This digest presents the essential findings from the interim report on NCHRP Project 20-27, Adaptation of Geographic Information Systems for Transportation, by A. Vonderohe, L. Travis, and R. Smith, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer the potential to assemble and process data from a diversity of sources and present it in an easily understood graphical format. The capabilities of a GIS in the transportation field (GIS-T) will permit the assimilation, integration, and presentation of data collected and stored by each of the divisions within a highway agency. The materials presented in this digest provide (1) a 1990-1991 snapshot of the GIS-T implementation status in the U.S., (2) a description of feasible applications, (3) a review of technological and institutional issues that are faced in implementing GIS-T, and (4) an outline of critical factors that must be considered.

Type: Recently Released TRB Publications