Caltrans awarded $5M grant to support the Digital Products Catalog
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) operates at the forefront of transportation, managing an extensive network of over 50,000 miles of highways and freeways alongside rail services and airport permits. With the mission to provide a safe and reliable transportation network that serves all people and respects the environment, Caltrans has used the FME platform as a pivotal tool in its innovative strategies for success and collaboration for the last four years.
Central to Caltrans’s innovative approach is the Digital Products Catalog (DPC), a project spearheaded by the construction division to foster enhanced data management and interoperability across the organization. Caltrans was awarded a 5 million dollar IIJA grant application for the innovative project, which maintains and manages asset codes. By leveraging FME for critical data transformations, the DPC aims to unify planning, design, and construction data into a singular, accessible viewer, breaking down silos that have historically segmented project delivery processes.
A notable achievement is the tool’s ability to simplify data conversion from Civil 3D to DGN format, a process traditionally marked by complexity and unreliability. With FME Flow, what was once a cumbersome 15-step operation has been transformed into an efficient, drag-and-drop procedure, elevating both the quality and accessibility of the final product. This shift streamlines workflows and signifies a move towards a more data-centric, rather than platform-centric, approach, aligning with Caltrans’ vision for future adaptability.
FME’s projected critical role in reducing risk and saving lives
At the heart of Caltrans is a commitment to safety and efficiency. FME will be instrumental in reducing risks for field personnel, who are often exposed to hazards during onsite inspections. By incorporating technologies like LiDAR scanning for digital as-built measurement collection, Caltrans can perform measurements at high speeds and with greater accuracy. This updated process not only mitigates the risk of loss of life and minimizes costs but also contributes to the production of superior as-built documentation, which will serve the department and the state for decades to come.
The DPC’s success is also evident in Caltrans’ utilities department. Previously, the margin of human error for logging asset changes was high, but the process will now be efficient and simplified. Simplifying mapping information will lead to endless potential safety benefits; the less time people spend grading, the better their chances of staying safe.
The process consists of Caltrans using FME Flow on the backend to generate a field collection schema by domain or contract number. Project inspectors had to scroll through thousands of code fields to find their desired item but can now create a feature code library with the necessary information. With this integration, Caltrans is tying the geospatial world into the project management world. They’re also implementing Trimble as their construction management suite, using data from the integrated view database, connecting the construction management and geospatial world. Workflows are simplified so field inspectors see information relevant to them, and data is consolidated rather than siloed in incompatible databases. Moving forward, they’ll use FME to support more template products and Survey123 to support their Esri environment.
Sample asset information page
DWG to DGN Converter solves lasting challenges across Caltrans’ teams
The DWG to DGN Converter, a tool Caltrans plans to roll out soon, will foster a culture of collaboration by addressing a long-standing challenge of converting CAD data between incompatible platforms. The tool will streamline data conversion processes, mending a cultural rift between survey and design teams and ensuring seamless project delivery and data fidelity.
Caltrans often needs to deliver projects from one platform to another, a tedious process. They’ve federated their CAD standards and created a translator to perform a simple drag-and-drop operation to move the required data. The FME-facilitated tool has been a game-changer.
The converter is not just fixing a technology problem but also solving a cultural problem in Caltrans’s project development team. The converter is only the beginning – they have built the foundation for other data conversion tools that will continue to lead them toward being data-centric. Without FME, this tool would have been extremely challenging and time-consuming for Caltrans alone to create.
Caltrans’ blueprint soon to go national and shift the DOT paradigm
Caltrans needed a solution that would allow them to maintain a wider breadth of support with the same amount of staff to maintain the many versions of their templates, achieving this with the DPC tool. It allows users to quickly generate a survey package to create every template they need in less than 30 seconds, saving hundreds of hours on manual updates. Using the DWG to DGN converter, surveyors save 400 hours of work a year and around 60% of conversion time. The design team has noticed their success and requested a similar tool.
The success of Caltrans’ projects has not gone unnoticed. Caltrans is advancing its capabilities and setting a precedent for other transportation departments across the United States when they will eventually pass the DPC blueprint on to other US DOTs and organizations. All DOTs face similar problems that Caltrans experiences, and the Catalog will lead DOTs toward data accessibility and away from platform loyalty, fostering a more positive and efficient industry nationwide.
Caltrans has laid the foundation for a unified data model that extends beyond transportation, involving various state organizations in creating a comprehensive asset information model. This FME Flow-backed initiative aims to standardize data across multiple sectors, ensuring a cohesive and efficient approach to managing California’s vast infrastructure assets.
Caltrans innovates through its strategic use of FME while influencing broader industry practices toward better data management, safety, and interoperability. By focusing on developing technological solutions to longstanding challenges, Caltrans is ensuring that California’s transportation network remains resilient, efficient, and forward-looking, setting a benchmark for transportation departments everywhere.
