Clarifications:

Is this across all highways and inner streets – Yes

Is it for any kind of pothole – Yes

Is it inside national parks etc – No

Quantification of the problem:

The total land mass is 3 million square feet (I read somewhere).

Assumption is that 60% is highways and 40% are inner roads

Infra needed:

Maps (latitude and longitude) and routes

Mechanisms to identify potholes

1. Partner with car manufacturers to get the data from the shock absorbers to directly upload it on to the map. The absorbion can be different based on the kind of car so the complexity will have to be tuned according to the car. For this we need to understand the car suspension system and the manufacturers will need a way to tune the metrics
2. Self-driving google cars – using its self driving cars it can either take photos and then run through a visualization engine to classify potholes
3. User generated manual like Waze – Users can input when they go over a pothole. This can be risky if they are driving. Having a voice activated command to the map or waze app to remember the area. Might get missed as people will forget to activate. For this also having a system of feedback from the car to the map automatically.
4. County offices where the transport records are digitized