The Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies has awarded a $100,000 National Cooperative Highway Research Program grant to Virginia Tech’s Center for Geospatial Information Technology (CGIT) to prepare and disseminate information about geospatial technologies in the right-of-way (ROW) data management process. ROW refers to the property along existing or proposed roads and highways necessary to build or expand public facilities.

The grant will enable CGIT to accomplish three major activities:
=> Perform a literature search and prepare a bibliography of ROW/land management systems, including a list of website references;
=> Prepare six case studies using “real-world” examples that demonstrate the return on investment for a diversity of ROW systems that use geospatial applications and/or data-integration models; and
=> Identify the hundreds of data elements necessary for a geospatial data management system for planning and management/administration, engineering and mapping, property appraisal and acquisition, property/asset management, utility relocation, outdoor advertising, and corridor preservation as part of ROW functions.

In choosing Virginia Tech from nine other universities and consulting groups, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program review panel said CGIT’s proposal demonstrated the best understanding of the research to be performed. The panel commended Virginia Tech’s hands-on approach of having the research team make on-site visits with the case study subjects and its ability to speak to the importance of marketing the information to decision makers and managers as well as potential users of the geospatial data management systems.

“Virginia Tech is pleased with this opportunity to provide transportation agencies with examples of data management systems that improve efficiency by reducing both time and expense,” said Kitty Hancock, associate director of the Center for Geospatial Information Technology.

Virginia Tech has fostered a growing partnership with the greater metropolitan Washington D.C. community since 1969. Today, the university’s presence in the National Capital Region includes graduate programs and research centers in Alexandria, Falls Church, Leesburg, Manassas, and Middleburg. In addition to supporting the university’s teaching and research mission, Virginia Tech’s National Capital Region has established collaborations with local and federal agencies, businesses, and other institutions of higher education.

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