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from outside it looks like a standard

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van even the small pie shaped antenna

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and cameras on its roof are easy to miss

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but inside is specially designed

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equipment that revolutionizes method and

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greatly enhances management and

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maintenance of the nation's highways

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using satellite positioning signals

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researchers from nasa's center for the

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commercial development of space in ohio

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are producing highly accurate up-to-date

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maps simply by driving the streets

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maintaining contact with navigational

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satellites makes it possible to

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calculate exactly where the van is at

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all times

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and if the location of the van is known

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so is the position of the road it's on

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never before has mapping been so easy or

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precise

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not only is the information accurate and

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current it's also in digital form

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meaning it can be processed with

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computers this is of tremendous value to

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government agencies responsible for

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managing highways

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decisions such as the best route for

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hazardous cargo can be made far more

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quickly and reliably

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until now building an electronic

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database to support decision making like

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this required digitizing existing paper

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maps an expensive time-consuming

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imprecise process

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and often the maps worked from were over

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20 years old

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another major benefit of the mobile

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mapping system is data that can be

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obtained about highway features

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project personnel record this

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at the same time digital stereo cameras

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capture the position and condition of

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overpasses signs utility poles guard

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rails potholes and any other features

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useful to highway planners

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project manager philip johnson if you

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have all this information in a digital

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form and you know that you have a budget

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of so many dollars then you can look at

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your the roads that are in the worst

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condition

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you'll know exactly where these sections

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are that need repair and then from that

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you can determine how to allocate your

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money so that you get them the most

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benefit from it

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the technology can also be transferred

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to trains

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boats for waterways or aircraft for

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larger geographic features

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the system could even be part of future

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rovers mapping the surface of the moon

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on mars

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another application is the mapping and

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documentation of archaeological sites

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including anasazi indian ruins in the

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southwestern united states we could take

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our system and drive to one of these

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ruins take some images of it and not

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only would we have its position we'd

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have a visual record of it that would be

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very valuable in the future

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the mobile mapping system

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using signals from space

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to obtain valuable information about