www.coord.co | 335 Madison Ave, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10017

CHALLENGE

AECOM maps the digital curb in Philadelphia in just a few days

CASE STUDY

AECOM designs, builds, finances and operates critical infrastructureassets for governments, businesses and organizations.

101

One of AECOM’s areas of specialty is transportation whichdevelops and executes projects such as the expansion of rail, busroutes and traffic models, pedestrian and cyclist routes as well asscenario planning for autonomous vehicles.

A huge component of transportation planning relies heavily on parkingdata.  Every time a transport change is recommended to the city, itmust be accompanied by an environmental impact report that ofteninvolves answering questions like: ‘What parking is available adjacentto a new line? Is it sufficient to support the community?’.

Until recently, this data had not been available at a detailed level, as it is usually rolled up to high-level estimates only.The alternative to this estimation is data collection via manual surveying, which, while valuable, can be labor and timeintensive as well as expensive to gather – and can become outdated relatively quickly.

Simply put, the granular parking data required to understand the impact of transport changes cities want to considerwas just not available.

D I G I T A LC U R BM I L E S

240 P E R S O NH O U R S

C E N T E R C I T Y

L O G A N S Q U A R E

U N I V E R S I T Y C I T Y

S O U T H S T R E E T

R I T T E N H O U S E S Q U A R E

Because we could collectthe data so much morequickly and simply, we’remore readily able to geta deeper layer of thatdata for analysis

245 M I L E SS U R V E Y E D

( D O U B L E C O V E R A G E F O R D A T A V E R I F I C A T I O N )

7 B U S I N E S SD A Y S

( 4 - 5 D A T A C O L L E C T O R S E A C H D A Y )

www.coord.co | 335 Madison Ave, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10017

SOLUTION

CASE STUDY

Using Coord’s Surveyor app, AECOM was tasked to collect comprehensive and precise curb data inthe city of Philadelphia, and fast.  The firm was able to collect data for 101 Philadelphia curb miles injust 240 man hours, capturing all curb assets along the way to then be translated by the Coord teaminto a new regulations map for the city’s curbs. Coord requires double coverage for data verificationin the platform, so AECOM surveyors actually covered more than twice the amount of ground inorder to collect the necessary data. Using augmented reality (AR) technology, the Surveyor app from Coord captures curb asset data in afraction of the time of traditional methods. The app accurately positions curb assets on digital maps,without the need for measuring wheels or manual data entry. The surveyor simply needs to walk down the street, taking pictures of parking signs and other curbfeatures – like fire hydrants, bus stops and ADA curb ramps – which the AR functionality accuratelypositions on the corresponding map. The data is then translated into  curb regulations in therespective area for any given time in the day or week.

“The Surveyor tool really simplified the process forour data collectors. It was easy to use, andtherefore fast to train the team. For the 101 milesof curb miles digitally mapped, our surveyorswalked a total of 245 miles ― doubling coveragefor data integrity and resolving issuessystematically. By using Coord’s toolkit, we helpedgather the data to complete a digitized

Working with Coord for thePhiladelphia project was so easy –

the tools were intuitive and theresults were high quality.

RESULT

– Ryan Winn, AECOM Transportation Planner

This is how AECOM was able to capture 22,000 curb assets across six neighborhoods, with just four to five surveyors over aseven day period for Coord. 

The Coord Surveyor app can be installed on any recent model iPhone. No other equipment is required―not even a SIM card,as data can be surveyed and uploaded later on wifi. Following collection, Coord’s Curb Analytics platform has mapping tools that cities and engineers can use to clearly displayand analyze curbs to do their planning in real-time. These accurate data and easy mapping and graph tools can be accessedvia subscription, with new cities being regularly added to the Coord platform. Exporting data to other formats such as GIS, issimple and can help firms integrate the data into other projects, planning or even bids for upcoming opportunities. “Because we could collect data much more quickly and simply, we were able to more effectively analyze and put theinformation to use for our client,” says Ryan.  And beyond today? How can the Surveyor tool be used in other applications in future? “We can see an interesting future for Coord. It could become the data tool that drives the dynamic pricing and utilization ofspaces in real-time. This will be a valuable lever in the transportation planning industry,” according to Ryan.

map of all six neighborhoods that can be used for planning projects,” says Ryan Winn, Transportation Planner at AECOM.