GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN TRANSPORTATION

Geographic Information System (GIS) concepts and technology can form the framework for an integrated highway information system. More effective integration of geometric, accident, traffic, roadway features, and other data are needed to enhance the planning, design, construction, maintenance, management, and operations of transportation systems. Increasingly, demands arise to relate data collected by different divisions of an organization about themes at the same location, e.g., accident data and roadway geometry. GIS concepts and technology provide an opportunity to relate and display separately collected data about spatially distributed transportation-related events and facilities. Spatial objects, called points, lines and areas, and the geographic locations of these spatial objects are a key means of integrating separately collected transportation data for enhanced analysis and map displays.