Road Safety and Google Glass Pilot

Fireseeds North Infrastructure launches a pilot program to customize and apply Google Glass technology to conduct in-service road safety reviews.  

What is an in-service road safety review?

An in-service road safety review is an in-depth engineering study of an existing road using road safety principles with the purpose of identifying cost-effective countermeasures that would improved. It is generally most effective at locations where a high collision risk has been identified. It involves a day-time and night-time site visit and produces actionable short-term and long-term recommendations as applicable.

Why Google Glass?

In a typical in-service road safety review, lots of paper is taken to the field: checklists, drawings, collision records, and a clipboard for note taking. Google Glass can streamline the process by pre-loading all this information and providing hands-free ability to record pictures, notes, videos, issues and recommendations, which are automatically transcribed, georeferenced, and uploaded to a site map.

What is the Pilot?

We are collaborating with VisualSpection to get the Google Glass pre-loaded with the checklists and work flow for a Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) compliant in-service road safety review. In Phase 1 of the pilot, beginning February 2015, we will do twenty-five in-service reviews across five jurisdictions, collaborating with transport agency staff to evaluate the technology (and providing actionable reviews). In Phase 2, beginning summer 2015, we will improve the technology based on Phase 1, and plan to take on another 50 reviews in 10 more jurisdictions.

Contact: Rebecca Peterniak, pilot project manager: rebecca.peterniak@fireseedsnorth.ca OR Craig Milligan, P.Eng., pilot project technical lead: craig.milligan@fireseedsnorth.ca.