Digital Twins for ROW Compliance and Delivery
Local governments are under increasing pressure to maintain accurate right-of-way inventories, demonstrate regulatory compliance, and deliver infrastructure improvements more efficiently. Yet many agencies continue to rely on incomplete asset records, disconnected field surveys, spreadsheets, and labor-intensive inspection processes. This session will explore how imagery, artificial intelligence, high-accuracy positioning, and mobile reality capture can be combined to create practical digital twins of streets, sidewalks, curb ramps, signs, pavement markings, utilities, and other assets within the public right-of-way. Participants will learn how these technologies can accelerate the collection and classification of infrastructure data, identify potential compliance gaps, and create a consistent digital record that can be shared across GIS, engineering, asset management, transportation, and accessibility teams. The discussion will examine applications including PROWAG and ADA transition planning, MUTCD sign and pavement-marking inventories, capital project scoping, condition assessment, field verification, and construction documentation. It will also show how data collected for an immediate compliance requirement can become the foundation for longer-term digital delivery, maintenance planning, budgeting, and infrastructure investment. Rather than treating compliance inventories as one-time projects, agencies can establish repeatable workflows for updating their digital twins as assets are inspected, repaired, replaced, or constructed. The result is a more current and defensible understanding of the right-of-way—supporting better decisions from initial planning and design through construction, operations, and ongoing compliance.
Key Takeaways
- Creating accurate right-of-way asset inventories using imagery and mobile reality capture
- Applying AI to identify, classify, and organize infrastructure assets
- Supporting PROWAG, ADA, MUTCD, and related compliance initiatives
- Integrating field-collected information with GIS and asset management systems
- Reducing repetitive field visits and manual data-processing requirements
- Using digital twins for project scoping, design, construction, and verification
- Maintaining a continuously updated record of infrastructure conditions
- Turning compliance data into a long-term planning and capital-delivery resource
Who Should Attend
- GIS directors, managers, and coordinators
- Asset management officers and program managers
- Public works and engineering directors
- ADA coordinators and accessibility compliance leads
- Transportation and traffic engineering professionals
- Capital projects and infrastructure delivery teams
- Survey, mapping, and reality-capture professionals
- Municipal innovation and digital-transformation leaders
Presenters
Tim Nolan
GISP, LAVM
President-Elect
Geospatial Professional Network
Tim Nolan is the Senior IT Manager - Applications with Collin County TX, and President-Elect of the Geospatial Professional Network . He has been a local govie most of his adulthood. Public service has been his life-long passion. He has more than 30 years of experience as a leader, speaker, and Geospatial, Lean and Agile practitioner. Texas is home for Tim. He enjoys sharing the success stories of his teams in collaborative and professional management frameworks. GIS was his first love, and Lean Agile Visual Management (#LAVM) is his new love.
Dr. Nikolas Smilovsky
PhD, GISP
Geospatial Solutions Director
Bad Elf
Nikolas Smilovsky, PhD, GISP is a Geospatial Evangelist, Solutions Provider, and Educator, as well as Geospatial Solutions Director with Bad Elf. For nearly two decades Nik has focused his efforts on the professional and academic expansion of the geospatial professions. Whether working for a plethora of different types of private consulting firms collecting, analyzing, and displaying geographic data or working as an academic, researching and contributing to the corpus of educational knowledge, his passion in life is geography. As an energetic and enthusiastic public speaker, teacher, and thought leader he has enjoyed sharing successes with others and seeing them flourish. Specifically, his interests in the geospatial fields include the geography of behavior, sustainable and resilient geodesign, geographic science pedagogy (especially online education), and geospatial technologies as a whole. Nik loves innovative GIS tech and is a Geoholic! He is also a certified arborist, UAS Remote Pilot and Esri ArcGIS professional.
Ashley Reade
Head of Partnerships
Pix4D
Ashley Reade is Head of Partnerships at Pix4D, where she leads global partner initiatives and drives adoption of advanced geospatial technologies, including RTK and 3D visualization tools. With over fifteen years of experience spanning GIS, remote sensing, and enterprise tech, Ashley brings deep expertise in bridging technical innovation with real-world applications across surveying, construction, and public safety sectors. Her background includes roles in GIS, surveying, environmental science, and technical product, making her a dynamic voice at the intersection of spatial data and strategic growth.
Laura Chapa
Geospatial Solution and Engagement Lead
City of Austin TX
Laura Chapa is the Geospatial Solution & Engagement Lead for the City of Austin, where she helps connect people, data, and technology to solve complex challenges through location intelligence. With a background in botany, environmental science, remote sensing, GIS, and teaching, she brings together science, technology, and communication to make geospatial information more meaningful, accessible, and actionable. Laura is passionate about advancing enterprise GIS, fostering collaboration, and strengthening communities through geospatial technology.
