or any other
programming paradigm suitable for accomplishing the intentions
presented herein.
[0046] As discussed above, the quantification component 100 permits
an improved understanding of winter maintenance activities
performed. The present invention expands upon the metrics generated
by the quantification component 100 and the value of the data
processing analytics available by providing, in a second component
200, similar data from a corresponding, independently-generated
simulation of winter maintenance activities over the same
timeframe. The present invention therefore provides managers,
engineers, and others responsible for winter maintenance with both
the required data in quantified form as well as a measuring stick
to enhance performance measurement and evaluation.
[0047] Accordingly, the present invention includes a second,
simulation component 200 of a winter transportation infrastructure
maintenance system. The simulation component 200 allows weather
conditions over a potentially lengthy period of time to be defined
at, for example, an hourly level, drawing upon a variety of
meteorological data resources. The simulation component 200
utilizes a road condition model 220, within which weather
information can be transformed into simulated road conditions over
time, influenced by the prior road conditions, weather conditions,
maintenance actions, traffic, environmental factors, etc. The
resulting simulated output data 202 can then be used to estimate
the impacts of weather conditions on road users, road
administrators, and/or the environment.
[0048] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the simulation component 200 of
the present invention. In the simulation component 200, input data
comprising observed transportation infrastructure data includes
weather data, roadway data, and roadway environmental conditions
that at least include traffic profiles, road construction data,
prior road conditions, maintenance actions, and environmental
conditions. This input data is stored in and accessed from one or
more databases 210, including a road network database 212, a road
environment database 214, and an hourly weather database 216. The
input data is ingested into a road condition model 220 which,
together with a maintenance response module 230, performs modeling
of road conditions and maintenance activities to generate output
data that simulates appropriate winter maintenance activities to
specific weather situations and road conditions. This output data
may be stored in one or more additional database locations 240, in
a simulated hourly road conditions database 242) and in a simulated
maintenance activities database 244.
[0049] The road condition model 220 and maintenance response module
230 may ingest additional input data relative to maintenance
policies and maintenance resource configurations from a maintenance
policy database 250 and a maintenance resource database 260. This
additional input data modulates the simulation of the road
condition model 220 with maintenance responses to weather
conditions experienced in at least a portion of a transportation
infrastructure by applying either a rules-based model for a
specific weather and road condition situation based on an agency's
standard maintenance response, or a dynamically-determined
maintenance prescription based on available maintenance resources.
Therefore, the simulation component 200 can be configured to either
utilize rule-based approaches to determining the appropriate winter
maintenance response for each situation, or to create dynamic
maintenance prescriptions for the situation based on an agency's
winter maintenance policies and the available maintenance resources
as defined for the simulation location.
[0050] Output data from the modeling of road conditions and
maintenance activities stored in the plurality of databases 240 may
then be aggregated in a component index module 270 and communicated
through one or more servers 280 that are at least configured to
enable various data processing functions for manipulating the
output data 202 as described below.
[0051] The resulting weather, road condition, and maintenance data
can then be applied in various data processing functions that
explore the relationships between, for example, simulated and
real-world costs and conditions. In particular, many of the
elements of the simulated maintenance data 202 are directly related
to the corresponding quantities reported via the agencies' data
collection system(s) and are interpreted, aggregated and visualized
in the present invention using a graphical user interface as
discussed further herein.
[0052] The winter maintenance simulation capability of the
simulation component 200 relies upon the basic premise that the
behavior of the mixture of water, snow, ice and freeze point
depressants (the `dynamic layer`) atop a roadway can be modeled.
Simulating its characteristics and evolution requires sophisticated
road condition modeling performed by a plurality of data processing
functions in one or more modules of the present invention. These
processes include modeling pavement behavior, natural effects on
precipitation, and external influences on the type of precipitation
experienced.
[0053] Data processing that accounts for pavement behavior includes
heat exchange between air and pavement, emission and absorption of
infrared radiation, time-varying pavement reflectance, and internal
heat conduction. Data processing functions for modeling natural
effects associated with precipitation including processes taking
into account evaporation, sublimation, conduction of heat,
condensation, frost formation, natural phase changes, absorption,
insulation, and freeze point variances, and the present invention
further permits coupling of mass and energy balance as a feature of
such modeling. Additionally, data processing that accounts for
external influences on precipitation and pavement conditions
includes processes for modeling the effects of traffic spray,
traffic compaction, actions of treatment vehicles,
condition-dependent precipitation adherence, water runoff, chemical
runoff, chemically-induced phase changes, chemical dilution,
chemical removal, and effects of residual chemicals.
