February 28, 2008 -- Oxford, UK - The integrated highway services company A-one+ has awarded a contract to Yotta DCL for a high-tech survey of the entire 500km road network within the Greater Manchester/Liverpool conurbation. The survey will use Yotta DCL's groundbreaking Nano technology with high-resolution 360-degree photography for precision mapping of highway inventory throughout the area known as the Highways Agency Area 10.

Yotta DCL will give A-one+ a pixel-by-pixel accurate picture of existing inventory to compare with data held on the Highways Agency's computer system. The additional benefits for A-one+ of Yotta DCL's unique digital asset collection survey are speed, safety, lack of disruption to road users, and lower costs.

In a trial, Yotta DCL surveyed the M6 to compile an up-to-date status of white lining, signs, lamp columns and barriers. On the basis of the accuracy of the survey results, Yotta DCL was awarded the contract to extend the survey to the rest of the network for additional inventory items, including detector loops, anti-skid surfaces, kerbs, node points, road studs and marker posts.

“By using Yotta DCL's video we were able to check that we were getting true answers. We now wish to perform the asset collection survey across the entire 500km network to gain a complete snapshot of an extensive list of inventory,” says Paul Stringer, Programme Development Manager, A-one.

The Yotta DCL survey team uses a specially designed and developed vehicle equipped with six automated cameras that provide a full street-level view of the highway. The cameras take a photograph every 2 metres as the vehicle drives along, with the precise position of each item recorded by GPS. These photographs are processed by the Nano software. The data is then evaluated and analysed pixel-by-pixel to give a highly accurate view of each inventory item captured on the journey.

“The key feature of the survey is accurate automatic asset extraction. This eradicates human error which is inherent to manual video reviews and significantly reduces the time taken to compile results. I believe nothing else on the market does this,” concludes Paul Stringer.

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Enquiries to David Lowe, Yotta DCL, +44 (0)1865 261 826,
david.lowe@yotta.tv