How Autori revolutionised road maintenance across Finland, one Street View image at a time.

Streamlining road maintenance management in Finland

Founded in 1988, Autori provides Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions for Finland's road authorities, contractors and third-party consultants for condition management, action planning and maintenance coordination. Monitoring road conditions across the entire country takes a lot of time and costs a fortune, but where other companies saw costs, Autori were able to capitalise on a unique opportunity. Using their own Street View images and SaaS solution, they've created a tool for better management of road maintenance infrastructure data and decision making in Finland.

The need for speed and data-sharing

Traditionally, road authorities have to physically visit every road to know what work is needed in specific locations. That means driving thousands of kilometres, and making countless stops to take notes. Not only is this bad for the environment, it's also costly, involves many resources and is extremely time-consuming. So the need for a digitised and more environmentally friendly solution led Autori to think outside the box. And Street View was the first street-level visualisation solution that came to mind.

Fusing online and offline for road safety

In early 2017, Autori began photographing and uploading 360 imagery of state roads in Finland, using their company's Google account to publish the images. Since then, they've covered 40,000km of state roads and uploaded 8 million images, bringing road maintenance management online. By integrating Street View with their SaaS solutions they made it easy for road authorities to access up-to-date road asset information remotely.

Thanks to imagery Autori has published to Street View, reports of missing road signs, markings or potholes can be uploaded and tagged for relevant parties to inspect from their office through Autori's dashboard. By providing a customisable solution, Autori also allows contractors to track and plan relevant maintenance work in one place. When the maintenance work is completed, new 360 images of the area are taken and uploaded by workers to keep road data up to date. This has reduced the need to visit physical sites for inspection – saving time, money and greenhouse gas emissions.

Revolutionising road safety across the board

Street View allowed Autori to improve information sharing and situational awareness for road authorities in Finland, which in turn helped reduce costs and increase efficiency. Recognising the positive impact this could have around the globe, Autori are now working on a standardised model for collecting and sharing road data in the future. They also helped locals reduce their carbon footprint by photographing 1,000km of cycling and pedestrian pathways. People can now access up-to-date data and travel short distances in a more eco-friendly way. In addition, they will hit the road again this summer to collect an additional 15,000km in Finland, bringing them closer to photographing and publishing nearly half of all state roads in the country on Street View.

Autori's success is just one example of the many unique ways businesses are using Street View to solve complex problems. It's more than just a photo-mapping tool, and it could have immeasurable benefits to your business too. Are you ready to write your own Street View success story?