ArcIMS Application Manages Snow Removal
During the summer and fall of 2001, GIS Solutions, Inc., an Esri business partner, designed, developed, and implemented a custom GIS application for automating snow command center operations for the Public Works Department of the Village of Schaumburg, Illinois.
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| The application tracked employee overtime hours and maintained an active list of employees to call and the number of vehicles in operation during a storm or particular day. Automated reports, generated almost immediately after a storm had ended, calculated total costs of storm snow fighting by storm, day, work shift, week, and month. |
Using the application, snow command personnel can manage and track snow fighting efforts during a snow or ice storm. The application tracks completion status as well as assigned locations for vehicles and personnel. Operators can change driver and vehicle snowplow assignments, monitor completion times and the status of snowplow routes, and log resident concerns and complaints received on a snow fighting hotline. Supervisors and managers use the same application to track employee and equipment hours, produce summary reports for snow fighting costs, and review snow fighting efforts when a storm is over. In addition, the application saves images of maps created during snow operations for public use as well as internal review of snow command efforts.
The application, developed using ArcObjects with Visual Basic (VB), is installed on three separate machines used by operators, supervisors, and managers. A geodatabase accessed by each machine stores geographic information including basemaps, route locations, completion status, and vehicle locations. Operational and historic data created during a storm is stored in a Microsoft Access database. Interfaces built in VB capture data about snow fighting efforts during a storm and employee and vehicle data maintenance. Historic storm data, including cost totals, employee/vehicle assignment, and completion, can also be viewed using interfaces to this database.
The application was implemented in winter 2001-2002, and the Village of Schaumburg began using it at the first snowstorm on December 17, 2001. Of the 26 storms that season, three required three days or more of continuous snow fighting effort. The application tracked employee overtime hours and maintained an active list of employees to call and the number of vehicles in operation during a storm or particular day. Automated reports, generated almost immediately after a storm had ended, calculated total costs of storm snow fighting by storm, day, work shift, week, and month.
By visiting the Village of Schaumburg Web site (www.ci.schaumburg.il.us/snowcommand), the public can view a status map showing snow removal operations that is updated every 15 minutes during a storm and provides detailed locations of snow removal efforts. For more information on this application, contact
GIS Solutions, Inc.
2612 Farragut Drive
Springfield, Illinois 62704
Web: www.gis-solutions.com
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