MS2 ms2soft.com Updated: October 31, 2014
The Traffic Crash Location System (TCLS) was designed to manage all crash statistics and crash events within a designated area. This guide is intended for users new to the system. This guide will provide you with the tools to carry out the common tasks performed and guide you when engaging with this system. Any features not discussed in this guide are considered advanced features. If you have questions about features not discussed in this guide or require clarification of any item in this Quick Help Guide, feel free to contact the staff at MS2. Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Login 4 3 Search Types 6 3.1 Search by: Study Location 11 3.2 Search by: Crash Data 12 3.3 Search Results Page 15 4 Map Interactions 16 4.1 Google Map Look and Feel 16 4.2 Map Navigation 16 4.3 Google and ERSI ArcMap Tools 17 4.4 MS2 Tools and Layers 23 5 Reports 23 5.1 Report List 23 5.2 Collision Diagram 26 5.3 Police Reports 30 6 Administration 31 6.1 Set Buffer Values 32 6.2 Locate Crashes 32 6.3 Geocode Crashes (Optional) 35 6.4 Process Statistics 36 7 New Entry 37 7.1 New Study Location 37 7.2 New Crash Case 41 ms2soft.com Page 2
1. Introduction The Traffic Crash Location System (TCLS) was designed to manage all crash statistics and crash events within a designated area. Authorized users are able to add new crash events, create new crash locations and generate crash statistics to aid the user in ranking the severity of each location. Crashes are sorted by type, date and severity and are available in several report formats. You also have the option to display crash statistics on the map to give a visual representation of hazardous conditions. Collision diagrams are available to further illustrate the crash patterns evident at dangerous locations. This guide will introduce you to the most common tasks performed, including: Searching for crash locations or crash specific data Viewing crash statistics Interacting with the map to obtain detailed crash statistics Creating reports of crash statistics Creating new crash locations This guide presents a generic agency for each example and should only be used as a demonstration of a limited selection of TCLS capabilities. Your modules may have varying abilities specific to your needs. A flowchart illustrating the user processes in TCLS is shown to the right. ms2soft.com Page 3
2. Login The homepage for the agency referenced in this help guide is located at http://demo.ms2soft.com. Go to this URL in your web browser and Login using the credentials provided to you by MS2. If you do not have credentials, please request a login. After you successfully login, you will see a list of modules to which you have access across the top of the screen. If you were not automatically directed to the TCLS (Traffic Crash Location System) module, select it from the module list. This page will always be the starting point no matter what you wish to do. If you navigate to another page within the TCLS module, the TCLS module button will be renamed Home. This Home button will always bring you back to the main search page of the module you are in. Take note that this is not the browser Home button, but rather the Home button in the list of available MS2 modules, as shown above. Should you want to add new crash locations, search crash statistics, edit crashes, generate reports or view collision diagrams, you start at this page. ms2soft.com Page 4
Click on the TCLS module button and the main search page will appear, as shown above. The map area will appear on the right side of the page, zoomed to your agency s geographic area. The search area will appear on the left side of the page. The search area contains a dashboard, and two search options (Option 1 - Search by Map, and Option 2- Search by Data - TCLS). If you have data loaded into your module, the dashboard will include summary data about these data and can be filtered in place using the dropdown controls. ms2soft.com Page 5
3. Search Types The search options interface is shown above. Note that there are two main types of searches: Location and Crash Data. Before you choose search filters, you must first choose what data to search within the database by selecting one of these options in the Search By field. By default, Study Location is selected. Click on the arrow next to More Detail at the bottom right of the Search By Data interface to view additional search filtering criteria. You will be shown several additional search fields to choose from to allow you to conduct very specific searches. The large number of options may seem overwhelming at first, but keep in mind you will typically use only a few search fields at any one time. These additional options will be very useful to you once you get used to using the system. The detailed search options list is shown on the following page. ms2soft.com Page 6
3.1 Search By: Study Location Study Locations are special intersection locations that you have created or imported into your TCLS module, that allow you to summarize crash data that occurs within a certain specified distance of the intersection center point. Crash data must have geolocation information (latitude & longitude coordinates) information in order to be associated with a study location. A routine must be run to associate crashes with study locations any time new locations are added. ms2soft.com Page 7
