A Spatial Heterogeneity-based Model for Multi-scale Mapping of Transport Infrastructure

Keywords: Geography, sustainable infrastructure, spatial heterogeneity, spatial analysis, multi-scale mapping
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 3

Abstract

Mapping large-scale transport infrastructure has been a complex issue due to its sophisticated structure, hierarchies, shapes, topology, and spatial relations. Transport infrastructure at different scales has various functions for the infrastructure construction, maintenance, and asset management. On one hand, at small scales, i.e., project levels, the target of the transport infrastructure is usually a certain road section, which may varies from a few kilometres to tens or hundreds of kilometres. Mapping road sections at a project level is essential for the design, construction, and maintenance of the pavement engineering. On the other hand, at large scales, i.e., network levels, the objectives are usually the whole road network in a region, state, or country. Network-level mapping of transport infrastructure is the primary evidence for the regional and national road network management, including deterioration and defect identification, pavement performance assessment, maintenance budget allocation, and the whole life cycle assessment of the infrastructure across the whole network. Therefore, multi-scale mapping of transport infrastructure becomes essential for the authorities for both project-level and network-level management of the road assets. This study developed a spatial heterogeneity-based model for effective management of road pavement performance at different scales. Results show that the model can accurately and effectively identify the high-risk roads of pavement deterioration at different scales for the management, ranging from project levels and network levels. The developed model can also be applied in the strategic multi-scale management of other infrastructure sectors.