Sail 2 Evaluation

In 1998, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) conducted a project originally named Metro Computer Aided Dispatch/Automatic Vehicle Location (CAD/AVL) project. It was than changed to what it is known today - Safety with Automated Intelligent Locator (SAIL). The purpose of this project was to test CAD software and AVL technology in the Twin Cites metro area. This was an operational test that ran from March 19, 1999 to February 26, 2000. Six maintenance vehicles were equipped with portable mobile data terminals (MDT) for the test. The test, at that time, was used to determine the feasibility of AVL technology for maintenance activities in the metro area. The benefits of this project were real-time information for improving decision-making, recording information for after storm playback and analysis, reducing paper work, allowing operator to respond and send messages when it is safe, and provide information for verification of route completion.

The SAIL 2 project is an extension of SAIL 1 to further assess the application of AVL systems for gaining value in overall snow fighting techniques, decision support systems, and area-wide highway maintenance issues for winter and summer operations by deployment of fully functional AVL systems. AVL systems were installed on 60 snow removal/highway maintenance vehicles within several Mn/DOT districts in the State of Minnesota. The project is unique from other AVL projects because of the design and planning for integration with Mn/DOT's existing resource management systems.