Abstract: The present invention provides a visual asset management system for optimizing inspection and allocation of capital renewal (repair/rehabilitation/replacement) resources among a plurality of assets wherein each asset has a different life cycle. Inspection is enabled by an inspection device that enables a user to access an inspection template for conducting an inspection of assets. The user can provide inspection data via the inspection device, including by providing images of particular assets to represent their life cycle performances. An optimization engine conducts a two stage optimization on the inspection data, first by optimizing inspection and allocation of renewal resources on an asset by asset basis, and then by optimizing inspection and allocation of renewal resources among all assets or a sub-set of the assets.