Mobile Mapping System for 3D Road Asset Inventory of the Rural Road Network in Thailand

Nutvara Jantarathaneewat, Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Department of Rural Roads (DRR) of Thailand has been using the Mobile Mapping System (MMS) in road surveying since 2014, which can reduce the time and number of surveyors. Currently, DRR can acquire more than 47,000 km of road asset inventory data, which is required to be updated every year. This study develops a prototype surveying device by integrating a high-precision LiDAR data sensor into existing MMS devices. Thus, besides the survey photo, this device also provides a precise location along with the photo. Survey data is displayed in point cloud format through online applications. For the accuracy of the prototype equipment, the result shows that this device can provide accuracy of positioning equivalent to a map resolution of 1:500, which ensures the quality of locating the rural road assets. For future development, the road assets can be located automatically by using artificial intelligence to detect types of an asset on survey photos. Hence, the department is able to prepare asset data and monitor usage conditions as appropriate according to engineering principles.