Congrs annuel de la Socit canadienne de gnie civil Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Montral,

Qubec, Canada 5-8 juin 2002 / June 5-8, 2002

AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR GIS-BASED CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Mahmoud R. HalfawyA, David PyzohaB, and Taymour El-HosseinyB A Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, Canada B EMH&T, Inc., 170 Mill Street, Gahanna, Ohio 43230, USA

ABSTRACT: The increasing demands to sustain acceptable performance levels of civil infrastructure systems combined with declining maintenance budget present significant challenges to infrastructure management agencies. More efficient and cost-effective techniques need to be developed to enable better management of our infrastructure assets. Many infrastructure management software tools have been developed to address the increasing complexity of infrastructure systems. However, most of these tools were developed for stand-alone use, and thus lack an integrated and comprehensive view to the infrastructure management process and the ability to interoperate with other tools. This paper presents an integrated component-based framework that would enable the implementation of knowledge-intensive GIS-based infrastructure management systems. The framework defines four-tier architecture: the GIS interface tier, the applications tier, the infrastructure management components tier, and the data/knowledge repository tier. The GIS interface provides a single access point to various applications and framework components, and enables data access through spatial representation of the infrastructure. The applications tier includes a set of function-specific software tools. The infrastructure management components tier implements a set of reusable components that provide common domain specific services. The data/knowledge repository tier maintains a store for infrastructure data and a knowledge base where infrastructure management knowledge can be captured, represented, shared, and reused. Several issues related to information modeling and integration are discussed. A prototype that supports management of sanitary and storm water sewer systems is also presented.

1.

INTRODUCTION

The increasing number of aging infrastructure systems combined with the declining maintenance budget present unprecedented challenges to infrastructure management agencies to sustain acceptable performance levels and to meet the high demands of these systems. Many initiatives and research projects have been launched with the aim to develop and implement new technologies that can potentially assist in meeting these challenges. Need for new techniques to improve the efficiency of managing our civil infrastructure systems is evident. In particular, there is an obvious need to develop information technology solutions that can integrate various aspects of infrastructure management, and to support multi-disciplinary decision-making and the sharing of infrastructure information. Infrastructure management involves a wide range of issues such as inspection and data collection, condition assessment, performance evaluation, prediction of future performance, planning and prioritizing maintenance and repair operations, and evaluating alternative technical and economic policies. Besides

these technical issues, a wide range of managerial, financial, social, and political issues are also involved. Civil infrastructure systems are typically managed by a multi-disciplinary team of stakeholders, each represent a particular view of the system. Understanding and supporting an integrated approach to infrastructure management is a key factor that would determine the success of any technological solution in the domain. An integrative and multidisciplinary approach to infrastructure management (Grigg, 1999) is necessary to address the wide spectrum of requirements and constraints of the diverse perspectives of different stakeholders. Many new techniques and methods have been developed during the last decade in an attempt to improve the infrastructure management process. Significant advances have also been made in developing computer-based infrastructure management tools to support activities in various infrastructure management domains such as pavement and bridge management, sanitary/storm water sewers management, and water supply management. Such tools have supported a wide spectrum of functionality, such as inventory and condition data management and reporting, maintenance management, and operations management, and employed a wide range of advanced algorithms for multi-objective optimization, probabilistic deterioration models for life cycle cost analysis, and analytical and simulation techniques to accurately simulate and analyze systems performance. However, the majority of these tools were developed to function as stand-alone systems with limited or no capability to share and exchange information with other tools. Also, each tool typically uses ad-hoc data models to represent the infrastructure, and different tools generally have different data models. Data exchange among these tools is also still done in an ad-hoc manner. Users have to manually marshal data between different tools after mapping the data from one format to another. This process is inefficient, time-consuming, and prone to mapping and/or interpretation errors. Lack of industry wide standards to represent and exchange infrastructure data has been viewed as the main cause of this problem. In an attempt to integrate infrastructure spatial data with inventory data and to further improve the data access and management capability, several tools have implemented Geographic Information Systems (GIS) functionality or supported links with other GIS systems. GIS technology has proved to be an ideal tool to enable more intuitive and efficient mechanisms to query, explore, visualize, and analyze the infrastructure data in its spatial context. In this work, we are taking the GIS technology one step ahead by enabling access to repositories of infrastructure data, knowledge sources, and software applications through a unified and integrated GIS interface. There is no doubt that the introduction of Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) has drastically improved the efficiency, economy, and maintainability of our infrastructure. However, with increasing number of available software tools that address different aspects of the infrastructure management process, a major challenge that needs to be addressed is how to integrate these legacy tools in an integrated environment that would support their seamless interoperation and efficient sharing of infrastructure data. The need to develop a framework that enables the integration and efficient management of infrastructure-related processes is well recognized in the industry and academia. This paper presents an integrated component-based framework that aims to integrate different tools and technologies into one coherent environment to enable infrastructure management agencies to address various aspects of infrastructure management from an integrative perspective. The framework serves as reference architecture to support the implementation of distributed GIS-based infrastructure management systems. The framework supports the integration of infrastructure management processes by adopting a model-based approach whereby a central data model of the infrastructure is used to integrate different aspects of the infrastructure management process. The proposed architecture can be adapted to specific classes of infrastructure systems, supports sharing and management of the infrastructure information, and enables the integration and interoperation of legacy software tools. The design of this framework is based on our previous experience in a project to build a GIS-based maintenance management system for sanitary and storm water sewer networks (Halfawy et al, 2000). Although this project was specific to sewers networks, we found that many of the developed concepts and techniques are equally applicable to other infrastructure systems.

