Golden River - Automatic data collection in Dorset
Location
UK, Dorset
Application
Automatic data collection
Product
M680 & GPRS
The Problem
Dorset County Council have a large number of traffic monitoring sites across the region which require manual data retrieval. The collection sites are widely spread across the County and this incurs unnecessary cost and unprofitable use of employee time to collect the data on a regular basis. Potential savings by reducing data retrieval visits were highlighted as part of the Councils Gershon Efficiency programme.
The Solution
Golden River provided Dorset County Council with a proven and reliable M680 GPRS system generating Real Time traffic data. The system removed the requirement for visiting the sites which reduced the costs of fuel and staff time whilst ensuring accurate data collection and easy data retrieval.
Furthermore, the use of solar power for the sites meant that Golden River not only offered cost savings but also provided a sustainable solution which is of increasing importance to the Council. The solution also increased the detail of data collected to include; speed, headway, vehicle length as event data for the full year at 5 minute intervals.
In addition to the road traffic sites, it was possible to link in a nearby cycle path which had historically used ATC equipment – meaning that the council covered 12 sites for the price of 11!
Benefits
- Substantial savings on fuel and staff time
- Elimintation of ongoing energy costs at site
- Provision of an environmentally sustainable soultion due to the use of solar power
- Pro-active road management facilitated by real time data stream
Testimonial
Selwyn Williams, Survey Manager at Dorset County Council commented "The installation ran very smoothly and the help from Golden River staff was extremely good especially when we were learning to use the system. I hope to add more GPRS sites for Health & Safety reasons".