In April 2025, Egis’ Agata Gomes and Paulo Barreto were invited to speak at the Esri International Infrastructure Management & GIS conference taking place in Frankfurt, Germany. The topic was eProAsset, the digital asset management tool they developed for the 157 km long A24 motorway in Portugal.
The objectives of the digital asset management project were four-fold: to increase efficiency, improve data quality, enhance safety, and decrease their ecological footprint by removing all paper from the process. The aim was to create a portal for the 70,000+ assets they needed to monitor, and a mobile app that could be used for all on-road inspections.
The tool they developed needed to be easy to use, interoperable with other systems, provide real-time access to data, and enable inspections to be assigned, monitored, and closed.
Launched in February 2023, the project began with an asset inventory. By June 2023, the portal and general app had been built, and by August the same year, the database was ready. The next step was to design specific apps with photos and documentation to support the full range of asset management tasks.
In March 2024, they began inspecting motorway slopes, and through the year progressed with inspecting platform drainage, culverts, expansion joints, vertical signage, and gantries. This year, they also implemented the tool for other inspections, including escape lanes, acoustic barriers, retaining walls, and traffic delineators. Still to do are basins, culverts, buildings, and road markings.
Agata Gomes explains: “The tool is working well. All the users, from inspectors to office technicians engaged in an early stage with it. Teams can easily import any previously detected defects (file notes and images) and log new data. They can also see who previously reported it and when. Data is provided in real-time and has better visualisation, which improves decision-making. It really is a game-changer!”
Paulo Barreto adds: “Already we are meeting our objectives. We’ve removed paper and ink from our processes and reduced travel related to inspections by 50%. That has a knock-on benefit to safety, because with less time in the field, there is less exposure to risk.”
