Visualization of asphalt paving process during operations on site

Presently important changes are occurring in the road construction industry, resulting in changing roles of road agencies and contractors. Additionally, a lot of new asphalt mixes with new properties are introduced, such as warm or even cold asphalt mixes, thin surfaces, etc. Despite these changes, the current asphalt paving process still heavily relies on the skills and experiences craftsmanship. Instruments to monitor key process parameters are seldom applicable. To overcome these limitations, real-time visualizations of key indicators such as asphalt temperature could provide decisive information to working teams oriented to adjust their operations on site. To move towards real-time decision making support, this paper introduces a workflow to deliver information in meaningful way by providing close to real-time and easily understandable visualizations of asphalt temperatures to roller operators. Using modern technologies like DGPS, temperature linescanner, and wireless connection on site it is possible to deliver visual information about asphalt temperature to support roller operators’ decision making regarding working paths. To implement user-oriented visualization we outlined an overall workflow including equipment selection, infrastructure organization, data processing and visualization phases. We validated the feasibility of workflow implementation through visualization of asphalt temperature on a real-world asphalt paving project.