Gravel roads form a significant share of the global road network, usually in sparsely populated rural areas. They are important, especially in agriculture, tourism, and forestry, connecting rural to urban areas. This systematic literature study comprises 105 reviewed publications on gravel road maintenance. Review articles on maintenance management practices, especially concerning objective condition assessment and data-driven methods (DDMs), are lacking. Therefore, this review provides a concise overview of current gravel road maintenance practices and ongoing research on objective condition assessment and DDMs for gravel road maintenance. It offers researchers in gravel road maintenance and other related fields a clear indication of where to focus their research efforts, as it suggests the direction for future research. Visual assessment methods are predominant for monitoring the condition of gravel roads, while objective methods and DDMs are not common. Research on gravel roads and their maintenance has increased in the last two decades, especially in North America and Northern Europe. Condition assessment is shifting from subjective to objective methods, utilizing knowledge from technological advancements in image processing, vibration and acoustics analysis, and so forth. There are some excellent research initiatives for objectively assessing the condition of gravel roads and DDMs, but the practical implementation is limited. Implementing objective assessment methods and DDMs generally improves the management of gravel roads with regard to decision-making, maintenance costs, safety, and the stability and comfort of the ride. Objective condition assessment and DDMs have the potential to enhance maintenance practices in the maintenance of gravel roads.

Engineers of today require a holistic understanding of the lifecycle of products and processes, from conceptualization to operations. Maintenance and reliability are areas receiving increased attention due to the contribution to sustainable industry practices. The related literature describes ways to strengthen the education with respect to curricula and teaching, but studies on the extent and content of maintenance-related education in engineering programs are lacking. The purpose of this study is to describe the maintenance-related education content in Swedish engineering programs. The main objects of study are the curricula and courses of engineering programs in Sweden. In total, 123 Bachelor of Engineering and 119 Master of Engineering programs were studied, as well as 36 maintenance-related courses. It was found that 12% of the engineering programs include one or more maintenance-related course, either mandatory or elective. On the Master of Engineering level, only 4% of the programs include mandatory maintenance-related courses. The corresponding number for Bachelor of Engineering programs is 15%. The courses are typically of 6–7.5 credits, but as low as under one credit worth of maintenance-related content is seen, as well as two specialized programs offering up to 60 credits. Of the 36 courses, 20 have a distinct maintenance focus, 2 are degree thesis courses, and 2 are within reliability engineering, while the rest have a focus in other areas. The lack of maintenance-related education makes future engineers less prepared to make good decisions and judgments that might affect the operational phase of the product or system.

Big Data and Internet of Things will increase the amount of data on asset management exceedingly. Data sharing with an increased number of partners in the area of asset management is important when developing business opportunities and new ecosystems. An asset management ecosystem is a complex set of relationships between parties taking part in asset management actions. In this paper, the current barriers and benefits of data sharing are identified based on the results of an interview study. The main benefits are transparency, access to data and reuse of data. New services can be created by taking advantage of data sharing. The main barriers to sharing data are an unclear view of the data sharing process and difficulties to recognize the benefits of data sharing. For overcoming the barriers in data sharing, this paper applies the ecosystem perspective on asset management information. The approach is explained by using the Swedish railway industry as an example.