Common search fields: On Road (Located On) Crossroad Crash Type Total Crashes Control Type County/City Search Select Study Location in the Search By field Select a County from the drop down menu, e.g., Ingham Select a Community, e.g., Meridian Twp Click the Search button Note: You must choose a County before you can choose a Community! There are 11 results in the example shown below. The first record in the result set is shown by default. You can use the forward and backward control to page through the results, or jump to a record using the Goto Record control. Now conduct a new search. Start over by clicking on the Home button at the top of the TCLS page. Note: Do not use your browser s home button, use the module button! This will bring you back to the main search page. The search fields should automatically be reset; if they are not click the Reset Search button, shown below, to start a new search. ms2soft.com Page 8
Road Name Search Note: The Located On search field is not case sensitive. 1. Type the beginning of the road name in the Located On field, e.g., Okemos Rd. A list of possible matches will appear as you type; select the exact road you desire from this list. This list can be edited by your Site Manager, if the road you want to select is not listed. 2. Enter a Crossroad, Signal status, Crash Type, or Statistics Year Note: Only check the Exact Match box if you re certain of the spelling. Crash Type Search, Order by Severity You may want to narrow a search to a certain crash type. Start over with a new search, making sure to reset your search criteria. 1. Select a Crash Type from the dropdown list, e.g., Angle. 2. Find the Severity Rate field and set Sort Order to Descending to sort the resulting Study Locations by Highest Severity Rate to Lowest Severity Rate. 3. The statistics (e.g., Severity Rate) will be generated based on the selected Statistics Year. Change the Statistics Year to 2005. ms2soft.com Page 9
Number of Fatalities Search Start a new search and reset your search criteria. Search for study locations that have fatality crashes. 1. Find the Total Fatalities criterion. 2. Enter 1 in the Min # field, and sort descending. 3. Make sure to select the desired Statistics Year for the fatalities to be calculated on. ADT Search Start a new search and reset your search criteria. Search for study locations that have Average Daily Traffic (ADT) levels of at least 1,000 vehicles. 1. Find the Volume field. 2. Enter 1000 3. Click Search Note: Study Location average daily volume values must be set by a user. Volume is always the most recent year volume. Historical ADTs are not stored in TCLS. ms2soft.com Page 10
3.2 Search By: Crash Data Crash Data is the actual individual crash details records that you have imported into your TCLS module. Crash data is organized into Crash data, Unit (e.g., vehicle) data, and Party (e.g., person) data. County/City Search 1. Select Crash Data in the Search By field 2. Select a County from the drop down menu, e.g., Ingham 3. Select a Community, e.g., 10 (a community code) 4. Click the Search button. Note: You must choose a County before you can choose a Community! There are 116,796 results in the example shown below. The first record in the result set is shown by default. You can use the forward and backward control to page through the results, or jump to a record using the Goto Record control. One common search field you may use is the Time Range field, as shown belowh. Time is stored in 24- hour format to avoid AM/PM confusion. Note: You can input From, To, or both time periods. ms2soft.com Page 11
3.3 Search Results Page After clicking the Search button you will land on the search results Form View, showing the first location that meets your search criteria. The layout of the search results Form View will vary according to the search type conducted (Study Location vs. Crash Data). Each view is described in detail below. Study Location (Form View) The database side of your screen (left side) is divided into four sections: Location Description, Crash Statistics, Crash Cases, and Notes, as shown here. The first section, Study Location Description, contains the geographic description including the latitude and longitude and PR number, mile point (MP), and point (PT) number. In addition, jurisdiction of the location (community and county), control type, and signal existence are contained here. The next section, Crash Statistics, displays the latest 3-year calculated statistics. By default the total 3-year statistics are shown, but you have the option to display the individual statistics of the latest 3 years. If data from previous years are available you can display the statistics by choosing the particular year from the previous year drop down menu. The third section, Crash Cases, is hidden by default. You must click the View button in the Crash Cases section to show all crash cases connected to the location. The Crash Statistics section will be minimized. Simply click the View button to switch back to it. The last section, Notes, contains any notes that have been added to this location entry. You can add any notes you wish including road work or crash patterns. ms2soft.com Page 12
