Page 9 - May/June 2015 Vol. 33 No. 1
P. 9
CHATTANOOGA By Justin Holland
Technology Provides the Public
with Real-Time Tracking of Services
The City of Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works extended periods of time, and designing the mapping application
provides several curbside residential services such as garbage, in such a way that it worked on all browsers, tablets and smart
recycling, brush, bulky trash, and leaf collections, as well as phones for everyone to utilize.
services to maintain streets, such as street sweeping and wintry
mix road clearing. Nothing has changed with the way these The department subscribes to Actsoft as the platform for
operations work, but now residents can see what crews are doing fleet tracking powered by Verizon Wireless for data transmis-
currently, what crews have already done, as well as when and sion. The GIS division, with help from NuOrigin, developed and
where crews have worked, not from their kitchen window or implemented the web mapping solution with industry standard
front porch as the truck drives by, but from their office or mobile Microsoft Service Oriented Architecture Design and ESRI ArcGIS
device, anywhere in the world, and anytime. Server mapping technologies and used Microsoft Sql Server 2012,
ESRI ArcGIS Server 10.3, JavaScript API, Microsoft SQL server,
The department started by installing and implementing an MVC, WCF, and Bootstrap framework with adaptive rendering
automated vehicle location technology to track the location and techniques.
utilization of the department’s fleet. This began as a method
to analyze vehicle utilization, resolve a few operational and The City of Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works
accountability problems, and track the department’s assets homepage can be found at: http://www.chattanooga.gov/public-
in real-time and historically. After the successful installation works.
and implementation of the basic fleet tracking system, the
department’s GIS division recognized additional potential to
host their own real time solution for continuous public outreach,
transparency, and accountability. Recognizing the value in
providing this information to the public, the department set
out to demonstrate the services that citizens receive in a real-
time solution with access over the web and availability by smart
phones and tablets.
This system has developed into more than just a solution for
supervisors and dispatchers to view vehicle utilization, but also a
system that now records and reports the information for residents
through a website application. This public website, located from
the department’s home page under a tab titled “Interactive Services
Maps,” displays many of the services that residents routinely
receive. From this site, residents can view live displays of the
operation’s vehicles as they work and view historical data from
garbage, recycling, leaf collection and snow plows by selecting
a service they want to view, zooming to a specific location and
viewing breadcrumb trails of selected vehicles.
Vehicle chassis and body mounted sensors are used to record
various peripheral elements of each truck such as: when the
mechanical refuse collection arms are used to lift a container;
when the leaf collection vacuum is turned on; and most recently
which roads receive treatment by salt, sand, or plow during a
snow event. The department is looking at expanding the service
to brush collection, bulky trash collection, street sweeping, and
right of way mowing in an effort to be more transparent and
accountable. The department’s leadership feels that this type
of accountability will not only reduce costs, but will increase
efficiency in nearly every operation over time.
The system design wasn’t easy and the GIS division had to
overcome several obstacles such as continuously updated vehicle
locations, storing large datasets, ease of use, user interfaces, and
site navigation. Some of the implementation obstacles included
retrieving large off-site datasets in real-time, storing the data for
View online at tnpublicworks.com 9
Technology Provides the Public
with Real-Time Tracking of Services
The City of Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works extended periods of time, and designing the mapping application
provides several curbside residential services such as garbage, in such a way that it worked on all browsers, tablets and smart
recycling, brush, bulky trash, and leaf collections, as well as phones for everyone to utilize.
services to maintain streets, such as street sweeping and wintry
mix road clearing. Nothing has changed with the way these The department subscribes to Actsoft as the platform for
operations work, but now residents can see what crews are doing fleet tracking powered by Verizon Wireless for data transmis-
currently, what crews have already done, as well as when and sion. The GIS division, with help from NuOrigin, developed and
where crews have worked, not from their kitchen window or implemented the web mapping solution with industry standard
front porch as the truck drives by, but from their office or mobile Microsoft Service Oriented Architecture Design and ESRI ArcGIS
device, anywhere in the world, and anytime. Server mapping technologies and used Microsoft Sql Server 2012,
ESRI ArcGIS Server 10.3, JavaScript API, Microsoft SQL server,
The department started by installing and implementing an MVC, WCF, and Bootstrap framework with adaptive rendering
automated vehicle location technology to track the location and techniques.
utilization of the department’s fleet. This began as a method
to analyze vehicle utilization, resolve a few operational and The City of Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works
accountability problems, and track the department’s assets homepage can be found at: http://www.chattanooga.gov/public-
in real-time and historically. After the successful installation works.
and implementation of the basic fleet tracking system, the
department’s GIS division recognized additional potential to
host their own real time solution for continuous public outreach,
transparency, and accountability. Recognizing the value in
providing this information to the public, the department set
out to demonstrate the services that citizens receive in a real-
time solution with access over the web and availability by smart
phones and tablets.
This system has developed into more than just a solution for
supervisors and dispatchers to view vehicle utilization, but also a
system that now records and reports the information for residents
through a website application. This public website, located from
the department’s home page under a tab titled “Interactive Services
Maps,” displays many of the services that residents routinely
receive. From this site, residents can view live displays of the
operation’s vehicles as they work and view historical data from
garbage, recycling, leaf collection and snow plows by selecting
a service they want to view, zooming to a specific location and
viewing breadcrumb trails of selected vehicles.
Vehicle chassis and body mounted sensors are used to record
various peripheral elements of each truck such as: when the
mechanical refuse collection arms are used to lift a container;
when the leaf collection vacuum is turned on; and most recently
which roads receive treatment by salt, sand, or plow during a
snow event. The department is looking at expanding the service
to brush collection, bulky trash collection, street sweeping, and
right of way mowing in an effort to be more transparent and
accountable. The department’s leadership feels that this type
of accountability will not only reduce costs, but will increase
efficiency in nearly every operation over time.
The system design wasn’t easy and the GIS division had to
overcome several obstacles such as continuously updated vehicle
locations, storing large datasets, ease of use, user interfaces, and
site navigation. Some of the implementation obstacles included
retrieving large off-site datasets in real-time, storing the data for
View online at tnpublicworks.com 9
