Asset managers, service providers and other organisations in the land transport sector will soon be speaking the same language, thanks to the Asset Management Data Standard (AMDS) project.
The AMDS programme establishes a national data standard for land transport assets and a common language for the sector. It is a uniform way of defining and describing land transport assets, their attributes, characteristics, properties, location and performance to enable efficient and effective end-to-end lifecycle asset management.
Civil Contractors NZ is supportive of having a common standard across the NZ roading network and is collaborating with Waka Kotahi to connect them with industry. It will be particularly useful given the increase in the use of BIM modelling and digital twins for civil infrastructure projects.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has been working with transport sector enterprises, including Downer, Fulton Hogan and Higgins, along with The Road Efficiency Group (REG) and wider local government, to develop the standard.
Currently, transport asset data is inconsistent and incomplete, making it difficult to exchange, compare, benchmark and analyse.
Waka Kotahi says this duplication, inconsistency and a lack of efficiency and effectiveness affects its ability to make informed investment decisions on behalf of New Zealand taxpayers and ratepayers.
The organisation’s website says the new standard will achieve significant benefits through improved efficiencies, network planning and enable better investment decision-making.
At a national level, the standard will improve maintenance investment in the shorter term and end-to-end lifecycle asset management investment over time. It will also provide a platform to integrate with wider infrastructure planning.
Locally, road controlling authorities will be able to reduce costs associated with data capture, manipulation and reporting. Standardising data will give each organisation access to benchmarking and analysis of how to maximise maintenance spend. It will enable local government partners to make stronger, evidence-based cases for central government investment.
Waka Kotahi says the new data standard will also pave the way for a digital engineering future. The AMDS is one of the building blocks to enable a Digital Engineering for Transport and Building Information Modelling approach by providing an agreed set of definitions, labels, categories and data requirements for land transport assets across New Zealand.
Rollout of the detailed implementation plan will start in July 2022.
Attend a drop in session
Online drop-in sessions will be run by Waka Kotahi on Tuesday, 18 May and Thursday, 20 May to explain the impact of the standard and what it means businesses and organisations involved in the land transport sector. People can attend the sessions by registering on Waka Kotahi’s website.