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Why bid to map the underworld is no pipe dream
By Geoff Fox IT'S THE stuff of nightmares for motorists.
No sooner has one utility company filled in the hole on your road than another comes along and digs it up again.
But researchers at the University of Leeds are about to make life much easier for the UK's stressed-out drivers who are sick of the sight of temporary traffic lights.
They have teamed up with the University of Nottingham and a host of major firms to create the country's first-ever 3D underworld map.
The 2.2m VISTA Project will map with centimetre accuracy the hundreds of thousands of miles of pipes and cables buried under Britain's roads.
And it is estimated the cutting-edge technology, which will integrate existing digital and paper-based records with data from satellite and ground-based positioning systems, will save the UK billions by reducing the amount of roads we need to dig up.
"We'll always need to dig holes in the street, but reducing the amount of roadworks would bring enormous economic and environmental benefits, with fewer traffic jams and exhaust emissions," said professor of automated reasoning Tony Cohn, who is leading the research at Leeds.
"From a human point of view, we also hope to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries every year from accidental hits on gas pipes and electrical cables."
Four million holes are dug each year in the nation's road – one every seven seconds – to repair pipes and cables or install new ones, at an estimated cost of 1 billion.
With indirect costs, such as congestion, this rises to an estimated 5 billion each year – over 80 for every inhabitant of the UK. By creating more accurate information, the project will help reduce the numbers of holes, ensure they are dug in the right place and that unexpected pipes and cables are not damaged in the process.
Costs
Reducing roadworks by just 0.1 per cent would save the UK economy millions each year.
Prof Cohn added: "Many of the country's underground pipes were laid in the 19th and early 20th century, when it wasn't seen as important to keep accurate records of location and depth.
"Our aim is to create the technology to enable the construction of a dynamic map of all the UK's underground assets."
The resulting map will able to be displayed visually on a PC in the office or handheld unit in the street.
geoff.fox@ypn.co.uk
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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