For years we have been actively participating in industry meetings, bringing participants closer to the issues of infrastructure management. No one needs to be convinced that it is impossible to effectively manage the road network without knowing its technical condition, at the same time we often hear that the roads of many municipalities, counties and provinces are in very poor condition and there is no money for their maintenance. Lack of funds for proper maintenance is also a kind of alibi against collecting data on their condition, but does this mean that all roads in poor condition are equally degraded? Shouldn’t a plan be prepared to maintain these roads in poor condition after all?
For more than 30 years, as an organization, we have been engaged in providing relevant information on the condition of road surfaces and contributing to the development of maintenance plans for several thousand kilometres of roads each year. That’s why on May 18, during the Public Roads Forum in Jastrzebia Gora, we decided, in addition to a lecture for managers from the north of Poland, to organize a game that presented in a practical way the possibilities for conducting effective survey and planning road maintenance. As part of the field game after the official part of the conference, participants collected data on the condition of street surfaces, sidewalks and bicycle paths. They took on the roles of a surveyor, engineer or director of a mini road authority and gained information by taking measurements on electric scooters with the ASPEN app and using the OnKo3 road data sharing system.
The challenge was not easy. You had to be very perceptive and strain your hearing during our lecture in search of clues. How many pedestrian crossings were there along the game route? What types of pavement was the route on? What kind of evidentiary data does the ASPEN system collect? Which section needed immediate repair? These and other questions were asked during the quiz where the smarter ones noticed that the real treasure trove of knowledge was the OnKo3 system, thanks to which the questions could be answered quickly and accurately. It is the remote access to data in one place that allows our customers to react instantly, facilitating daily work.
The culmination of the game was the distribution of awards for “body, spirit and organization” in the categories of best team/mini management and for the best specialists from assigned roles. We are glad that we were able to put on our sneakers together with our partners and, under the beautiful circumstances of nature, prove that ASPEN survey really works and is an extremely effective and fast way to know the condition of roads.
You can find out more about ASPEN and OnKo3 here.
And if you would like to take part in our game next time let us know!