Preparing the plans to dual this 3-mile section of road involved a large volume of data. Without proper management this could have acted as a barrier to extracting the right information and making informed decisions. Mott MacDonald provided a comprehensive and centralised digital twin and data management solution for the road improvement project – Moata Geospatial.
Moata Geospatial, our powerful online GIS data collaboration portal, together with Moata Land Management, our system for handling all aspects of land management, provide a controlled central data repository for project information. The system is permission trimmed to secure access to approved users, and does not require the purchase of additional software. Moata Geospatial supports various data types from CAD models, to embed site photos and reports into spatial data layers. This integrates data into a single platform, allowing easy comparison of designs to other layers such as environmental constraints and land ownership boundaries.
Users also have access to extra tools within the platform, such as buffering and real time location tracking. Direct links to Moata Land Management provide authorised users with a centralised database for managing land ownership details, stakeholder engagement and surveys (with a full audit trail of documents created). Many land management processes are automated, such as the generation of reports adhering to client supplied or legal templates (including the CPO Book of Reference), and the production of statutory notices.
The system has been used extensively across the A303 project to support teams with data visualisation, optioneering and monitoring. The centralised platform acts as a single source of truth and has resulted in more efficient and collaborative working. For example, the system is used on the weekly design calls between discipline leads and by environmental teams to review constraints and potential impacts of the scheme. Quantified net efficiency savings of over £110,000 have been reported given design drawings for meetings, presentations and circulation within teams no longer need to be produced (all designs can be shown interactively on the system). This saves time, money and resources, with thousands of pieces of paper saved. The ability to connect anywhere with an internet signal has also allowed for the system’s use in public consultations, while the ability to track location in real time has enabled teams to use the system on portable devices on site, providing augmented reality where they can compare their designs to actual ground locations.
The use of Moata Land Management has increased efficiency in the survey workstream by up to 20%. The ability to feed relevant land ownership information back into Moata Geospatial provides a seamless flow between spatial and non-spatial data.
“The innovative use of Moata on this project has led to more efficient working, allowing the project team (designer and client) to collaboratively access and interpret key information. One particular strength of this software is its integration with the project’s customer relationship management package, allowing interrogation of elements of the scheme design in Moata to link directly to correspondence logs for nearby affected businesses; this has ensured that project team members can be fully appraised of the history of communications, reducing the risk of turnover of staff to the project.
In relation to design, having a digital twin for the project within the system with multiple layers for different elements of the design has enabled collaborative discussions between design teams and the client without the need to produce multiple separate plans. It has also been indispensable in communications with key stakeholders such as landowners, allowing project team members to show them interactive plans of their property in relation to the designed scheme.” – Elliot Hayes, Project Manager (Regional Investment Programme South West) – Highways England