2.

REQUIREMENTS AND CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPING INTEGRATED INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The primary goal of an infrastructure management system is to maintain an accurate, updated, and reliable data of the current physical and performance characteristics of the infrastructure system, and to enable infrastructure managers and other stakeholders to efficiently access this data to make accurate predictions of the infrastructure performance, to plan maintenance operations, and to optimally allocate maintenance funds. Realizing this goal would require addressing a wide range of requirements: (1) modeling and management of infrastructure physical, functional, and performance data as well as gathering condition data in a timely and effective manner; (2) utilizing the knowledge of deterioration models, simulation models, cost models, optimization models, and effective MR&R operations to support the knowledge-intensive decision-making process; (3) interoperation and data exchange between different function-specific software tools; (4) modeling, management, and coordination of maintenance operations and effective communication of accurate and timely information; and (5) the ability to customize the system to specific project or organization policies, and to accommodate various operations that reflect industry practices. Satisfying each of these requirements represents a major challenge to be addressed. Probably the most important requirement is to maintain the accuracy, consistency, and integrity of infrastructure data, and to keep it updated to reflect the actual condition of the infrastructure physical and performance characteristics. The sheer size, complexity, and the dynamic nature of infrastructure data present several challenges that the framework needs to address. Employing efficient data gathering, analysis, and management techniques is the key to develop successful infrastructure management frameworks. The framework should also support different modes of data access and exchange such as centralized database, application-to-application file exchange, and Intranet/Extranet access. Managing infrastructure systems is becoming increasingly knowledge-intensive that requires accessing and managing a multitude of knowledge sources. Given the fact that it will be extremely difficult and expensive for infrastructure management agencies to achieve expertise in the many infrastructure management areas, the need for agencies to access infrastructure knowledge repositories is becoming crucial. Currently, there is an ongoing effort in Canada to capture the knowledge of infrastructure management in the form of best practices. To maximize its use, this knowledge needs to be formalized and structured in a format that would enable its efficient access, sharing, and reuse by various stakeholders. The framework should support efficient representation, management, sharing, and reuse of knowledge through implementing repositories that incorporate various forms of applicable knowledge. A framework should also support the integration and interoperability of legacy software tools. An important implication of reusing legacy software tools is the reduction of the systems implementation and maintenance time and cost. Also, given the availability of a large number of commercial tools, a framework should enable upgrading the tool set, either by adding new tools or replacing existing ones, without impacting the overall operation of the framework. Infrastructure management is a multi-disciplinary process that typically involves a large number of interdependent operations that need to be managed in a coordinated manner. A framework should enable the efficient flow of information among various activities. A framework should also enable efficient access, sharing, management, and tracking of documents. Infrastructure management team needs to share information to coordinate their tasks. Enabling easy, intuitive, and efficient access to the distributed infrastructure data sources is a primary requirement through which efficient communication and collaboration among stakeholders can be supported. The aforementioned requirements have enormous implications on the design of integrated infrastructure management frameworks. The framework should have a modular architecture to accommodate future modification, extension, and technology improvement. Another major design consideration is the necessity to separate the responsibilities between the function-specific tool set and other framework components. Tools would provide users with the functionality to perform specific tasks, while the framework components would provide the functionality to integrate and manage different processes.

