Modeling Geospatial Interdependence for Integrated Municipal Infrastructure

This paper presents a computational model for establishing the interdependence among municipal assets. To create a multiyear plan for the maintenance of municipal asset networks, it is necessary to know the interdependencies among these assets. With this knowledge, it is then possible to avoid costly duplication of work and disruption of services to the public. The model offers a methodology to systematically group assets based on their location and geometry to support what is known as corridor rehabilitation of municipal assets. The paper contains an overview of the concepts of infrastructure asset interdependency and introduces a method that computationally generates a complete list of asset-to-asset relationships and quantifies the amount of physical overlap between them. The developed model is implemented in a geographic information systems environment to facilitate further use of operation and maintenance data that is commonly saved by a number of municipalities in that environment. A case study is presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed model. The study utilizes a small section of the road and water main distribution network in the district of Pointe-de Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Canada. The benefits of the developed model are discussed along with potential applications to support integrated municipal infrastructure management. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000065. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.