Centreline tools upgrade

Abstract

The state-controlled road network is Queensland's single largest built community asset and the Department of Main Roads is responsible for its operation and the delivery of projects for its enhancement and maintenance. The majority of road related asset data is stored in linear referenced format, which cannot be represented spatially in a MapInfo GIS environment without translation. Centreline Tools is a MapBasic utility developed by Main Roads to translate between linear and spatial forms of data. Centreline Tools performs dynamic segmentation operations not supported by native MapInfo, and enables linear referenced road asset data to be viewed and analysed in MapInfo with coordinated-based vector data. This dissertation describes the development of an upgraded version of the Centreline Tools utility. A mixture of existing and new ideas was incorporated into the development process while the original look and feel were retained for operational consistency. Several long standing issues with its operation were resolved and reporting has been improved. Modifications to the organisation and structure of the upgraded version have resulted in a more maintainable product. Early evidence suggests that the majority of the benefits expected from the project have been realised. An iterative implementation of the System Development Life Cycle methodology was adopted for the project and proved to be very effective. This strategy facilitated extended testing of the logic and procedures at the core of the upgrade and allowed feedback to be evaluated and integrated into subsequent development releases. The Centreline Tools upgrade delivered by this project has now been released into production.