New Zealand Engineering 1998 October

Having such a small rating base but with such widely separated communities, the Council has had to look at innovative, cost effective solutions to old problems. One of the innovations the Council's staff have introduced is the Video-Map system, which allows engineers to travel and inspect the District's 1400 kilometres of roads without leaving their desks.

The ingenious combination of video and satellite technology enables staff to click on a computerised map of the road on their screen. They can then "drive" in either direction along the road, access screens and tables of maintenance records and monitor the condition of the road.

Using the VideoMAP system, Hurunui's roading engineers have an accurate and easy-to-use "snapshot" of the roading network. The system has been developed with funding from a variety of sources, including Transit New Zealand and the Otago Business Development Board.

Hurunui's engineering services manager, Bruce Yates, says the system is a major step forward in road maintenance with potential for significant cost savings.

"Councils have used conventional video records quite extensively, but the costs and quality are variable and it takes time to go through the tapes. Sometimes they've not been fully utilised."

"VideoMAP allows us to monitor the condition of our roads cost effectively, with an accurate picture of the asset before the contract work has been carried out."

Development of the system began in 1994 when Eggplant Group was asked to create a record of Otago roads. Hurunui District Council saw a presentation on the company's Otago work which, while not meeting their needs exactly, showed potential to develop into a system tailored for road management.

Eggplant was later engaged to videotape Hurunui's roads, and agreed to incorporate the council's global positioning unit with the recording systems in their data collection vehicle. This saved the council an expensive and time consuming duplication of the process for their MapInfo system.

Eggplant director Jenny McDonald says the company has taken advantage of improved video compression techniques, faster and cheaper video storage mediums and greater use of GPS tools to successfully merge GPS technologies with video.

"The Hurunui District Council was the first to go with the system and showed a tremendous amount of vision. The feedback from the engineers has allowed us to tailor the system to the needs of roading network managers.

The system is run on a standard desktop personal computer with Windows 95 or Windows NT.

Hurunui general manager Paddy Clifford says the system has attracted a lot of interest from other councils.

"It shows that innovation in asset management is not something that belongs to the bigger councils. What we have achieved is a system that has direct application to all roading authorities, with major benefits in terms of planning and contract monitoring."