Crash Data (Form View) The database side of your screen (left side) is divided into four sections: Location Description, Crash Description, Unit Information, and Crash Reports. The first section, Location Description, is similar to the same named on the Location data search results page contains geographic information about the crash: latitude and longitude, county and city, and location relative to the nearest intersection. The second section, Crash Description, contains information about the individual crash including road condition, weather, lighting condition, number of vehicles, injuries, hit and run, and crash type. The third section, Unit Information, contains detailed information about each vehicle involved in the accident including vehicle type, number of passengers, direction of travel, operation malfunction, and driver information. You can also add new units in this section. The fourth section, Crash Reports, contains available police reports for the individual crash. You can also add a new report in this section. Notice you are viewing record 1 of 116,796 that meet the search criteria. Click on the Next button to see Record 2 and page through the results one by one. ms2soft.com Page 13
Search Results - List View The above examples showed the search results Form View, which displays detailed information about one crash at a time. The paging controls, shown below, allow you to step through crashes one at a time. Click on the List View button at the top of either search results Form View page to see a listing of all of the search results, as shown below. You can switch between the Study Locations view and the Crash Data view by clicking the appropriate button. If you are in the Study Locations search results Form View, click the Crash View button to switch and view all of the crashes in the Study Locations search results, as shown below. If you are in the Crash Data view, click the Loc. View button to switch and view all of the Study Locations in the Crash Data search results. ms2soft.com Page 14
4. Map Interactions From the Search Results page, you can Locate Study Locations on the map by clicking on the Locate (current Study Location) or Locate All (all Study Locations in search results). The Google Maps interface is already familiar to many users. The Google map is integrated with ESRI ArcGIS and is shown on the right side of your TCLS screen provides you with a geographic interface to access your Count information. You can: Pan the map from side to side and up and down Zoom the map in and out Switch between map, satellite, and hybrid views Use the Google Street View option View count locations on the map Pull up count location details from the map The map portion of your screen is shown below. ms2soft.com Page 15
4.1 Google Map Look & Feel Notice the Map Type dropdown in the upper left corner of the map. Map Type You can select among Map, Satellite, Hybrid, Terrain, Earth, and GIS Only maps. The example above uses the default Map. 4.2 Map Navigation Just below this dropdown are navigational tools that allows you to pan and zoom the map and use pegman to switch to Google Street View. Panning Click on the arrows to pan the map up, down, left or right. You can also click and drag the map to pan. Zooming Click on the + or - buttons to zoom the map in or out. You can also drag the indicator up or down the scale to zoom the map. Additionally, you can double-click (left mouse button) on the map to zoom in one level, centered on where you click. Conversely, double-click (right mouse button) on the map to zoom out one level. Finally, you can zoom in to a particular rectangular area of the map by clicking on the magnifying glass button then clicking and dragging to draw a rectangular zoom area on the map. Release the mouse button to zoom and center the map on the drawn area. Street View Click and drag pegman to the location on the map that you would like to see Street View. Street View is not available in all areas. 4.3 Google & ESRI ArcMap Tools To the right of the Map Type dropdown are a few other useful map tools. Reset View Click to pan and zoom the map back to its default position. ms2soft.com Page 16
Measure Click to enable the measure tool. Click on the map to start a linear measurement. Click again to add vertices. Double-click to end your measurement and a pop-up will display the approximate distance (in feet, meters, and miles) of the line you have drawn. Print Click to print the current view of the map. Locate Address Type an address into the search box and click on the Locate button to pan and zoom the map to that address. 4.4 MS2 Map Tools & Layers Underneath the Locate Address tool there is a Tools menu. 1. C l i c k t h e button to reveal the Tools menu options. The options available depend on the modules licenses by your agency. 2. Click on the TCDS option. 3. Click the button to the right of the TCDS Locations option to display the TCDS Locations legend.0p0 TCLS Study Locations Click in the checkbox next to the TCLS Study Locations option to show all of the TCLS Study Locations that exist within the displayed map boundary (this may take a few seconds). TCLS location icons will appear as red squares on the map. ms2soft.com Page 17
Click on any of the TCLS Study Locations. A pop-up will appear containing information about that Study Location. To view even more information about a particular Study Location, click the View Detail link. The dathhabase side of your screen (left side) will show you the search results details for that Location as if you had performed a database search for that particular Location. TCLS Crashes Click in the checkbox next to the TCLS Crashes option to show all of the TCLS Crashes that exist within the displayed map boundary, for the selected date range and severity (this may take a few seconds). TCLS Crash icons will appear as yellow, orange, or red circles on the map, depending on the crash severity. ms2soft.com Page 18
