Web will ease deployment of warfighters. (TEA initiative).

As a result of a new Web site, it will be easier for warfighters to deploy.

MTMC's Transportation Engineering Agency has completed the first phase of its new Intelligent Road/Rail Information System.

It is available for users with Internet Explorer at http://www.207.140.67.27/.

The Web site, still in development, uses state-of-the-art transportation and information system technologies to provide the warfighter with transportation infrastructure data and real-time travel information.

"This system allows military and government personnel to log into a single Web site to obtain information about road conditions, construction, accidents and weather that might interfere with movement of equipment between forts and ports," said Bill Cooper, TEA Director.

The infrastructure information includes: road characteristics, bridge locations, attribute data, videologs and aerial photo/satellite imagery. Also, when available, the system provides real-time travel information on congestion, weather, traffic cameras, road closures and construction detours.

"The great thing about this system is anybody who can access the Internet and can point and click can use it," said Bruce Hines, Chief, Office of the Special Assistant for Transportation Engineering.

The system links with Geographic Information System technology to store and retrieve information about U.S. highways, bridges, traffic, military installations and seaports. It includes such databases as Strategic Seaports, military installations, the National Highway Planning Network, National Bridge Inventory and the National Railway Network.

TEA engineers were concerned about the difficulty in obtaining Geographic Information System data.

"It costs $50,000 to $100,000 to train and equip an operator to use our high-tech Geographic Information System equipment," said Cooper, "which meant we needed another media to get out this critical information."

"We realized everybody can use the Internet, so we decided to make our information available on the Web."

Development of the prototype Web-based Intelligent Road/Rail Information System began in 1999 by GeoDecisions, a division of Gannett Fleming, Inc., in Camp Hill, Penn.

GeoDecisions is developing the application using the Internet Explorer Browser and commercial off-the-shelf software. TEA will modify the system to support the Netscape Browser.

The system offers the ability to display, browse, and query dynamic Geographic Information System maps and real-time information over the Internet.

The early development involved gathering data for the system to process. This data included the most likely routes for deployments: fort-to-port highways. The maps are georeferenced to latitude/longitude coordinates.

To supplement the deployment routes, the system contains digital maps of primary and secondary roads as well as aerial photos and satellite imagery. These maps and images are essential if an alternate route is required.

For improved visualization, the Federal Highway Administration has provided video logging of primary deployment routes. Their vehicle has digital cameras mounted on it to capture the surroundings as it moves along the road. The video is linked to a Global Positioning System for latitude/longitude georeferencing.

This provides an excellent training mechanism for our soldiers. The idea is for drivers to view this video to gain familiarity with all aspects of a route before an actual deployment.

With a few clicks of the mouse, the user can overlay current weather or traffic information for any route.

"With this system," said Hines, "training can be enhanced, costs reduced and transportation infrastructure data is instantly available to deploying units."

The system will be expanded to include the entire major road and railroad systems in the United States. Additional functionality will be added to include routing capability as well as travel time and distance calculators

To announce critical events, the system will be enhanced to automatically alert users via cell telephones, pagers, email, etc.

The system was recently briefed at a meeting of the Transportation Corps Senior Leaders Workshop.

"It is essential for improved road and rail movements to meet air and sea lift," said retired Lt. Gen. John Bruen, a former MTMC Commander.

"It's great to see that we will have an easy-to-use tool for supporting joint deployments and force projection of U.S. forces.

"Well done!"

Paul Allred and Marc Barthello
Transportation Engineering Agency