Geodan Develops Vehicle Incident Management System for Dutch Motorways, Reduces Response Times by 25% and CO2 Emissions by 50%
 
 

Geodan Develops Vehicle Incident Management System for Dutch Motorways, Reduces Response Times by 25% and CO2 Emissions by 50%

  • Oracle Customer:  Geodan
    Location:  Amsterdam, the Netherlands
    Industry:  Public Sector
    Employees:  120
    Annual Revenue:  Under $100 Million

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Geodan, winner of Oracle’s 2011 Eco-Enterprise Innovation Award, is a leading geo-information and communications technology (ICT) consultancy firm, specializing in supplying location data via innovative technologies. The agency advises clients on geo-data issues and develops tailor-made geographic information system (GIS) solutions.

In 2007, Stichting Incident Management Nederland (SIMN)—an agency that works with various emergency centers and the Dutch Highways Agency (Rijkswaterstaat), and is responsible for calling in recovery services—commissioned Geodan to develop an application for handling highway incidents and for measuring how fast a rescuer can arrive on site.

Geodan used Oracle Database 11g to develop the Aanrijdtijdensysteem Incident Management (AIM) system which has proven instrumental in clearing up motorway jams after traffic accidents and incidents. As recovery operators are subject to a performance-related bonus and penalty system, AIM—based on Oracle Database—links, records, and analyzes the locations of hundreds of daily reported incidents with 500 recovery vehicles’ real-time location data, so SIMN can effectively monitor and remunerate recovery operators’ performance.

Further, data and reports generated by the system enables SIMN to demonstrate more efficient incident management on Dutch freeways. After an incident is reported, AIM calculates the adjusted response time of the route to a vehicle in difficulties. Information such as the name of the recovery (towing) company, car registration data, time of arrival, and route of the recovery vehicle are stored, monitored and reported. As a result, SIMN cut its response times by an average of 25% and reduced CO2 emissions by 50%.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from Geodan

  • “The main challenge we faced in developing the AIM system for SIMN was finding a flexible and powerful database environment that could link the locations of hundreds of reported incidents everyday with the real-time location data of roughly 500 recovery vehicles. Oracle Database 11g provides that basis, so we can make a real contribution to safer roads, while at the same time drastically reducing traffic jams and CO2 emissions.” – Hans Verlouw, Engineer, Geodan

  • Develop a system to link, store, and analyze large quantities of real-time geo-data coming in from traffic incidents and roughly 500 recovery vehicles—to ensure accurate performance-based pay for recovery operators and improve traffic flow
  • Integrate many analysis options for real-time recovery vehicle monitoring to generate reports about response times and movements, including adjustments for traffic jams and other delays, like ad hoc road closures by the emergency services
  • Provide insight into recovery companies’ performance during traffic incidents, as recovery operators are subject to performance-related pay through a bonus and penalty system

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Developed the AIM system based on Oracle Database 11g to enable SIMN to collect, analyze, and report on the vast quantities of real-time geodata and other data relating to traffic incidents and resolution
  • Produced comprehensive reports with detailed statistics by day or month and enabled SIMN to chart performance by recovery operator, variation of response times, geodata, and the duration of a recovery operation to streamline and monitor the process more efficiently
  • Provided a well documented and proven basis for the evaluation and payment of recovery operators through AIM’s analyses and reports
  • Enabled faster data processing and analysis with Oracle Database 11g and Oracle PL/SQL functions, thus supporting more efficient incident management, and reducing response times by an average of 25%
  • Minimized traffic delays thanks to faster incident management, minimizing durations of traffic jams and helping to reduce CO2 emissions by 50%
  • Received Oracle’s Eco-Enterprise Innovation Award in 2011 on the basis that the AIM system delivers a real contribution to reducing CO2 emissions resulting from traffic jams in the Netherlands

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