TCLS Crash Density Click in the checkbox next to the TCLS Crash Density option to show a density map of all of the TCLS Crashes that exist within the displayed map boundary, for the selected date range (this may take a few seconds). TCLS Crash Density icons will appear as pink circles on the map, sized according to the density of crashes in that area (# crashes at a Study Location), as shown below. TCLS Crash Heat Map Click in the checkbox next to the TCLS Crash Heat Map option to show a heat map of all of the TCLS Crashes that exist within the displayed map boundary, for the selected date range (this may take a few seconds to a few minutes depending on far out the map is zoomed). TCLS Crash Heat Map will appear as shown below where redder areas have more crashes and greener areas have fewer. ms2soft.com Page 19
Select by Polygon Activate the Select by Polygon tool by clicking on it in the TCLS menu. While the tool is active, its icon will be colored red. Using the Select by Polygon tool, create a polygon on the map by: Clicking on the map to create a starting point for your polygon Clicking again to create as many additional points as needed. As you do, a shaded polygon will be created. Click on the starting point to close the polygon. The shaded polygon will be completed, and the left side of the screen will load the Build Search page so that you can further refine your search results within the polygon. Select by Buffer This tool operates in a similar manner as the Select by Polygon tool. Using the Select by Buffer tool, create a circular region on the map by: Clicking on the map to create the center point of the circular region. Move the mouse to your desired radius. As you do, a shaded circle will be created. Click to set the radius. A pop-up will display the radius (in feet) that you have specified. The shaded circular area will be completed, and the left side of the screen will load the Build Search page so that you can further refine your search results within the circle. (Optionally) Reset the radius to a different value by typing it into the New Radius box and clicking the Reset Radius button. ms2soft.com Page 20
Build Search You can either enter additional search criteria to refine your results, or simply click the Search button. This will perform a search for all the TCLS Locations located within the polygon or circle you created. ms2soft.com Page 21
Locate & Locate All You may also interact with the map from the database side of your screen. On the search results Form View or List View page, click on the Locate button in the toolbar to pan and zoom the map to the current TCDS Location. The located icons (Study Locations or Crashes) have a light blue outline to distinguish them from other locations not included in the search results, as shown below. Use the Locate All button to zoom and center the map on all of the Location that are hincluded in your search results. ms2soft.com Page 22
5. Reports 5.1 Report List After conducting a search, the user may access several reports via the Report List button at the top of the page. Note: All reports will use the most recent search criteria! The Report page is available for both Crash Data reports and Study Locations reports. It is divided into four sections: Preset Report List, General Reports, Custom Reports, and Ad Hoc Reports as shown below. The Preset Report List is an agency-customizable list of reports. The General Report List is a list of the MS2 standard reports available to all agencies. The Custom Report List is a list of reports that MS2 has developed for specific agencies. These reports may or may not be compatible with other agencies specific site setup and data configuration. The Ad Hoc Report List is a list of reports that your agency s users have created and saved using the New Report functionality. Each report section lists the available reports by name and a brief description of the data fields included in the report. The Crash Data report list in the example at the above right, no search options were specified so all Crash Data is included in the reports when run. The current search options are displayed at the top of the report list. In the Study Locations report list shown in the example to the right, several search criteria were specified. If no search criteria are specified, e.g., by clicking the Report List button on the Search page, reports will ms2soft.com Page 23
be run on all data (either all Study Locations or all Crash Data). The action column provides the possible actions that can be taken to view a specific report. To view the report, click on the magnifying glass button. Some reports are also available as MS Excel file downloads. To download a report to an Excel file, click on the Excel icon. Some reports are viewable with three different sub-category report filters: Signalized, Unsignalized, and Segment. An example of the Statistics Report, one of our most popular TCLS reports, is shown on the following page. It summarizes the current search results by several different data categories. ms2soft.com Page 24
ms2soft.com Page 25
