Evacuation Route Selection Based on Tree-Based Hazards Using Light Detection and Ranging and GIS
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 4
Abstract
Falling trees pose a great hazard to the safe and uninterrupted use of the road transportation system during storm events. The present process of manually identifying potentially hazardous trees is laborious and inefficient. This paper presents a novel methodology for automating the tree threat identification process by using airborne laser altimetry data and a geographical information system (GIS). This methodology has the potential to be used for selecting the best possible evacuation routes based on tree hazards. The proposed method harnesses the power of spatial analysis functionality provided by existing GIS software and high-quality, three-dimensional (3D) data obtained from an airborne laser scanning system. This paper highlights the benefits related to using: (1) Height calculation of tall objects; (2) identification of hazardous objects; and (3) object identification from irregular 3D light detection and ranging point data over the currently employed manual methods.
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Acknowledgments
The writers thank Dr. John Stone of North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the Southeastern Transportation Center at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for their generous support of this project. The writers also thank Dr. David Bloomquist of the University of Florida at Gainesville for suggesting automation of tree-based hazard analysis. The data were obtained from Ms. Sarah Wray, the North Carolina Emergency Agency, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, and the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Science at NCSU.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 4 • April 2006
Pages: 312 - 320
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: May 6, 2004
Accepted: Sep 22, 2005
Published online: Apr 1, 2006
Published in print: Apr 2006
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