[0054] It is to be understood that these are not exhaustive lists
of further data processing, and therefore other types of phenomena
are also contemplated herein. For example, the present invention
may include modules and program instructions configured to perform
an explicit calculation of liquid, ice, frost, compacted snow and
snow depths on the road, allowing for mixed conditions such as
slush. The effects of the effects of freeze-point depressing
chemicals may also be modeled, and the simulation component 200
also permits highly-configurable pavement and maintenance equipment
specifications.
[0055] From the perspective of a winter severity or maintenance
demand index, one distinction offered by the simulation-based
approach in this second, simulation component 200 of the present
invention is that it yields an explicit simulation of the winter
maintenance activities required to address the weather and road
conditions each maintenance route is exposed to, rather than
attempting to draw expert-based or statistical relationships
between simplified representations of the weather conditions and
maintenance activities based on historical actions which may or may
not have been appropriate, or required, to meet the desired level
of service. While the resulting data can be used as the basis for
one or more specific indices intended to normalize specific aspects
of winter maintenance resource utilization, the simulated data
itself is the unique building block offered by this approach, as it
removes the mystery from the relationships between weather, road
conditions, and maintenance activities. The relationships between
cause and effect become more clearly identifiable, as the (e.g.)
hour-by-hour time-series of weather, road condition, and simulated
maintenance activity requirements are directly available to support
assessment of the actual operations of the agency for the selected
time period. Further, the factors which impact how one agency
prefers to react to a given weather situation can be explicitly
accounted for by the simulation, permitting the tool to be applied
across jurisdictional boundaries with confidence. For example, the
effects of varying levels of service (road condition policies),
traffic patterns, available deicers and their environmental
limitations, crew and equipment availability, etc., can all be
explicitly configured into and accommodated by the simulation
process, providing a realistic basis for comparison of data across
jurisdictional boundaries where these factors may differ, or even
within different parts of the agencies' road networks where
practical considerations necessitate different real-world responses
to similar weather conditions.
[0056] The present invention contemplates that the quantification
component 100 and the simulation component 200 are capable of being
used either together or separately. It is to be understood that
quantified winter maintenance data 102 may be used to separately
generate output data representative of independent maintenance
activity metrics against which an outcome of a specific winter
transportation maintenance infrastructure activity is comparable.
It is further understood that simulated winter maintenance data 202
may be used to generate output data to estimate and identify one or
more appropriate maintenance response for each specific weather
situation requiring a maintenance action. Together, the
quantification component 100 and the simulation 200 provide a
comprehensive data processing tool set for managing performance and
outcome of winter transportation infrastructure maintenance
activities.
[0057] The present invention further contemplates, in additional
embodiments, that agencies and users are capable of accessing input
data and output data via a graphical user interface (GUI) that
offers a wide range of capabilities for manipulating quantified
output data 102 and simulated output data 202. A graphical user
interface module 300 within both the quantification component 100
and the simulation component 200 provides data processing functions
that at least permit map-based reporting tools 310, tabular
reporting tools 320, and customized, specific-purpose reporting
tools 330. Each of these reporting tools functions may be performed
by specific sub-modules within the graphical user interface module
300.
[0058] For example, the graphical user interface and module 300
permits the selection of a time period of interest, so that winter
maintenance activities can be analyzed for a particular shift,
weather pattern, day or storm, over an entire season, or from
season-to-season, in a single data processing display. Users are
also presented with options to view summarized data in either
tabular or map-based presentations. The tabular presentation
provides, for example, access to information per vehicle and road
network segment pairing. The map-based presentation provides, for
example, color-coded roads per road network segment, based upon the
parameters selected, with pop-up windows providing access to
details per vehicle for each segment. Within the quantification
component, the parameters selected may include any or all of
duration and/or distance the vehicle has driven/plowed/applied
material, durations and/or distances for each of up to several
plows mounted on a specific truck, and durations, distances, and/or
total quantities of material applications, optionally provided by
component materials rather than in mixed forms.
[0059] In the graphical presentation of the tabular reporting tools
320 of the quantification component, the data may be provided for
each truck/segment pairing, one pairing per row, which may be
aggregated over any or all of truck, segment, and/or route (a route
being a predefined grouping of road network segments), in which
case data from grouped rows are aggregated and presented as
combined rows in the table. When all of the possible aggregations
are selected, a single row containing the aggregate data for the
entire group of trucks and road segments is provided, for the time
period selected. The columns of the tables provide each of the
selected parameters for the trucks and/or segments making up each
row of data. The entire table can be sorted numerically, in
increasing or decreasing order, on any of the available parameters
(e.g., data could be sorted so that the rows containing the largest
quantity of a particular component material could be brought to the
top). User-definable filters can be created and saved, permitting
inclusion or exclusion of certain trucks and/or road segments from
the tabular or map data.
