To improve its snowplow operation efficiency, the DC Office of Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) in a joint effort with DDOT, contacted Enterprise Information Solutions (EnterInfo) in late October of 2003 requesting a pilot snowplow tracking system to be completed for DC by the Holiday time.  As the pilot implementation was successfully delivered, DDOT consequently completed the full implementation in 2004.  Today, the system tracks as many as 400 snowplow trucks during the winter providing advanced AVL capabilities and road treatment status for DDOT to manage its winter fleets.

The system integrates GIS technology with GPS and wireless communication to provide real-time maps and reports benefiting the managing, balancing, and estimating of the plow and salting operations.  As the Capitol of the nation, DDOT maintains the highest level of security on its network.  The EnterInfo team worked closely with the DDOT IT department to ensure all of the system components including servers, application, wireless equipments, communication protocols as well as the installation and support services met the security requirements.

To provide near real-time road condition status to the public, the system uses ESRI ArcGIS technology to publish road condition maps on the Internet.  Colors of the road show whether the road is plowed and/or salted.  Using a browser, public users can click a road or enter a road name to find out the treatment condition on the road.

EnterInfo provided complete snowplow AVL solutions for DDOT.  Systems and services delivered included:

• Server Configurations
• Security Compliance
• Server Applications
• Vehicle Installations and Configurations
• Communication testing
• Pre-season system and equipment testing
• Support and Training
• Software Upgrade
• Snow Emergency Support
• Post-Season Database Support

After the initial implementation, EnterInfo provides support and preventive services for DDOT.  These include a pre-season integration and stress test testing the entire system with all hardware and software components.  Included in this test is a complete hardware test of each of the in-vehicle units.  During the winter season, EnterInfo provides staff on-site and/or over VPN connections for system troubleshooting and repair.  After the winter season ends, Enterinfo also provides post-season database maintenance services for the archiving of the collected data.