Skip to main content

Mobile LiDAR technology used to capture traffic signal data across Pennsylvania

Engineering, planning and consulting services company Michael Baker International recently completed a nearly US$7-million project for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to collect data from more than 8,600 traffic signals across the state. Over a year, the Michael Baker team, working with PennDOT’s Traffic Signal Asset Management System (TSAMS), collected nearly 20 million data fields for each of the 8,623 traffic signals analysed, which populated a centralised database to support Pen
November 30, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Engineering, planning and consulting services company Michael Baker International recently completed a nearly US$7-million project for the 6111 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to collect data from more than 8,600 traffic signals across the state.  Over a year, the Michael Baker team, working with PennDOT’s Traffic Signal Asset Management System (TSAMS), collected nearly 20 million data fields for each of the 8,623 traffic signals analysed, which populated a centralised database to support PennDOT’s future planning, design, maintenance and operational decision making.
 
With the passage of Pennsylvania Act 89 in 2013, PennDOT identified traffic signals as an area of necessary investment and established the Green Light-Go (GLG) program to manage the dedicated traffic signal funding and corresponding maintenance and operations projects

Michael Baker’s fleet of LiDAR-equipped vehicles are capable of surveying an area by measuring the distance to a target by illuminating it with two laser lights, each of which can measure up to 600,000 points per second with a total maximum measurement frequency of 1,200,000 points per second. The firm’s LiDAR equipped vans collected all visible assets to minimise traffic disruption and prevented technicians from working in traffic lanes.
 
Mobile LiDAR equipped vans collected data from exposed traffic signal infrastructure assets, mapping entire intersections in three-dimensional point clouds, while corresponding spherical imagery was collected using a ladybug camera.

Data from traffic signal cabinet assets was collected by field staff using a project-specific iPad mobile application (app). Electronic files of traffic signal records were transferred and attached to the database and pertinent filed paper documents were scanned to retrieve information electronically.

Related Content

  • February 1, 2012
    Cost-effective alternatives to traditional loops
    Traffic signal control is a mainstay of urban congestion management. Despite advances in vehicle detection sensors, inductive loops, which operate by using a magnetic field to detect the metal components in vehicles, are still the most common enabler for intelligent signalised junctions.
  • May 22, 2012
    New York pioneers online mobile real-time bus tracking
    An unusual technology collaboration. David Crawford investigates Early in January 2012, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) rolled out the first borough-wide implementation of its pioneering Bus Time online mobile real-time tracking service. The system allow commuters to track each bus on every route in real-time on the internet, via smartphones and by text messaging to a mobile phone. The MTA chose Staten Island for its first live launch due to it being the only one of the five Ne
  • March 19, 2024
    Ogier Electronics radar spots stopped vehicles or debris in seconds
    Ogier Electronics will be exhibiting radar specifically designed to detect stationary vehicles or debris on the motorway. The SVR-500 generates an alarm in under 20s of a vehicle stopping within its 500m range on either carriageway, 24/7 in any weather.
  • May 31, 2024
    XenomatiX enters mobile mapping with GPC360
    Data captured encompasses details of infrastructure such as traffic signs and light poles