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AIMS-Safety AnalystTM  
(Accident Information Management System - Safety Analyst Version)

A. Development History
B. It Plots Collision Diagrams For Safety Analyst
C. It Displays Crash Locations On Map In 3-Dimensional Symbols
D. It Displays Collision Diagrams & Crash Locations On Map
E. It Displays Results In Google Earth and Google Maps 
F. Computer Requirements
G. Price
H. Demo Video

AIMS-Safety Analyst is a software that interfaces with AASHTOWare Safety AnalystTM. (It is called SafetyAnalyst before 2013.) It plots collision diagrams and crash locations on a map. It displays output in Google Earth and Google Maps. The sections below provide detail information. This video, in YouTube, shows how it works.

A. Development History of AIMS-Safety AnalystTM:

  ♦  10/1/2004 - Received invitation to participate from ITT Industries, Inc. More...
  ♦  10/18/2004 - Replied "Yes" to participate. More...
  ♦  10/19/2004 - Started developing Safety Analyst Collision Diagram Interface.
  ♦  12/20/2004 - Finished developing Safety Analyst Collision Diagram Interface.
  ♦  12/21/2004 - Demonstrated Safety Analyst Collision Diagram Interface to Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). More...
  ♦  1/25/2005 - Demonstrated Safety Analyst Collision Diagram Interface to Georgia Department of Transportation. More...
  ♦  1/28/2005 - Demonstrated Safety Analyst Collision Diagram Interface to North Carolina Department of Transportation. More...
  ♦  9/5/2005 - Received invitation to participate from FHWA, regarding Option#1 and Option#2 Safety Analyst development. More...
  ♦  10/25/2005 - Replied "Yes" to both Option#1 and Option#2 Safety Analyst development. More...
  ♦  10/26/2005 - Started developing AIMS-Safety Analyst, as part of Option#2 Safety Analyst development..
  ♦  2/1/2006 - Delivered Safety Analyst Collision Diagram Viewer Integration to ITT Industries, Inc. More...
  ♦  7/31/2006 - Received email from FHWA's new Safety Analyst development manager, asking if still interested in Safety Analyst development. More...
  ♦  7/31/2006 - Replied "Yes", still interested in Safety Analyst development. More...
  ♦  5/5/2010 - Finished developing AIMS-Safety Analyst.

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B. It Plots Collision Diagrams For Safety AnalystTM:

1. When you click the Collision Diagram button in Safety Analyst's Edit Site List screen, AIMS-Safety Analyst will create collision diagrams for the selected site.

2. You may display the collision diagrams on conventional blank surface (see Figure B-1), or display them on a map with satellite image (see Figure B-2).
http://www.jmwengineering.com/SafetyAnalyst/FigB1.png
Figure B-1:Collision diagrams on blank surface

http://www.jmwengineering.com/SafetyAnalyst/FigB2.png
Figure B-2: Collision diagrams on a map with satellite image

3. When you click a plotted symbol in a collision diagram, it will display the contents of the original data record from Safety Analyst, as shown in Figure B-3. User can filter out any or of all of the contents for privacy concern.
http://www.jmwengineering.com/SafetyAnslyst/FigB3b.png
Figure B-3: Displaying contents of original data record from Safety Analyst when clicking a plotted symbol

4. You may label each collision with any fields (up to 9) from data. For example, in Figure B-4, each collision is labeled with 3 fields (accidentYear, accidentSeverity1 and collisionType) from Safety Analyst's accident data.
http://www.jmwengineering.com/SafetyAnalyst/FigB4c.png
Figure B-4: Labeling each collision with year, severity and collision type

5. If you combine sites in Safety Analyst, then click the Collision Diagram button, AIMS-Safety Analyst will create collision diagrams for each of the combined sites. It creates collision diagrams for up to 100 locations, and up to a thousand crashes per location.