[0060] Examples of tabular and map-based presentations of data in a
graphical user interface in the quantification component 100 are
provided in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, respectively. Other summarizations
of the data are also possible in the present invention, such as
comparative data on agency maintenance actions relative to agency
standard practice (or externally-generated recommendations), and
maintenance actions presented alongside the properties of the road
and weather events being treated. Additionally, the quantification
component 100 supports the generation of specific reports that are
not amenable to the aforementioned tabular, graphical or map-based
presentations. These reports are generated by specialized
server-side modules that return the reports in HTML or other
appropriate formats, for display in the GUI or standard web
browsers.
[0061] FIG. 3 is an exemplary screenshot showing a tabular
representation of quantified output data 102. The tabular
representation is generated by the tabular reporting tool 320 of
the graphical user interface module 300 for display to a user on
the graphical user interface according to one embodiment. FIG. 3
depicts options associated with grouping indicia 322 and usage
indicia 324 that are available using the tabular reporting tools
320. With grouping indicia 322, data may be grouped at least by
route, segment, or truck, and "All" or "None" options may also be
available. Tabbed presentations of data according to usage indicia
324 such "Plow Usage", "Application Usage", and "Material Form
Usage" may also be selected to view quantified data 102, and mode
selection indicia 304 may also be present for the user to select a
mode, such as "Exit MDC/AVL Mode" and "Switch Report Type".
[0062] FIG. 4 is an exemplary map-based representation of
quantified data 102 generated by the map-based reporting tool 310
of the graphical user interface module 300 for display to a user on
the graphical user interface according to another embodiment. The
map in FIG. 4 shows quantified data 102 after being assigned and
aggregated over segments of an agency's road network. FIG. 4, like
FIG. 3, is an exemplary screenshot of the graphical user interface
according to the present invention. FIG. 4 includes several
pull-down menus 302 for user selection, such as "File", "Report",
"Options", etc. Data in the map indicia 414 in the map-based
presentation of FIG. 4 may also be depicted by usage indicia 412
according to drop-down selections such as "Plow Usage",
"Application Usage" and "Material Form Usage" with additional
pull-down menus 416 for specific variables such as materials and
applications, and may further include color-coded indicia to
identify, within each map-based presentation, specific
concentrations or types of materials. FIG. 4 may also present
special-purpose legend indicia 306, positioned in the example of
FIG. 4 in vertical form along the right-side of the GUI.
[0063] The quantification component 100 of the present invention
also includes data export capabilities that permit external
application of winter maintenance data. One such application is to
Maintenance Management Systems (MMS) that focus on higher-level
asset management (e.g., time tracking, equipment
purchasing/servicing, material procurement and allocation, etc. for
winter maintenance) in addition to other applications relative to
road construction/maintenance. It is therefore possible to utilize
external applications and systems to enhance the understanding of
data 102 quantified by the present invention, as well as to
leverage external analysis and uses to improve winter
transportation infrastructure maintenance.
[0064] As with the data processed and reported in the
quantification component 100 of the present invention, simulated
output data 202 are also available to the user via a graphical user
interface. Different data processing selections may be available
for simulated data 104. For example, in one embodiment, a user may
be permitted to select the time period of interest, whether a
particular storm or an entire season. Data are available in several
forms, including graphical depictions of the time series of weather
and simulated road and maintenance data for a particular segment of
road over the selected timeframe, as well as map-based
representations and export capabilities for aggregated data.
[0065] FIG. 5 below is an exemplary screenshot of a graphical
time-series display of weather conditions, and simulated road
conditions and maintenance activities, for a road segment within an
agency's road network. In the example of FIG. 5, pull-down menus
302 are available for selection to the user, such as "File",
"Report", "Options", etc. Indicia 304 for Mode Selection may also
be present, and may include button-like indicia for "Exit WMRI
Mode", "Switch to Spatial View", and "Switch Report Type". Route
selection indicia 526 may also be displayed as a box to allow a
user to select the location for which a time-series data is
displayed. The graphical time-series display, which shows several
different graphs as noted above, may be coded with indicia 524 on
the horizontal and vertical axes as defined by the user, and may be
color-coded. The GUI may include indicia 522 such as "Custom" and
"Defaults" permitting the user to customize the presentation of
graphical time-series information as needed. It is to be noted that
all indicia on the graphical user interface may be shaded or
colored in some fashion, and are shown in FIG. 3-9 as gray-scaled
or having a gradient for illustration purposes.