3.

A MODEL-BASED APPROACH TO INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT

Lack of interoperability and inefficient data exchange between legacy software tools has been a major impediment to efficiently communicate infrastructure information in a timely fashion. The framework addresses this challenge by defining an information modeling architecture that employs a model-based approach to integrate information across various disciplines and to map data models from one tools perspective to another. This approach involves the use of a central data model to represent the physical structure of the infrastructure and link (or cross-reference) various aspects of infrastructure information, such as inspection data, performance data, maintenance data, and cost data, with that data model. The resulting integrated model would represent a comprehensive view of the infrastructure system and would become the glue that binds together various perspectives of the infrastructure information. It would also support efficient gathering, organizing, management, and distribution of information. Figure 1 explains the role of the integrated infrastructure data model to support information sharing and exchange. The model-based approach would provide many benefits to the various infrastructure management activities. First, in addition to the inventory and condition data, the model would enable the representation of a wide range of information about other infrastructure aspects (e.g. performance characteristics, maintenance planning, operations, cost, etc.) as well as other forms of information such as inspection

Infrastructure System Stakeholders

Intranet/ Extranet

GIS Interface
Inventory and condition Data Performance Data Maintenance Planning Operations Management References to knowledge sources

Integrated Infrastructure Data Model

Documents Financial/Cost Data Simulation Models/Results

Deterioration/Life cycle cost Models References to other databases

Figure 1: The Model-Based Approach to Infrastructure Management reports, maintenance records, drawing files, etc. The integrated infrastructure data model would provide a single point of access to all infrastructure relevant information and knowledge. Second, the model would significantly improve the communication among stakeholders by making various aspects of infrastructure information accessible from one data model. Stakeholders from different disciplines could use the integrated data model to access information in their respective domains. Third, the model will enable tools interoperability and efficient sharing and exchange of information. By sharing the data model, the need o map and translate the data from one tools format to another will be minimized. The benefits of using an integrated infrastructure data model could be further leveraged in two main ways. First, accessing the integrated data model through a GIS interface would further enhance the ability of the management teams to explore, navigate, access, and query infrastructure data. Various infrastructure

management activities, such as maintenance planning and operations management, could be supported and enhanced using the GIS spatial representation of the infrastructure. Users could visualize the physical and spatial characteristics of the infrastructure, and navigate through the information by accessing various aspect data cross-referenced from the physical components. Second, standardizing the data model would further enhance the role such models could play. Developing and adopting an industry wide standard data model will enable better integration of the infrastructure management activities and interoperability between various software applications. Using a standard data model, software developers supporting this standard would guarantee the interoperability of their software tools. Without such standards, integrating different tools into an integrated system would require implementing adapters to map the ad-hoc data models that different tools use to and from the integrated data model. A standard model would facilitate efficient data sharing and exchange, and improve the consistency and quality of infrastructure information.

4.

A COMPONENT-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR GIS-BASED INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

We believe that infrastructure management software environments, despite the apparent differences in their implementation details, share many characteristics, which justifies defining a common architecture for that class of software systems. We define a framework as a computational model that defines a reference architecture and provides a number of common domain-specific services that are required to implement the software. The framework describes the organization and overall functionality of a set of reusable components that implement a wide range of generic domain-specific functionality (e.g. information management, operations management, etc.). Specific implementations of the framework would address a particular infrastructure system such as bridges, pavement, or sewers. Having a common architecture would improve the consistency of applications in the domain, and enable better interoperability and reusability of different components and applications.

