The goal of this engagement was to help the Environment Agency to gain insights from existing asset management data. The project was centred around three areas of interest:
• Is there evidence to suggest that assets in rapid response catchments are in a lower condition than elsewhere? • Are there other spatial factors that could be driving variability in asset condition? • Is there a relationship between investment and asset condition through time and across space?
Work done and value provided:
The data to answer those questions was available, but in formats that made it hard to gain insights from and made it impossible to understand the big picture. To counter that, AECOM reviewed those datasets and performed spatial analysis to build dashboard views in ArcGIS Online (AGOL). GIS based dashboards helped answer the questions raised in an objective manner.
Rapid response catchment asset and defence condition dashboard:
This dashboard answers the question if flood assets or defences, located in a rapid response catchment, are of a better or worse condition, when compared to assets that are not located in a rapid response catchment. The dashboard has been deployed on the Environment Agency’s EA AGOL.
Funding allocation (2014-2021) asset condition dashboard:
This dashboard helps to investigate if there is a correlation between catchment funding levels, and the average condition of the assets within those catchments. It provides best results when used on a regional or country scale. The dashboard has also been deployed on EA AGOL.
We demonstrated that GIS solutions can provide pathways to access the data more efficiently and effectively, turning it into information to help facilitate decisions that are based on facts. This created value by showing a link between funding, rapid response catchments and asset condition within catchment areas. As next steps, we recommended to work with an asset management stakeholder group for additional data views and additional questions to answer; and investigate direct data access to the various systems to consume the data for the dashboards.