Pavia Systems HeadLight software. Photo Credit: Pavia SystemsInspectors for the Texas Department of Transportation might soon have a new tool that could make their jobs a little easier.
TxDOT has been testing out equipping each of the state’s roughly 1,100 inspectors with tablets loaded with software tailored for their work. According to the Houston Chronicle, the new tablets could help save time and money for the department in a time where workers might become stretched thin with well over $2.5 billion worth of transportation projects coming in the next two years.
Several inspectors in Houston were given the tablets as part of the test, which the state hopes will help get a federal grant to pay for the devices’ implementation statewide. The tablets are loaded with Pavia Systems software called HeadLight which gives inspectors quick access to project details and allows them to save time on sending daily reports and status updates.
“Across the country, the state of the practice hasn’t changed,” Pavia Systems co-founder Si Katara said. “You’re going to the jobsite and jotting notes down there and maybe snapping photos with a digital camera. … Then you’re going back to the office or the truck to file a report.”
Katara said that one of the obstacles of integrating the new technology is that the road construction industry is typically a late-adopter. But he said the inspectors who tested the tablets, even those skeptical, found that they were incredibly helpful. The tablets saved the inspectors more than 100 minutes each day and increased the amount of data collected by 275 percent.
On top of the time saved, the tablets also make the job more precise for inspectors. Each photo taken for a report is automatically timestamped and geotagged.
TxDOT was pleased with the results from the first test of the tablets, but there is more testing to come as the state applies for grant money from the Federal Highway Administration.