6. The figure below shows the collision diagram legend.

http://www.jmwengineering.com/SafetyAnalyst/CollisionDiagramLegend.png


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C. It Displays Crash Locations On Map In 3-Dimensional Symbols:

1. It display crash locations on map for Safety Analyst. You have the choice of displaying crash locations from Safety Analyst's accident file, or from Safety Analyst's site list file.

2. When displaying crash locations, if a location has two or more crashes, it stacks the symbols up at that location, creating a 3-dimensional view. The number of plotted symbol within a stack is proportional to the number of crashes at a location. The location has the highest stack of symbols means that location has the most crashes. Hence you can easily visualize the high crash locations, as shown in Figures C-1 to C-4.

3. You may choose any field from data to be plotted with symbols; and you may assign various shape/color/size of symbols to denote different values in the chosen field, as shown in Figures C-1 to C-3.

 4. Figure C-1 shows that "collisionType" is the chosen field from Safety Analyst's accident data to be plotted with symbols. If the value in "collisionType" is 24 (means angle collision) , it will be plotted with a yellow "An" symbol; if the value in "collisionType" is 22 (means head-on collision), it will be plotted with a red "HO" symbol, and so on.


Figure C-1: 3-Dimensional stacked symbols showing collision type (An=angle, Ho=head-on, Re=rear-end, Sw=sideswipe. The number next to each stack denotes the total number of crashes at that location)

5. Figure C-2 is another example, showing "accidentSeverity1" is the chosen field to be plotted with symbols. If the value in "accidentSeverity1" is C (means minor injury), it will be plotted with a yellow "C" symbol; if the value in "accidentSeverity1" is P (means property damage only), it will be plotted with a blue "P" symbol, and so on.


Figure C-2: 3-Dimensional stacked symbols showing accident severity (A=inj, incapacitate; B=inj, serous; C=inj, minor; K=fatal, P=property damage; X=unknown.
The number next to each stack denotes the total number of crashes at that location)

6. Figure C-3 is another example, showing "accidentYear" is the chosen field to be plotted with symbols. If the value in "accidentYear" is 1999, it will be plotted with a blue  "99" symbol; if the value in "accidentYear" is 2002, it will be plotted with a yellow "02" symbol, and so on. (Year less than 2000 is blue.)


Figure C-3: 3-Dimensional stacked symbol plot showing accident year (95=1995, 02=2002, O=other, etc. The number next to each stack denotes the total number of crashes at that location))

7. Figures C-1 to C-3 are viewed from altitude of about 1.5 miles above ground. At this altitude, you can see a wide area, but the symbols within a stack may be packed together, so that you may not be able to distinguish them. However, if you zoom-in nearer to ground (or if you apply a distance/altitude factor of greater than 1), the symbols in a stack will be farther apart, as shown in Figure C-4.


Figure C-4: Same as Figure C-1, but viewing from lower altitude to see each symbol.

8. Each plotted symbol is linked to a record in Safety Analyst's accident data or site list data. When you click a plotted symbol, it will display the contents of the records on the screen, as shown in Figure C-5. User can filter out any or of all of the contents for privacy concern.


Figure C-5: Displaying contents of original data record from Safety Analyst when clicking a plotted symbol

9. User can assign a different stack angle for each plot. User can also view multiple plots at the same time. For example, if we use a stack angle of 60, 45 and 75 degrees respectively for the plots in Figures C1, C2, and C3; and if we display the plots (outputs) in Google Earth, the result would be as shown in Figure C-6. That is, you can visually see the crashes in terms of collision type, severity and year at the same time.


Figure C-6: Displaying 3 results at the same time, each stacking up in different angle.

