Strapped budgets and limited resources mean it’s important for agencies to efficiently and effectively use equipment, especially in snow and ice operations. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is a case and point. The system it was using wasn’t achieving this, so NJDOT began use of the GPS “MARVLIS” System for better allocation and control of the agency’s resources, explains Rich Shaw, assistant commissioner of operators for NJDOT, at the 2012 American Public Works Association (APWA) Snow Conference. Shaw says his agency needed the ability to “playback” the location of its resources and to improve the collaboration with NJSP and other state agencies in an emergency.

NJDOT was able to capitalize on the New Jersey State Police’s (NJSP) new statewide “P-25” communication system that was being installed by Motorola. The MARVLIS System uses using geographic information system (GIS) technology integrated with wireless communication and the Global Positioning System (GPS) to develop successful public safety operations. The system brings fundamental changes and significant improvement to the management and deployment of time-sensitive services, such as with winter maintenance operations. Intelligent routing, live graphic display of current and required resources and on-demand innovative analysis are also part of the system.

For more on this, see the June 2012 issue of Better Roads or check out the June 2012 Better Roads Digital Edition. Click here for a downloadable PDF of the presentation from the 2012 American Public Works Association (APWA) Snow ConferencClick here for a downloadable PDF of the presentation from the 2012 American Public Works Association (APWA) Snow Conference.e.