GIS Interface Tier Applications Tier

Mapping Tools MR&R Planning Condition Assessment Risk Analysis Modeling/ Simulation EMS Tool Real-time Data Acquisition W ork Order Management Report Generation Optimization Tool Cost Estimating Performance Prediction

Comm on Infrastructure Managem ent Services Tier

Data Management Components Knowledge M anagement Components M odeling Components M aintenance Planning Components O perations M anagement Components

Data/Knowledge Tier
Infrastructure M anagement Know ledge Repository Infrastructure Data Repository

Figure 2: The Four-Tier Component-Based Framework for Integrated Infrastructure Management Systems Given the wide range of requirements the framework needs to address, a multi-tier component-based (Szyperski, 1998) architecture seems particularly suitable to address the complexity and scope of the required functionality. The framework architecture has been created by breaking down the required functionality into a set of specific services and then mapping these services into a set of components.

Components are coarse-grained, reusable, software subsystems that perform a specific set of functions. The flexibility and modularity inherent in this architecture would result in more efficient implementation and maintenance of the software environment. The framework components can be reused to support the development of other systems in the domain, resulting in a reduction in the time and cost of developing such large systems. The component-based architecture also helps to maintain the framework flexibility and extensibility since upgrading or extending any of the components will have little impact on the rest of the framework. An important feature of the components architecture is that different parts of the framework could be running in a distributed environment over the Internet. The tiered architecture, on the other hand, helps to separate the responsibility and required functionality between the GIS interface, the functionspecific applications, and the common domain-specific components. The framework four-tier architecture includes: the GIS interface tier, the applications tier, the common infrastructure management services tier, and the data/knowledge repository tier. The GIS tier implements the spatial interface to the integrated infrastructure data model and allows users to access the framework functionality through a unified intuitive graphical interface. The tools at the applications tier support specific tasks, while the common services components at the middle tier implement a set of domain-specific services. Figure 2 shows a conceptual view of the framework and its main components. The following sub-sections briefly describe each tier. 4.1 The GIS Interface Tier

This tier implements the GIS interface to the integrated infrastructure data model that is constructed and maintained by the framework tools and components. The interface represents the spatial characteristics of the infrastructure system and serves as a graphical front-end to the infrastructure data repository. Function-specific applications would employ the GIS functionality to support the model-based approach, enhance their usability, and to enable users to efficiently explore and analyze spatial aspects of the infrastructure system. Users could query the system for its current performance and physical parameters, and to visualize the spatial characteristics of the infrastructure system. Developing the GIS interface requires creating thematic maps based on the infrastructure attributes. Infrastructure entities are represented as map features with certain spatial relationships, and attributes are assigned to these map features and used to associate the features with their corresponding data tables and records in the data repository. The GIS representation of the infrastructure would facilitate communication and collaboration of stakeholders. The ability to navigate through and query the system would provide an intuitive interface to carry out what if analysis. Users can simply point to map features, representing infrastructure physical components, and query the system or retrieve data related to the selected feature(s). 4.2 The Applications Tier

This tier integrates a set of function-specific tools so that they can effectively and seamlessly interoperate and share data through the use of the integrated infrastructure data model. Mapping the integrated model to and from the ad-hoc information models supported by individual tools is achieved by using adapters. Applications that support the data model will not need adapters. However, the need to implement adapters will continue for the foreseeable future until industry-wide standard data models are developed and supported by tools developers. Tools would access the framework through the components interfaces, and thus the framework makes no assumptions on the implementation details of individual tools. Making the framework tool-independent would provide the flexibility to upgrade or replace any tool without impacting other framework components. By standardizing the access to the framework components through a set of interfaces, the framework would satisfy the flexibility and extensibility requirement. 4.3 The Common Infrastructure Management Services Tier

This tier includes five main components: (1) Data management component; (2) Knowledge management component; (3) Modeling component; (4) Maintenance planning component; and (5) Operations management component. The components are briefly discussed below. 4.3.1 The Data Management Component