10. The 3-dimensional stacked symbol display, as shown above, provides the following advantages:

  ♦  You can get an overall view of the high accident locations (from relative heights of stacked symbols) and the surrounding areas (from map and satellite image).
  ♦  You can visually examine a variety of characteristics of the crash, because you can select any field to be plotted. In Figure C-1, we selected "collisionType" as the field to be plotted, because we want to visually examine the characteristics of collision types. If you are interested in the impact of weather, you can select "weatherCondition" as the field to be plotted. Furthermore, if you want to visually examine several characteristics together, you can select several related fields, each plotted with different angles, and display the results together, as shown in Figure C-6
  ♦  If you want to learn more about a particular location, zoom-in more to that location, then examine the distribution of the different types of plotted symbols.
  ♦  If you want to see the detail record of a particular crash, you can simply click a plotted symbol to display it.

11. The 3-dimensional stacked symbol display as described above is unique, because it is based on US Patent 6104410, Method and Apparatus For Displaying Stacked Symbols To Create A Multi-Dimensional View. Our company's staff member is the inventor and patent holder.

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D. It Displays Collision Diagrams & Crash Locations On Map (Even If Data Have No Coordinates)

1. As mentioned in B, if you select a site in Safety Analyst's Edit Site List screen, it will plot the collision diagrams for the selected site. If your data include coordinates (latitudes and longitudes), it will automatically plot the collision diagrams in Google Earth or other web-based mapping system. If you data do not include coordinates, you may click a button in AIMS-Safety Analyst, then enter the address/street names plus city and state of the site, it will also plot the collision diagrams in Google Earth or other web-based mapping system. In the following examples, we will use the Safety Analyst's sample dataset to show how to plot collision diagrams and 3-dimensional stacked symbols together. 2. Suppose you want to plot the collision diagrams for the Int/Urb 4-leg signalized location (at Route=SR00000133, StartLocation=3.202, County=69) from Safety Analyst's sample data, you simply select this site in Safety Analyst's Edit SiteList screen, then click Collision Diagram button. Suppose this site is actually at 14thSt and Constitution Ave NW in Washington DC, when AIMS-Safety Analyst appears, enter the text "14thSt and Constitution Ave NW Washington DC", then click Plot Collision Diagram button, it will plot the collision diagrams in Google Earth, at the specified location, as shown in Figure D-1 (assuming you have installed Google Earth in your computer). This means that even if your data do not have coordinates, if you know the address or street location, AIMS-Safety Analyst will plot the collision diagram at the right location for your.


Figure D-1: Plotting collision diagram for a site in Safety Analyst's sample data as a real site in Washington DC

3. If you click the Plot StackSymbol button in AIMS-Safety Analyst, it will plot the same data with 3-dimensional stacked symbols. If you save the collision diagrams output (in step 2 above) and the 3-dimensional stacked symbols output respectively, then open both outputs in Google Earth, it will be as shown in Figure D-2.


Figure D-2: Plotting 3-dimensional stacked symbols for the same data as Figure D-1.

4. You can evaluate many sites at the same time, by repeating steps 2 and 3 above. Suppose you want to evaluate 4 additional sites on the same route from the Safety Analyst's sample data (on Route=SR00000133, with StartLocation=3.702, 5.214, 6.213 and 8.727 respectively). The Safety Analyst's sample data do not have coordinates. However, suppose these 4 locations are actually on Constitution Avenue at 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th Street in Washington DC respectively. We simply repeat steps 2 and 3 above for each location, and save the outputs for each location, and then open all outputs in Google Earth. The result will be as shown in Figures D-3 and D-4. Figures D-3 and D-4 are the same display except that Figure D-4 zooms in more to the right two locations. Note that it only take a few minutes to create a display as show in Figures D-3 and D-4.


Figure D-3: Displaying collision diagrams and 3-dimensional stacked symbols for many locations at the same time.


Figure D-4: Same as Figure C-3, except it zooms in closer to the right two locations, to be able to see the collision diagrams and individual symbols.

