A GIS-Integrated Intelligent System for Optimization of Asset Management for Maintenance of Roads and Bridges

Geographic information systems (GIS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques were used to develop an intelligent asset management system to optimize road and bridge maintenance. In a transportation context, asset management is defined as a cost-effective process to construct, operate, and maintain physical capital. This requires analytical tools to assist the allocation of resources, including personnel, equipment, materials, and supplies. One such tool, artificial intelligence (AI), is the creation of computer programs that use humanlike reasoning concepts to implement and/or improve a process or task. This paper presents "heuristic" or "experience" based AI methodologies to optimize transportation asset management procedures. Specifically, we outline and illustrate a GIS-based intelligent asset management system using the case study of snow removal for winter road and bridge maintenance in Iowa, USA. The system uses ArcView GIS to access and manage road and bridge data, and ART*Enterprise, an AI shell, for the user interface.