This paper outlines the results of a pilot program for using Google Glass technology to support efficiency and effectiveness in road safety audits, or in-service road safety reviews. Phase 1 of the pilot program involves safety reviews at over 30 sites in 6 jurisdictions and runs from February to June 2015.
Google Glass is a wearable computing technology that offers geo-referenced video, photo, and voice recording, contextual information, interactive workflows, and live uploads to collaborators off-site. Using Google Glass during preparation, site visit, and post-visit analysis/reporting offers the potential to streamline the process (greater efficiency) and to offer new insights by connecting data from different sources in the field (greater effectiveness).
Alternatives to Google Glass include conventional pen-and-paper field visits, using GPS enabled tablets or cameras, using GPS enabled dash cameras with voice recording, and using GoPro or similar wearable cameras. Many of these alternatives are commonly used and have been used by the authors. This pilot marks the first application in the world of Google Glass to in-service road safety reviews or audits.
The paper will describe the pilot parameters, the reviews conducted, the evaluation criteria and results (quantitative evaluation of time saved and qualitative evaluation of other benefits). The paper will also give the reader an understanding of how the technology works using screen-shots from the Google Glass and from the interactive mapping program that is used for post-processing. The main lessons learned will be summarized, and plans for technology modification and a Phase 2 pilot will be discussed.