New app designed to spot trouble at Manassas airport wins governor’s award

MANASSAS — The City of Manassas was awarded a Governor’s Technology Award for a new app that streamlines maintenance reports at Manassas Regional Airport.

The app, Regional Airport Inspection, was designed by Margaret Montgomery and Richard Allabaugh and uses geographic information system (GIS) mapping technology to quickly locate and share areas in need of maintenance or attention.

These awards “honor the innovative ways that state and local government and universities are using technology to solve problems, increase efficiency and reduce costs,” according to a news release from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.

The awards were presented in a special ceremony at the Commonwealth of Virginia Innovative Technology Symposium (COVITS). Winners were named in nine categories, judged by a panel of Virginia government information technology (IT) experts. Manassas won under the category “Innovative Use of Technology in Local Government” — the first COVITS win for the city.

“It was a huge surprise,” said Montgomery, GIS specialist for the city. “It’s exciting for a small jurisdiction like Manassas to be recognized by COVITS, especially with other huge jurisdictions and projects.”

The app has made it much easier and quicker for inspections to be processed, said Allabaugh, director of airport operations at Manassas Regional. Inspections are a daily part of airport life, and staff will peruse the grounds looking for issues such as pavement cracks, debris, or faded paint. This ensures planes can land safely and that the airport functions efficiently.

Prior to the app, the staff relied on a dated paper system that was tedious and time-consuming, Allabaugh explained. “Documenting issues would involve taking pictures, scanning those pictures, emailing them to maintenance staff, and issuing work orders separately,” he said.

Now, staff can open the app on their tablet or phone as they inspect the grounds, drop a pin on the map if they see an issue, and send a work order form. These are synced with the rest of the airport staff through the app, and the data can be accessed immediately.

It has made a huge difference in the airport’s efficiency, Allabaugh shared.

“Night inspections usually wouldn’t be done in a timely manner,” he said. “If we did an inspection at, say, 9 p.m., it might take until the following afternoon to get everything finished.” Now, with the app’s help, issues are observed, shared with staff, and often resolved within an hour.

The app’s system is based on a pre-existing app called Collector, which Montgomery had used for city projects. Collector provided the framework, but Montgomery and Allabaugh collected and customized all of the fields and made it into a unique interface for Manassas Regional.

The app also enables users to filter and sort through data. Issues such as thumbing through reams of paper archives and delays in getting information from inspection to maintenance are now a thing of the past.

“We knew we were going up against a lot of bigger jurisdictions and great applications out there,” said Montgomery. “We are doing exciting things for GIS and it’s great that our hard work is being recognized.”