This component offers common data management services such as maintaining the infrastructure data repository, mapping between the integrated data model and application-specific data models, concurrency control, and transaction management. This component is developed on top of the database management system used to implement the infrastructure data repository. The component is used by different applications to interface with the infrastructure data repository and to ensure that the infrastructure data is shared among various stakeholders. An important functionality of this component is to support data collection and organization. The component may provide functionality to support different data collection technologies (e.g. visual inspection, NDE, remote monitoring using network of sensors), and to automatically update the data repository to reflect the up-to-date status of the infrastructure. 4.3.2 The Knowledge Management Component

Besides reliable and updated physical, condition, and performance data, infrastructure management decisions also employ a vast amount of domain knowledge from a multitude of sources. Capturing, organizing, and representing this knowledge is of paramount importance to the successful implementation of infrastructure management systems. The knowledge management component would enable agencies to develop and maintain a knowledge repository about best practices and experience, and would provide tools to enable effective search and retrieval, sharing, and reuse of this knowledge. The component may also maintain a web portal to post information such as the latest information about the infrastructure conditions, inspection manuals, maintenance operations guide, MR&R procedures, new and emerging technologies of interest, and design manuals. 4.3.3 Modeling Component

This component provides functionality to support life cycle modeling of the infrastructure. Efficient management of infrastructure systems involves the use of many different models to accurately predict future performance, plan maintenance operations, evaluate performance and cost of alternative strategies, and to optimize maintenance funds allocation. Modeling various aspects of an infrastructure system is generally a costly and time-consuming task. However, techniques could be developed to generalize a class of models for particular types of infrastructure systems in the form of a library of model templates that could be later customized for specific infrastructure systems and scenarios. This would significantly facilitate the process of model construction as well as moving the models data to and from the infrastructure data repository. Four main classes of models could be identified: simulation models, deterioration models, optimization models, and cost models. Simulation models are used to simulate the system performance. Deterioration models are used to estimate future infrastructure condition. Optimization models are used to determine the most optimum allocation of resources in order to sustain acceptable levels of performance. Cost models are used to estimate items such as user cost, organization cost, and maintenance cost. The modeling component will facilitate constructing these models and their integration with the infrastructure data repository. Other components and applications will employ the modeling capability of this component to improve the efficiency of the decision-making process. 4.3.4 Maintenance Planning Component

This component implements methods to enable planning, scheduling, and tracking of maintenance operations and estimating maintenance costs. The component will use different modeling approaches to determine the best maintenance options based on life cycle cost analysis, prioritize MR&R actions, estimate the future maintenance budget requirements, and determine cost-effective maintenance plans. The GIS interface would display the areas where maintenance work is needed or being performed. 4.3.5 Operations Management Component

This component provides services to coordinate, monitor, and manage maintenance operations. Users specify a workflow model to represent and guide the maintenance operations and to define the interdependencies of various operations. The workflow model will show how data flow across various maintenance operations and use this information to streamline and coordinate their execution. The

workflow model could also assist in automating routine tasks such as scheduling periodic inspections and preventative maintenance activities. The component could also utilize the knowledge repository to automatically generate inspection instructions and operations plans. Another function of this component is to manage work orders and service requests. Work orders could be automatically generated based on service requests, complaints, and condition data. The component could also assign, track, and control work orders. Service requests could be logged, evaluated, and tracked. The GIS interface would enable users to access operations data cross-referenced to infrastructure components on the maps. 4.4 The Data/Knowledge Repository Tier

The infrastructure data repository provides a single point of access to all infrastructure data, which would significantly improve the collection, organization, consistency, and availability of information, resulting in better decision-support capabilities. The repository is typically implemented using a Database Management System (DBMS) that could potentially support distributed data sources and implement concurrency control mechanisms. The repository schema is defined based on the integrated infrastructure data model. The repository contains data about the inventory, condition, and performance characteristics of the infrastructure. Inventory data includes physical attributes that define design parameters of the infrastructure structural components. Condition attributes define the current status of these components and could include data from visual inspection, NDE tests, or from remote sensors. Performance attributes define the current performance metrics (or indices) of the structural components. Maintenance operations are typically decided based on comparing the value of these metrics to a required level of performance. The knowledge repository supports the representation, organization, sharing, and reuse of infrastructure management knowledge. This knowledge may include structure-specific knowledge related to the infrastructure physical characteristics, inspection requirements and procedures, life cycle management, assessment, maintenance and rehabilitation knowledge, operations management knowledge, field tests, performance evaluation, and maintenance tasks. Developing this repository would require systematizing infrastructure management knowledge and representing this knowledge in a computable form. The knowledge repository is distinguished from the infrastructure data repository in that the former contains general domain knowledge while the latter contains data specific to a particular infrastructure system.

