Evaluation of Geo-Tagged Photo and Video Logging Methods to Collect Geospatial Highway Inventory Data

For many years, state departments of transportation (DOTs) and local agencies have collected and maintained highway inventory data (HID) to assist the decision makers at different levels. In light of the implementation of the recently published Highway Safety Manual (HSM) in 2010, many state DOTs have sought to tailor the various safety measures and functions to evaluate the safety in their jurisdictions. Insufficient HSM-required HID in many current DOTs’ databases, however, necessitates the collection of the absent features. To obtain these data, various techniques for different purposes have been used, including field inventory, photo and video log, integrated Global Positioning System/geographic information systems (GPS/GIS) mapping systems, aerial photography, satellite imagery, terrestrial laser scanners, airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and mobile LiDAR. Among many data collection methods, the photo and video log is widely employed by DOTs due to its simplicity and low cost. Therefore, the focus of this article, which is a timely and needed research effort, is to evaluate the capability of the photo and video logging method to collect HID for supporting HSM implementation through a comprehensive literature review, a nationwide survey, and a field trial. The results of this study demonstrate that the photo and video log can provide worthy and relevant HSM data sets with acceptable accuracy.