[0066] Data are also available on the graphical user interface as
tabular displays of simulated maintenance data 104 according to the
tabular reporting tool 320. FIG. 6 is an exemplary screenshot of a
tabular view on the graphical user interface of simulated
maintenance activities required on a segment of road within an
agency's road network. The screenshot of FIG. 6, like other
screenshots discussed herein, includes common pull-down menus 302
for user selection such as "File", "Report", "Options", etc. Data
in this tabular view are presented in columns 622 according to
location, time, plow position, application, and material usage.
Indicia 304 for Mode Selection may also be present, and may include
button-like indicia for "Exit WMRI Mode", "Switch to Spatial View",
and "Switch Report Type". Route selection indicia 526 may also be
displayed to allow a user to enter specific information.
[0067] Additionally, data are further available on the graphical
user interface in the simulation component 200 as map-based
presentations of aggregate measures of the weather and/or simulated
road condition and maintenance data. FIG. 7 is an exemplary
screenshot showing such a map-based presentation of aggregate
weather, road condition, or maintenance data as calculated by the
simulation system and its input data. In FIG. 7, the variable
displayed is simulated salt usage over the selected period. Other
Maintenance Variables may also be selected from pull-down menus
718, and additional pull-down menus 718, such as Weather Variables,
Condition Variables, Configuration Variables, and Severity Indices
may be available to the user to further allow for specific,
customized views. Pull down menus 302, route selection indicia 526,
mode selection indicia 304, and route types indicia 720 may also be
included. Additionally special purpose indicia 306 may be
displayed, which are shown in vertical form in the example of FIG.
7.
[0068] FIG. 8 is also a map-based presentation of selected
aggregate weather, road condition, or maintenance data as modeled
by the simulation component 200. FIG. 8 shows a different view in
which a weather variable is displayed, rather than a maintenance
variable as in FIG. 7. The weather variable displayed is the
average air temperature over the selected period. Indicia as
indicated for FIG. 7 may also be displayed.
[0069] The graphical user interface module 300 also includes data
export capabilities for simulated data 104 to permit external
application thereof. Similar to the quantification component 100,
data export capabilities in the simulation component 200 permit
external application of winter maintenance data, such as with
respect to Maintenance Management Systems (MMS) that focus on
higher-level asset management (e.g., time tracking, equipment
purchasing/servicing, material procurement and allocation, etc. for
winter maintenance) in addition to other applications relative to
road construction/maintenance.
[0070] Many other data processing functions are also contemplated
within the present invention and accessible using the graphical
user interface. For example, the Severity Indices menu 718 provides
users access to an equation editor 932 to perform and display
complex multivariate calculations based on the available data
elements. FIG. 9 shows a screenshot similar to that of FIG. 7 and
FIG. 8, with a calculator tool 934 shown for using the equation
editor 932.
[0071] The equation editor 932 is associated with the map-based
reporting tool 310 for the simulation component 200, permitting
multivariate calculations based upon available weather, road
condition, and/or maintenance parameters. Numerical indicia appears
as it would on a calculator, and weather, condition, maintenance,
and configuration variables may be selected from additional
pull-down menus 936. Separate indicia 938 for entering and
displaying equations is also available, and the user may further
select to save, display, and cancel the creation of a multivariate
equation entered into the equation editor using indicia 940.
[0072] Many calculations are permitted in the equation editor 932.
For example, a user may multiply the per-mile simulated quantity of
a deicer by its associated unit cost, and then add the per-mile
cost of operating the truck multiplied by the simulated number of
maintenance actions, to arrive at an overall, simulated cost of
winter maintenance per-mile for the selected time period.
Alternatively, if a user desired to compare and contrast the
simulated data with more traditional measures of winter severity,
the calculator tool 932 can be used to specify the equation for the
particular winter severity measure, at which point the simulation
component 200 applies the underlying weather data to calculate and
display the desired winter severity measure.
[0073] It is important to note that while the quantification
component 100 and the simulation component 200 of the present
invention offer significant value when applied in tandem, neither
component requires the other in order for the present invention to
operate and provide value to winter maintenance managers.
Accordingly, the present invention contemplates that two components
may be utilized either alone or in combination, as desired by the
user, as noted in detail herein.
[0074] It is to be understood that other embodiments will be
utilized and structural and functional changes will be made without
departing from the scope of the present invention. The foregoing
descriptions of embodiments of the present invention have been
presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is
not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the
precise forms disclosed. Accordingly, many modifications and
variations are possible in light of the above teachings. It is
therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not
by this detailed description.
* * * * *