5.2 Collision Diagram The collision diagram is a very powerful graphical tool. It presents the crash history at a Study Location in a graphical format. Collision diagrams can be accessed through the Study Location search results Form View page. Go to the search page and search for Study Locations. On the search results Form View page, click the View button in the Crash Cases section. The Crash Cases section expands to display a list of every crash at this location, as shown below. ms2soft.com Page 26
To view an individual crash location on the map, click the magenta pin. If a crash has a yellow pin, then there are multiple possible locations for this crash, and it needs to be manually located. Refer to the Administration section of this document for further instruction on locating multiple matched crashes. You can filter the list of Crash Cases by date range using the Filter Dates controls at the top of the list. This feature is useful if you do not want to display every crash on the collision diagram. Click on the Collision Diagram button. The Collision Diagram Options interface will open in a new window, as shown to the right. These options control the information that will be displayed on the collision diagram. ms2soft.com Page 27
If you do not wish to alter the appearance of the collision diagram, click the Collision Diagram button at the bottom of the options page. A third window will open containing the collision diagram, as shown in the example below. ms2soft.com Page 28
If the window does not open, check to make you re your browser is not blocking pop-ups. You will need to allow pop-ups from this page in order to view the Collision Diagram, as shown below. You are free to return to the Collision Diagram Options interface, adjust parameters, and generate a new collision diagram. All viewed diagrams will be saved automatically in the Saved Diagrams section at the bottom of the Collision Diagram Options page and can be viewed later by selecting the diagram from the list and clicking View. In addition to the collision diagram, you can also display the Collision Summary diagram, as shown in the example below. ms2soft.com Page 29
The Collision Summary diagram follows the same layout as the collision diagram, but summarizes the information shown on the collision diagram by showing the total number of crashes as a number on top of each crash type on the diagram. Keep in mind that if you have applied a date range filter to your Crash Cases, the collision diagram and collision summary diagram will only display crashes remaining after being filtered. 5.3 Police Reports In addition to the collision diagram, each crash incident may have a police report attached to it. Agencies can limit which user types are able to view police reports. Access police reports within the Crash Cases section of the search results Form View. A pdf of the report will open in a new window. Click the icon to view the police report, as shown below. Police reports can only be added to the system by authorized users. This functionality is discussed in greater detail in the Administration section of this document. ms2soft.com Page 30
6. Administration Site administration features and functionality are limited to authorized users only. Access these features and functions by clicking on the Admin button in the top menu bar. The TCLS Administration page should open up in a separate browser tab. Because the Administration area is shared by all of the MS2 TDMS software modules, you want to make sure that you have selected the TCLS module tab within the administration interface, as shown below. Whenever the crash data changes, i.e., new crashes are uploaded to the system or existing crashes are edited, the crash data must be processed in order to (a) assign them to Study Locations and road links, and (b) include them in calculated crash and location statistics. Processing is a simple four-step process ms2soft.com Page 31
and confirmation is required for each step. 1. Set your desired buffer values 2. Locate Crashes (assigns each crash to a Study Location) 3. Manually locate questionable crashes 4. Process Stats 6.1 Set Buffer Values You choose to adjust the buffers used to assign crashes to Study Locations and roadway Links. Click on the green check box to edit the buffer values. Type a new value into the input box (in feet), then click on Update Buffer to change the buffer value. Or click Cancel to exit without saving your changes. h 6.2 Locate Crashes Click on the Locate Crashes link to access the location processing interface, as shown below. Choose whether to process crashes by day or by month. Note that this process can take a long time and you should not use the system while it is processing the data since any statistics or crashes listed by location may change due to the processing. ms2soft.com Page 32
Manually Locate Crashes The Map Interactions section of this document briefly mentioned the topic of manually relocating crash cases that have been classified as having multiple possible matching Study Locations. The user must go through each record and select the correct Study Location for each crash. In order to find crashes that need to be located or are matched to multiple locations, go to the search page. Check the box for Needs locating? check box on the Crash Data search page under More Detail. The Location Description section of the search results Form View shows whether a crash needs locating or is matched to multiple locations, as shown below. Only authorized users can edit crash data. Access the Study Location assignment interface as follows: 1. If you are on the Study Location Form View page, open the Crash Cases section and click on the Case # of a crash with a yellow pin, as shown below. ms2soft.com Page 33
