Railroad engineering asset management systems and methods

A railroad asset inspection management system comprising:

• a plurality of remote terminals, wherein each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals includes one or more processors and a memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, and wherein each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals includes a user interface for presenting received inspection work orders and inputting railroad asset inspection information and a local database for storing the received inspection work orders, Geographic Information System (GIS) data, and the input railroad asset inspection information, each remote terminal operable to:
• measure a global positioning system (GPS) position of a railroad asset;
• and
• present a position of the remote terminal on a visual representation presented by the user interface at a point on a railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position along with a milepost, a line segment, and a track number of the railroad track, wherein the point on the railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position is different from the measured GPS position of the railroad asset;
• and
• at least one server including a server database for storing railroad asset inspection information and inspection work orders of a railroad network, wherein the at least one server is operable to:
• synchronize the local database of a selected remote terminal with the server database when the selected remote terminal establishes a connection with the server;
• query the GIS data stored in the local database for railroad tracks within a spatial buffer from the GPS position;
• identify, in response to querying for the railroad tracks, the railroad track within a predetermined distance of the measured GPS position;
• calculate coordinates of the point on the railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position based, at least in part, on a first distance vector, a second distance vector, a dot product of the first and second distance vectors, and a product length of the first and second distance vectors, wherein the first distance vector is calculated using two other points on the railroad track;
• determine the milepost, line segment, and track number for the coordinates of the point on the railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position;
• associate the GPS position with the line segment, and track number of the railroad track;
• and
• communicate information to the remote terminal for presenting the position of the remote terminal on the visual representation relative to the point on the railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position, along with the milepost, line segment, and track number of the railroad track.

A railroad asset inspection management system comprising:

• a plurality of remote terminals, wherein each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals includes one or more processors and a memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, and wherein each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals includes a user interface for presenting received inspection work orders and inputting railroad asset inspection information and a local database for storing the received inspection work orders, Geographic Information System (GIS) data, and the input railroad asset inspection information, wherein each of the plurality of remote terminals is operable to:
• measure a global positioning system (GPS) position of a railroad asset;
• and
• present the GPS position on a visual representation presented by the user interface at a point on a railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position along with a milepost, a line segment, and a track number of the railroad track, wherein the point on the railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position is different from the measured GPS position of the railroad asset;
• and
• at least one server including a server database partitioned into a plurality of database partitions each for storing railroad asset inspection information and inspection work orders corresponding to a territory of a railroad network, the at least one server operable to:
• synchronize the local database of a selected remote terminal with the server database when the selected remote terminal establishes a connection with the server by:
• transferring changes in the work orders from the partition of the server local database corresponding to the territory in which the selected remote terminal is operating to the local database of the selected remote terminal;
• and
• transferring changes to the input railroad asset inspection information from the local database of the selected remote terminal to the partition of the server local database corresponding to the territory in which the selected remote terminal is operating;
• query the GIS data stored in the local database for railroad tracks within a spatial buffer from the GPS position;
• identify, in response to querying for the railroad tracks, the railroad track within a predetermined distance of the measured GPS position;
• calculate coordinates of the point on the railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position based, at least in part, on a first distance vector, a second distance vector, a dot product of the first and second distance vectors, and a product length of the first and second distance vectors, wherein the first distance vector is calculated using two other points on the railroad track;
• determine the milepost, line segment, and track number for the coordinates of the point on the railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position;
• associate the railroad asset with the line segment, and track number of the railroad track;
• and
• communicate information to the remote terminal for presenting the position of the remote terminal on the visual representation relative to the point on the railroad track nearest to the measured GPS position, along with the milepost, line segment, and track number of the railroad track.