5.

IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INTEGRATED SEWERS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A prototype integrated sewers management system was implemented to support the maintenance management of a sewers network in an area of approximately 27 square miles. This section briefly describes this system. More details can be found in (Halfawy et al, 2000). The prototype implemented several framework components and integrated a number of function-specific software tools. An integrated data model of the sewer system was defined to represent a comprehensive view of the sewer networks structural, spatial, condition, and performance characteristics, and to link a wide range of unstructured information to that data model. Unstructured information included inspection reports, CCTV inspection video clips, manhole and sewer pictures, textual description, sketches of various parts of the network, and CAD drawings that show details of manholes (corbel/frame cross section and plan view). The sewer system data repository was implemented using two relational database management systems. The first database, Hansens Infrastructure Management System (IMS), included the sewer system inventory data where all the details of the sewer system physical characteristics are stored. The sewer system inventory data was mainly extracted from existing maps and drawings. Sewer attributes such as pipe length, diameter, slope, invert depths, offsets, material, and year built, were extracted from the record plan drawings. The second database was implemented using Microsoft Access to store the sewer system condition data. Relational schemas were developed to model the sewer network inventory and condition data. Information about the sewer system condition was collected as a result of field-testing and inspection in an extensive Sewer System Evaluation Survey (SSES). The survey included the inspection of 1184 manholes; smoke testing of 267,162 linear feet of sanitary sewer; 38,912 feet of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV); 32 Dyed water tests; and the use of 7 flow meters; 10 groundwater piezometers; and 4 rain gauges. The survey results also helped to verify the accuracy of the inventory data.

The data management component enabled users to access the infrastructure data repository using two interfaces: the IMS interface to the inventory database and an Access interface to the condition database. The component implemented a set of pre-defined queries and reports to facilitate the retrieval of critical information from the repository. Examples of this information include: detailed data on all manholes and sewers; collection system summaries; manhole cover inflow; repair recommendations; condition of various components of the system (e.g. leaking mains, leaking manholes, broken/cracked pipes); condition of various manholes and sewer lines; smoke test results in various locations; images associated with manholes, lines, and video clips of CCTV inspection. Links to digital photos and video clips were maintained in the condition database. Framework applications and components were also able to access the repository using the standard ODBC protocol. The relational architecture of the database enabled the repository to be easily accessed, queried, and manipulated by other framework components. The GIS interface was implemented using ArcView and Avenue programming language. The GIS interface was used to present the sewer network data in its spatial context and to allow users to interactively and graphically access, query, and manipulate the data stored in the repository by simply pointing to map features. The sewer system components, represented as map features, are linked to relevant information in the repository. For example, a manhole is inked to inspection reports, images of the manhole, CAD drawings, results of any field tests performed at the manhole or at a location close to the manhole, records in the inventory database, etc. A useful feature of the GIS interface is to present and analyze the spatial relationships among the infrastructure components. Examples of these relationships include adjacency (i.e. manholes in a specific area), connectivity (e.g. sewer lines connected to specific manholes), and containment (e.g. manholes or sewer lines contained in a specific area). The GIS representation of the sewer system characteristics, such as I/I sources, enabled users to explore, query, visualize, and analyze various aspects of the system and to make decisions about maintenance and improvement work. The basic approach to create the sewer network maps was to scan the record plans, geo-register the scanned maps with the base map, and then use drawing tools to draw various features such as sewer lines (line features), manholes (point features), and land parcels and buildings (polygon features), and specifying spatial relationships among these features. Several map themes (or layers) were defined; Examples include: base maps, manholes, sewer lines, sanitary sewer overflow (SSO), Atlas sheet boundaries, right of way, edge of pavement, centerlines, parcel lines, buildings, topography, locations with positive smoke testing results, CCTV inspected lines, and sub-sewershed boundaries. Themes were represented using three main formats: AutoCAD DWG files, ArcView shape files, and ArcInfo coverages. Features attributes were assigned for subsequent joining with the corresponding records in the data repository. For example, using the ID of a sewer line feature, sewer attributes such as pipe length, diameter, slope, invert depths, offsets, material, and year built, could be extracted from the repository. The data management component enabled applications to share the sewer system information. The applications tier integrated the EPA's Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) to simulate and analyze the sewer system and to help evaluate maintenance different scenarios. Figure 3: Storm water flooding simulation results in a sub-sewershed