2. The crash data Form View page should display. 3. From the crash data Form View page, click on the Assign ID button on the crash data Form View, as shown below. The assign Study Location interface will be displayed, as shown below. This interface lists several of the intersections (Study Locations) or links that are closest to the crash location. The map will also zoom to the location currently assigned to the crash. Click on the blue pin next to each Study Location item in the list to view the location on the map. Click the select button to assign this crash to a particular Study Location or Link. You will be asked to confirm your selection. Click OK, and you will be brought back to your previous page. ms2soft.com Page 34
6.4 Geocode Crashes (Optional) Crashes that have complete address information (State, City, Address, and street names) but no Latitude and Longitude coordinates can be automatically geocoded in order to attempt to acquire Latitude and Longitude coordinates. If any crashes need to be geocoded, click on the Geocode crashes link. The system pre- processes all of the crashes and presents a summary of what will be processed, as shown below. Select a year to limit the geocoding to a specific year of crashes only. Check the box next to Geocode ALL crashes in order to include crashes that are manually located or have already been pre-located using an existing latitude and longitude. Crashes that will be geocoded are listed in three lines: Geocoded >50% match - the system found better than 50% match between the address information in the crash record and an address on the Google Map. A latitude and longitude can be generated for this location with fairly high confidence that it is the correct location. Geocoded <50% match - the system found a worse than 50% match between the address information in the crash record and an address on the Google Map. A latitude and longitude can be generated for this location with fairly low confidence that it is the correct location. Geocoded with Dist/Dir errors - the system found a match between the address information in the crash record and an address on the Google Map. However, there were errors in the distance or direction of the matching address. A latitude and longitude can be generated for this location with questionable confidence that it is the correct location. Click Process to continue, or Cancel to quit. ms2soft.com Page 35
6.5 Process Statistics The last step after locating crashes is to click on the Process Stats button in the TCLS admin interface. This will re-compute statistics for each Study Locations, using the latest crash cases assigned to each of the study locations. Study Location statistics are only as current as the last time you ran Process Stats. ms2soft.com Page 36
7. New Entry 7.1 New Study Location An intersection or link is a place where crashes occur that is significant in the planning process and represents a Study Location. Study Locations are road intersections and road segments not on private property that your agency wants to specifically track crash statistics for, over time. New Link To create a new Link, 1. Go to the main TCLS homepage and click on the New Link button. Or, click the New Link link from the search results page. 2. You will be brought to the Location Data interface for the new link. 3. Fill out information for the location. Required information is noted in red. Location ID is automatically generated but can be manually edited. ms2soft.com Page 37
4. First enter the County and Community for the new link. Then enter the Located On road name. As you type, a list of known roads for the selected County and Community will be displayed, as shown below. You must select a known road in the Located On field. 5. If the road you have entered is found in the list of known roads for the County and Community you have selected, the road name will be shown in black font. If the road you have entered is not found in the list of known roads for the County and Community you have selected, the road name will be shown in red font and you will not be able to submit the changes until a valid County, Community, and Road Name combination is chosen. If you need to add a new road to the list of known roads within a particular County and Community, click on the Edit Roads/Cmty/Cnty button at the bottom of the page, as shown below. 6. To create the actual road link, you must first navigate to the location of the new link using the map interface (right side of the screen). To help you navigate to the right location quicker, use the Locate button next to the Located On road field. The map zooms to the located road. Pan and zoom the map to the desired area. 7. To begin the new road link, click (left mouse button) on the map where the beginning of the road link should be. A starting coordinate will appear in the Link Coordinates box. Click again on the map and a second coordinate will be added to the Link Coordinates box. In addition, a green line will appear that connects the two points, as shown in the image below. This is your new link. Continue to click on the map to create your new road link. Zoom in completely for accurate placement. If you make a mistake, you can use the Clear Coordinates button to remove the link oordinates and start over. ms2soft.com Page 38
