Memorandum

To
Pavement engineer, county or state road authority
From
Road Surface Condition
Re
Rating every paved segment before the paving list is set
Cycle
Annual, ahead of budget season

Rate the whole network once a year, before the paving list is set.

Road Surface Condition classifies cracking, raveling and patching on every paved segment from very-high-resolution imagery, then ranks the segments so your windshield crew starts where the surface is worst.

Start a pilotSee how it's scored
Schematic road cross-section with distress shading heaviest in the wheelpaths
Schematic, not survey output. Shading marks where fatigue cracking usually starts: in the wheelpaths, under the loads.

Survey specification

GSD
≤0.3 m (VHR)
Cadence
Annual
Platform
VHR satellite / aerial
Spectral
RGB
Reported by
Road segment

Section 01. How the paving list gets built now

In most county road departments the ratings come from a pickup. Two people drive the network and give each segment a PASER number from 1 to 10 through the windshield, or a consultant runs a PCI distress survey on part of the system. The numbers go into the pavement management system, or a spreadsheet keyed to segment IDs, and in late winter the engineer turns them into next season's paving list.1

It hurts in two places. A rating crew can't drive every centerline mile every season, so some of the network goes into the budget meeting on ratings from an earlier cycle. And the ratings you do have depend on who was in the passenger seat: one rater's 5 is another rater's 6. The road a commissioner called about gets looked at. The low-traffic road out by the county line waits another year.

A two-lane rural highway running over a rise between fields and power poles, its centerline joint sealed and darkened
Fig. 1. A sealed centerline joint on a two-lane highway. From the cab, a rater sees this at speed, one segment at a time.

Section 02. What comes back

One delivery per annual pass, in files your GIS and pavement management system already open. On a pilot, that covers the pilot area you pick.

  1. 2.1

    Segment condition layer

    Your own segments, keyed to your segment IDs, each carrying a condition class and the distress types found on it. Shapefile or GeoPackage, ready for ArcGIS or QGIS.2

  2. 2.2

    Distress classification

    For each segment, which of fatigue (alligator) cracking, raveling and patching is concentrated there, and a severity class for it.

  3. 2.3

    Ranked segment list

    A CSV sorted worst-first by condition class, with segment ID, route name, length and the dominant distress. Paste it straight into the paving-list worksheet.

  4. 2.4

    Low-confidence flags

    Segments under canopy, in heavy shadow or without a clear image get a flag and a reason. They go on the windshield crew's list.3

  5. 2.5

    Year-over-year change

    From the second annual pass on, each segment shows whether its class held or dropped since last year.

Section 03. How a pilot runs

  1. 3.1

    Network in

    Send your route shapefile with segment IDs, or a boundary if you don't keep one and we agree segment breaks with you. Mark which roads are in the pilot area.

  2. 3.2

    Imagery

    We pick the clearest VHR satellite or aerial pass of the season over that area, at 0.3 m or finer.4

  3. 3.3

    Classification

    Every paved segment is classified for distress type and severity. Segments the imagery can't see clearly are flagged instead.

  4. 3.4

    Delivery

    The segment layer, the ranked CSV and the flag list. We set the delivery date against your budget calendar at the start, then walk you through the top of the list on a call.5

Section 04. For the paving-list meeting

Use it as the first pass that sets the order. The ranked list says which segments look worst from above. Your inspector drives the top of it, makes the treatment call (crack seal, chip seal, mill and overlay, or reconstruction), and the confirmed segments go into the resurfacing program and the capital improvement plan. Flagged segments get a windshield rating like they do today.6

Every paved segment the imagery can see is classified every year, so the roads nobody drove this cycle are no longer a blank row. If you run a preservation program instead of worst-first, read the list from the other end: the segments sitting in the fair classes are where crack seal and chip seal still buy you time.

Section 05. Who this is for, and who it isn't

For

  • Pavement and county engineers who build the annual resurfacing program and the paving list behind it.
  • Road departments with more centerline miles than the rating crew can drive in one season.
  • State and regional road authorities that want one consistent first pass across districts before field crews go out.

Not for

  • Anyone who needs a certified PCI or PASER score for a grant, a state submission or a contract. Your survey does that.
  • Structural or ride-quality measurement. There is no IRI, rut depth, deflection or core data here; imagery sees the surface only.
  • Pothole tracking by the month. The cadence is annual.
  • Scoping or costing the contract. It shows where the surface is worst, and the treatment and estimate stay with you.
  • Gravel and dirt roads. The distress classes are paved-surface distresses.

Section 06. Questions before a pilot

  1. Q1Does this replace our PASER or PCI survey?

    No. It ranks where to send the survey crew first. The segments at the top of the list still get rated in person before contracts are let.

  2. Q2Can we submit it to the state as our condition data?

    Don't. Anything filed as a condition rating should come from your trained raters. This layer stays in your own office, for planning.

  3. Q3How do we check it against our own ratings?

    Pick a pilot area your crew rated recently and don't send us those ratings. When the delivery lands, compare our classes with your numbers segment by segment and decide whether the ranking is good enough to plan with.

  4. Q4What about roads under trees or in shadow?

    Coverage is imperfect there. Those segments are flagged low-confidence and stay on your windshield list.

  5. Q5What resolution does this need?

    VHR imagery at 0.3 m or finer, which is what the pass runs on. That shows patches and broken-up surface. It won't trace a single hairline crack.

  6. Q6Will it load into our pavement management system?

    It comes as a shapefile or GeoPackage plus a CSV, keyed to your segment IDs, so anything that reads a GIS layer or a spreadsheet can take it. We don't write into your system directly.

  7. Q7How often is it updated?

    Once a year, timed to your budget cycle. There are no monthly updates.

  8. Q8Does cloud cover delay a pass?

    Yes. Optical imagery needs a clear-sky window, so a cloudy spring can push the pass later in the season.

  9. Q9Who owns the results and the imagery?

    Ownership and licence terms for the deliverables and the underlying imagery are written into the pilot agreement before anything is ordered. If your county attorney needs to review them, ask for them early.

  10. Q10How is a pilot bought and priced?

    The quote depends on network length and imagery source, and we price it for your pilot area. Tell us how your county buys professional services and we'll scope the pilot to fit that process.

Action requested

Get your network rated before the next budget cycle.

Tell us which roads you'd put in the pilot area and when the paving list is due. We'll tell you straight whether the imagery calendar can meet it.

Start a pilot