The use of old and new technology has saved the City of Whittlesea a great deal of time and money. Every two years, all footpaths need to be audited to ensure that they are not cracked or have sunk. Using officers on bicycles fitted with palm pilot computers and linked to a Global Positioning System (GPS) has improved the efficiency of the process.
Council’s Director Infrastructure and Technology, Neill Hocking, said in the past, people walked around with bits of paper and then re-entered the data when they got back into the office.
“They are now linked into a Global Positioning System and can enter the data about a damaged footpath at the spot,” he said. “We then have a highly accurate record of where works need to be done and we can then prioritise these across the municipality.”
Despite the City of Whittlesea’s rapid growth, far more footpaths to survey this year, the time taken to complete the survey has shrunk from six months to ten weeks.
“This is a highly efficient saving in terms of both data entry and time taken to get the job done,” Neill Hocking said.
Councils sought permission from local police before using the bicycles to check footpaths. Bicycles are ridden at walking pace during footpath evaluations.