8. Enter the number of lanes, category and (if you would like to override the default value of 150ft) a Crash Buffer. 9. Click Submit after the link placement is satisfactory and the information completed. The green ink will disappear. 10. You will be sent to the new Study Location s Form View page. 11. Click the Locate button to display the new link on the map interface. It will appear as a red double ended arrow highlighted in light blue. Any surrounding links will be blue. New Intersection To create a new Intersection, 1. Go to the main TCLS homepage and click on the New Int button. Or, click the New Int link from the search results page. 2. You will be brought to the Location Data interface for the new intersection. 3. Fill out information for the location. Required information is noted in red. Location ID is automatically generated but can be manually edited. 4. First enter the County and Community for the new link. Then enter the Located On and Crossroad names. As you type, a list of known roads for the selected County and Community will be displayed, as shown below. You must select known roads in the Located On and Crossroad fields. ms2soft.com Page 39
5. If the road name you have entered is found in the list of known roads for the County and Community you have selected, the road name will be shown in black font. If the road you have entered is not found in the list of known roads for the County and Community you have selected, the road name will be shown in red font and you will not be able to submit the changes until a valid County, Community, and Road Name combination is chosen. If you need to add a new road to the list of known roads within a particular County and Community, click on the Edit Roads/Cmty/Cnty button at the bottom of the page, as shown below. 6. To create the actual intersection, you must first navigate to the location of the new intersection using the map interface (right side of the screen). To help you navigate to the right location quicker, use the Locate Intersection button. The map zooms to the intersection. Pan and zoom the map to the desired area. 7. To create the new location, click (left mouse button) once on the intersection. A green pin will be placed in the new location, as shown below. You can click and drag the pin to refine its position. Click (left mouse button) the pin again to delete it. 8. After you fill in all desired information, click Submit. The new location has been added and the green pin will disappear. 9. You will be sent to the new Study Location s Form View page. ms2soft.com Page 40
10. Click the Locate button to display the new intersection on the map interface. It will appear as a red square with a blue outline, as shown below. 7.2 New Crash Case New crashes can be added manually via the web interface. To add a new crash, 1. Go to the main TCLS homepage and click on the New Crash button. Or, click the New Crash link from the search results page. ms2soft.com Page 41
2. The new crash information page will open. 3. Fill out information for the location. Required information is noted in red. Case # is automatically generated but can be manually edited. Enter the location, date, and time information about the crash. Use the locate buttons to zoom the map to the location of the intersection you have entered. 4. To create the new crash location, click (left mouse button) once on the intersection. A green pin will be placed in the new location, as shown below. You can click and drag the pin to refine its position. Click (left mouse button) the pin again to delete it. 5. After you fill in all desired information, click Submit. The new location has been added and the green pin will disappear. 6. You will be sent to the location search results Form View page for the new crash location. ms2soft.com Page 42
7. To add more details that pertain to the whole crash event, click the edit button under General Crash Information, as shown below. 8. To add a unit (vehicle, pedestrian to the crash, click the Add New button under Add New Unit Information section, as shown below. 9. Confirm that you would like to create the Unit and a new unit record is created. To edit the Unit information, click on the View/Edit information button. ms2soft.com Page 43
10. The Unit fields turn editable and you can select the information appropriate to this unit (e.g., Vehicle type, Number of Occupants, Direction of travel, etc.) Click Submit when you are done editing unit information. 11. After a Unit has been added, you can add a party (driver, passenger) to the unit. To add a Party, click the Add New button under the appropriate Unit Information and party type, as shown below. 12. To add a harmful event to a unit, click the Add New button under the Harmful Event header for the appropriate unit, as shown above. 13. To attach a police report file (e.g., pdf) to a crash, click the add new button in the Crash Report section at the bottom of the page, as shown below. Remember, after you add new crashes, you must return to the Admin page and reprocess statistics. This is only an introduction to numerous tasks you are capable of performing using the TCLS interface. Contact MS2 and we will be happy to provide further support or demonstrate the complete capabilities of the TCLS system. ms2soft.com Page 44
3815 Plaza Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 734.995.0200 ms2soft.com