Hi, my name is Dusty Robinson
and I'm a consultant to the
Federal Highway Administration
on Transportation Hydraulics.
I have over 20 years of
engineering experience
on transportation hydraulics projects,
and a lot of that spent
conducting office reconnaissance
and site visits.
I also teach courses for the
National Highway Institute.
In this video, we're
going to be looking at
how to gather data electronically,
conduct an office
reconnaissance of a site,
and prepare for a site visit
for transportation drainage projects.
So, let's get started.
There are several topics to
consider prior to obtaining data
and conducting a site reconnaissance.
Determining some information in the office
to help you understand
the project will be key
to an effective site visit.
Consulting other disciplines
through this process
is really helpful, so that
important considerations
are not missed.
Now the first thing to consider is
what type of project will
you be scoping or working on.
There are many reasons for reconnaissance
and they may include
evaluating an existing culvert
or bridge for rehabilitation
or replacement,
evaluating a site for a
new bridge or culvert,
assessing roadway drainage systems,
maybe assessing channel stability
and the need for erosion control,
or investigating a maintenance concern.
The type of project will
dictate the kind of data
and information to obtain prior to
and during the site visit.
The next step will be to
determine any regulatory
and agency requirements for your project.
Potential considerations may
include floodplain permits,
Coast Guard permits in some waterways,
Clean Water Act 404
permits, or aquatic organism
or wildlife passage requirements.
Now this is not an all-inclusive list.
There may be permits,
restrictions, guidelines,
or other requirements you may
need to take into account.
You need to understand the federal, state,
or local requirements for your
project type and location.
Field forms can be very
useful for various types
of hydraulic and drainage field visits.
There are several disciplines
and agency-specific forms
that may be required.
Familiarize yourself with
the agency-specific forms
based on the project location and type.
The forms help provide a
checklist of items to be recorded
as part of the site reconnaissance.
You can begin to fill out some
of these forms in the office
prior to the site reconnaissance.
Then fill out the appropriate
portions in the field
and finish any remaining
sections back in the office
following the site visit.
Completed forms can be included as part
of a site reconnaissance summary report
or provided as stand alone documents
along with other documentation.
After determining the project
type regulatory requirements
in obtaining field forms for your project,
it's time to start finding data online
and through agency resources.
There are a lot of online
sources for obtaining data
that may be helpful on your project.
I find it helpful to categorize
data based on federal,
state, and local sources.
You should become familiar with a variety
of online resources based
on your project location.
Many of the FHWA hydraulic documents
include a list of
potential online resources.
This table provides a list
of some common federal sites.
There are also several online
and desktop mapping
applications that are helpful
for conducting office reconnaissance
of a project location.
Typical online data types
include terrain data,
aerial imagery both recent and historic,
various types of maps like topo maps,
street-view imagery, hydrologic
data, floodplain mapping,
or soil and land use
types, and several others
depending on your project.
In addition to online data,
agencies will typically have
information for existing structures
and you can request inspection
or maintenance reports,
as well as plan sets
if they are available.
In addition to digital data,
agency project managers,
engineers, or maintenance staff
can be invaluable resources
for helping you understand a project site.
As you prepare for you site visit,
create a list of what you want to capture.
The field forms mentioned
earlier are helpful guidance
at this point.
Typically data to collect includes:
measurements, field-form
requested data, high water marks,
structure photos, site photos, or damage.
We're just about ready to get
out from behind the computer
and get out into the
field but before we do,
we need to make sure we have
all of our equipment together
that's going to help us collect the data
that we need for our project.
The first item is probably
something you already have
with you and that's your smartphone.
You also might want to take
or prefer a mini tablet,
or maybe a full-size tablet depending
on the types of apps
that you use in the field
or the type of data you might collect.
Now all these devices,
you need to make sure
they have a good camera on them
and that the geotagging
feature is enabled,
so that all the information
we collect has geospatial data
locations associated with it.
And inline with that I like to
use an external GPS receiver.
These are more accurate and
provide a constant signal
compared to those on your device.
I think it's helpful to have a
backup battery pack with you,
especially for those longer field visits.
In case your devices run low on juice,
you can recharge those
with these power packs.
And if that happens, another
backup is just a pen and paper.
Taking good old fashion notes
that way is always successful.
And then I like to have some
type of measuring device
with me as well.
It might be just a standard tape measure.
Sometimes a folding tape can be helpful.
These are good to put in
a photo for scale as well.
If you need to make longer measurements,
some longer tape is useful
or potentially a laser range finder.
Some of these can pair
with your smart device
and upload the data to
an app on that device.
If you're going to be
in a dark space maybe
in a culvert or under a bridge,
some type of lighting
source is really helpful.
So, maybe just a flashlight.
My preference is a headlamp.
That way you can have light
on you and your hands are free
to steady yourself or use
any of your measuring devices
or applications.
It's always good to have
safety equipment as well.
So, make sure you have a safety vest,
especially if you're going
to be on a roadway corridor,
and a hard hat if needed.
Maybe if you're going
to be under structures
or in a construction zone.
And appropriate footwear is
really important as well.
So, some good sturdy boots.
If you're going to be in the water,
you also might want some hip
waders or maybe chest waders,
so that you can get wet and
not ruin your fancy clothes
for the office.
And then all this stuff
doesn't fit in your pockets,
so we need something
to pack and carry this
with us in the field.
My preferences is a front pack,
because all the equipment is
right here in front of you
and easily accessible.
If you don't have one of these or prefer,
you can just use a regular backpack.
And don't forget some
water to stay hydrated,
and some snacks to give you some energy
while you're out in the field.
Enjoy.
After collecting data in the field,
the next steps will be getting
into an organized format,
along with the data you obtained
during the initial office reconnaissance.
Most people will find that
it's best to get all the data
into a digital format
organized into folders,
usually saved on a common
server or cloud location,
so that the project team
can access the data.
Some agencies may have
required field summary formats
which should have been determined
prior to the site visit that
would need to be completed
following the site visit.
This concludes our video on data mining.
I hope this has been helpful.
Thanks so much for watching.
