Overview

With over 1 million residents, The County of Fresno is among the fastest growing in California. They maintain the most roads of any county in the state, with over 4,500 centerline miles. The Road Maintenance and Operations Division wanted the ability to manage signs and roadway markings using maps. They needed an easy and affordable way to inventory and maintain their assets within a spatial database, and asked Ryan Lopez, a Senior Analyst with the County GIS department, to find a solution. After extensive research and conversations with county officials, Ryan came up with the top three priorities for the project. His solution had to meet the following requirements:

1. Capability to inventory roadway signs and markings.
2. Interoperability with Esri software.
3. Flexibility to update on demand as the county expanded with new roads.

After some initial testing with his smartphone, Ryan discovered that Mapillary could meet these requirements and he purchased GoPro 360 Max cameras for the department. He trained coworkers, county staff, and state employees from Caltrans and Calfire on Mapillary. They immediately went to work capturing and uploading thousands of miles of new street-level imagery. Using Mapillary’s computer vision capabilities, the county created their first digital sign inventory consisting of 29,713 signs. Ryan manages the data using an asset management extension for ArcPro and controls the areas and frequency of new capture based on county needs.

Wildfire Response

In September 2020 the Creek Fire burned more than 357,650 acres, and The County of Fresno discovered the true value of having updated street imagery. Before the fire they had captured miles of rural fire roads to identify the location of bridges and culverts, which are critical to battling wildfires. They mapped over 10,000 culverts and 600 bridges, while creating a photolog of the entire road network that Calfire referenced during the response. They needed to understand the general condition of a road and whether it may be inaccessible or washed out before heading into the field. In the field, teams captured fresh imagery that assisted with the response, and subsequent recovery as residents processed insurance claims through FEMA.

Since they began working with Mapillary, the county regularly captures imagery as a standard procedure and keeps discovering new ways it complements their daily work. Ryan is using fresh data to review changes in roadway signage and markings. It is also being used to improve addressing and nextGEN 911 through the county. Other departments access imagery through the Esri ArcGIS Pro plugin and contribute captures as needed. Working together, the county now has a complete inventory of paved and dirt roads, signs, roadway markings, and other map features. They are now beginning to capture along bike and walking trails to more efficiently maintain and grow their existing transportation network. Ryan will continue leveraging the power of Mapillary to plan, build, and maintain assets in collaboration with GIS staff throughout the county.

/Chad