5. In Figures D-3 and D-4, when plotting the 3-dimensional stacked symbols, we choose collisionType from Safety Analyst's sample data as the field to be plotted with symbols. Hence each plotted symbol denotes collision types. For example, symbol "An" denotes angle collision, "Re" denotes rear-end collision, etc. If you are interested in accident severity, you can choose severityType1 as the field to be plotted with symbols, and each stack of symbols would be like Figure C-2. Similarly, you can choose any field in the data to be plotted with symbols. Furthermore, you may choose several fields, each plotted with different stack angle. If you do this, each location will have stacks as shown in Figure C-6. (We created special symbols such as symbol "An", "Re", etc. to be used for Safety Analyst. User can create his/her own to be used for plotting.) When plotting the collision diagrams, user may choose color. We choose orange color for the right-most location, pink color for the second right location, etc. When you click a plotted symbol, either from a collision diagram or a stack, it displays the contents of the original record from Safety Analyst, similar to Figures B-3 or C-5. 

6. The above examples show that you can easily plot collision diagrams and crash locations on a map such as Google Earth, even though your data do not have coordinates. If your data already have coordinates (such as from GPS or other means), AIMS-Safety Analyst will use them for displaying.

7. If your data do not have coordinates, we have developed algorithms to enable you to easily display your crash locations on a map, including crashes occurred on local roads, based on research and testing of the datasets that come with Safety Analyst. We have delivered AIMS to over 40 different agencies, each with different data structure, format and coding definition. We are experienced in dealing with crash data and mapping. We were the first commercially to offer GIS accident software. We were the first commercially to plot collision diagrams on a GIS map. We were the first commercially to plot collision diagrams and crash locations in Google Earth. We will be able to display your crash locations on map.

8. Display similar to Figures D-3 and D-4 enable you to visually compare various sites easily. It combines the advantages of collision diagrams and the advantages of 3-dimensional symbols as mentioned in B.10 above. It will help you to make intelligent decisions. It will also help you to present results to others.

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E. It Displays Results In Google Earth and Google Maps:

1. The output of AIMS-Safety Analyst can be displayed in Google Earth and Google Maps.

2. It is because AIMS-Safety Analyst can save the output in KMZ format. KMZ (or KML) was adapted by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) in 2008 as a standard for "geographic annotation and visualization on existing or future web-based online and mobile maps (2d) and earth browsers (3d))." (See http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/kml. KML=Keyhole Markup Language)

3. Figures D-1 and D-2 as shown in Item D above are collision diagrams and 3-dimensional stacked symbols displayed in Google Earth.

4. Figures E-1 and E-2 are generated by AIMS-Safety Analyst from exactly the same data as Figures D-1 and D-2 but displayed in Google Maps. In each figure, when you click a plotted symbol, it will display the contents of the crash record from the Safety Analyst's data, similar to Figure B-3 or Figure C-5.


Figure E-1: Collision diagrams for the same data as Figure D-1 but displayed in Google Maps.


Figure E-2: 3-Dimensional stacked symbols for the same data as Figure D-2 but displayed in Google Maps



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F. Computer Requirements:

1. A computer with Windows® 7 or 10; any Intel Core or equivalent CPU; 2 GB or more of RAM; 100 GB or more of free hard disk space; 1024x768 color screen.

2. Safety Analyst from AASHTO (AASHTOWare Safety Analyst).

3. Google Earth® 5x or later to be installed in your computer, if you want to display outputs in Google Earth. (Free download from http://earth.google.com .)

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G. Price:
Please contact us. Email: jmw@jmwengineering.com    Phone: 703-503-3219.

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H. Demo Video:
In this video, you will see AIMS-Safety Analyst in action and how it interfaces with Safety Analyst. You will see how it plots collision diagrams and crash locations (in 3-dimensional stack symbols) on map. It has voice explanations. It shows you many of the features described in the previous sections. The video is about 13 minutes.

How to play the video:

1. Click the button below to play the video from YouTube.



2. Or, if you have installed Windows Media Player, click here to play the video.

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Safety AnalystTM is the trademark of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

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Copyright © 2020, JMW Engineering, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by U.S. Patent 6104410