Integrating this legacy application required implementing an adapter to map the integrated data model to and from SWMM data model. Construction of SWMM models was partially automated by extracting the sewer system data from the repository. Other model data, such as land use and demographic data, watersheds physical and hydraulic characteristics were added manually to the model. The models were then calibrated based on measured rainfall, sanitary and storm flow meters, depth meters in the designed cross connections, and groundwater wells. The models were used to simulate the performance under various conditions. Network performance parameters such as sanitary sewer overflows to the storm water sewers, and impact of pipe failure are evaluated using several What if? scenarios. SWMM output is a text-based report that includes a tabular description of flow within the modeled system, including information about maximum flow levels and pipe capacity. The GIS interface assisted users to visualize and get insight into the enormous amount of data generated from the simulation runs. For example, with a simple query, the pipes or structures that were flooded could be highlighted (Figure 3). 6. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Efficient management of our infrastructure systems is becoming more focused on the overall integrated multi-disciplinary aspects of the process. The development and deployment of integrated infrastructure management systems is becoming more of a necessity in the face of the challenges we have to maintain our infrastructure assets. Integrated infrastructure management systems would facilitate the flow of information across various disciplines and activities, which in turn would improve the availability, reliability, and consistency of infrastructure information, resulting in timely and more efficient decisions. This paper described a general framework to facilitate the implementation of such large-scale systems, and presented specific primitives required to realize that framework. The framework has also identified the requirements and the major issues involved in developing these systems. Specifically, the framework supported integrated infrastructure management by: (1) supporting the modeling and management of infrastructure data and enabling shared access to that data; (2) providing a knowledge repository to support the knowledge-intensive management activities; (3) supporting the interoperation of software tools and defining methods to integrate legacy software tools into the framework; (4) providing a set of services to support infrastructure life cycle modeling, maintenance planning, and operations management; and (5) integrating the information models of various disciplines through adopting an integrated model-based representation of the infrastructure system. In addition to the need to more thoroughly address the many research issues highlighted by the framework, we can identify some important directions for future research. Of particular interest is the development of integrated model-based representation of various types of infrastructure systems. Standardizing these models, for example using STEP data modeling standards, would further enhance the role that these models could play. Other important issues include the development of knowledge repositories and efficient knowledge management tools, and specifications of framework components. Some industry-oriented research is also needed to assess the impact of implementing integrated infrastructure systems and how these systems would impact the overall operation of municipalities and other infrastructure management agencies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors gratefully acknowledge support for this work from the City of Columbus, Ohio, USA. REFERENCES Grigg, Neil S. (1999), "Infrastructure: Integrated Issue or Tower of Babel?" Journal of Infrastructure Systems, Vol. 5, No 4, December 1999. Halfawy, M.R, Pyzoha, D., Young, R., Abdel-Latif, M., Miller, R., Windham, L., and Wiegand, R., (2000) GIS-Based Sewer Evaluation Survey System, Proceedings of the Environmental Systems Research Institute Conference, San Diego, California, June 26-30, 2000 (http://www.esri.com/library/userconf/proc00/professional/papers/PAP158/p158.htm). Szyperski, C. (1998), Component Software: Beyond Object-Oriented Programming, ACM Press, New York, Addison-Wesley.

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