Automating Work Orders and Tracking Winter Snow Plows and Patrol Vehicles with Telematics Data

TL;DR

This paper presents an automated telematics-based web application that streamlines work order creation and vehicle tracking for winter road maintenance, improving accuracy and efficiency over manual methods.

Contribution

Developed a scalable, in-browser application utilizing GPS data and geohashing to automate work order management and vehicle tracking for snow plows.

Findings

Significantly reduces manual workload and errors.

Enhances accuracy and granularity of work records.

Supports efficient resource allocation and real-time monitoring.

Abstract

Winter road maintenance is a critical priority for the Indiana Department of Transportation, which manages an extensive fleet across thousands of lane miles. The current manual tracking of snowplow workloads is inefficient and prone to errors. To address these challenges, we developed an in-browser web application that automates the creation and verification of work orders using a large-scale GPS dataset from telematics systems. The application processes millions of GPS data points from hundreds of vehicles over winter, significantly reducing manual labor and minimizing errors. Key features include geohashing for efficient road segment identification, detailed segment-level work records, and robust visualization of vehicle movements, even on repeated routes. Our proposed solution has the potential to enhance the accuracy and granularity of work records, support more effective resource allocation, ensure timely compensation for drivers, alleviate administrative burdens, and allow managers to focus on strategic planning and real-time challenges. The web application can be accessed at https://github.com/oats-center/arrtrack/