Points, lines and polygons are the basic representational features for GIS. Considering schedule or time along with costs and budget promotes a more in-depth look at reality. This consideration of additional dimensions is part of the next movement to be leveraged by performance asset managers. Having a system built with Esri technology provides a significant boost to web enabling geospatial information when it comes to point, line and polygon representations of features.

Without limit, features that can be represented in a Geographic Information System (GIS) such as water pipes, street signs and roadway segments are commonly expressed in an interactive map display. Further, as Esri’s stack of technology firmly moves into representations of vertical structures and extruded landscapes, these interactive web map displays have never been closer to matching the real world. VUEWorks® proudly leverages Esri technology for these powerful spatial model capabilities with seamless applicability.

Going beyond a spatial representation, looking at activities and modeled space over time is a logical requirement for both analysis and insight for effective governance. In other words, the “time” factor of representing assets is a critical capability.

What happened yesterday, what is happening today and what does the future hold are all common questions for asset managers, infrastructure work managers and planners. Budget forecasting, as a module with VUEWorks, exploits time in a couple of key ways that yields critical information to managers where guesswork is otherwise the alternative. As a system of record, VUEWorks maintains history both in terms of the assets that are worked on with labor, materials and equipment, but also this information is folded into budget scenario forecasting.

Temporally, Esri’s advances in dealing with time-based feature representations allows a user to consider how things were, are and may be in the future. Through robust options, simple configuration and wizard-driven scenario planning – the 5th dimension looks at dollars over time to provide real science to performance asset management and budget scenario planning. When considering the future in the 4th and 5th dimensions, a safe means of “what if” planning by using a wizard-driven interface is a real game changer for government officials.

Often decision makers and local government leaders have to endure challenging political climates and face competing needs with realistic and often limited resources. Running scenarios for decision making not only relieves some of the pressure, but offers a level of transparency and confidence into the decision making process through easy to navigate results.

As these dimensions (points, lines, polygons, time and budget) continue to evolve in their ease of use and technological integration with systems like VUEWorks, the advance in performance asset management will also continue to improve.
For more information on VUEWorks, please visit dtsgis.com or call 407-382-5222.