Reasons to switch to Geographic Information System (GIS) for Civil Engineering

Since the last decade, technology has moved up several notches for various industry verticals.  Man has created significant innovations in the areas of communication, transportation, energy systems, engineering, and more. Land has been deemed more valuable than gold, and thus, we have seen a significant rise in the construction industry in the past few years. In this article, we would be talking about the applications of GIS in Civil Engineering, but looking at the construction industry, every builder, owner, architect, or construction professional is looking at new construction tools and methodologies like Building Information Modeling(BIM), AR/VR, Drones, Building Automation machines, GIS, and more.

How valuable is GIS in Civil Engineering?

The area of civil engineering is all about new developments, renovations, and sustainable infrastructure developments.  This is a broad range career, and involves the integration of various software technology platforms. Civil engineers need to work with huge amounts of data, this information is collated from various sources and parties. GIS is cutting-edge technology that provides a platform and the tools to create, manage, analyze, and visualize large data volumes, and turn them into simplistic formats for other people to view and communicate. Sustainable development through civil engineering companies needs complete penetration of GIS for all its projects and developments.

The question remains, why GIS?

GIS has the power to flow and integrate its technology through complete interoperability and multiple data formats. Through centralized technology, GIS delivers construction companies and professionals to perform spatial analysis, overlap data, and integrate various other systems from other platforms and software. This enables civil engineers to create, manage, edit, share, and evaluate various data streams for multiple project cycles.

GIS in Civil Engineering

Some objectives & necessary components of GIS

• Maximize efficiency for planning and decision making
• Quantifying vital information from various data sources
• Conducting complex querying and analysis
• Reducing de-duplication

Like other technology, even GIS has various components like – hardware, software, data, procedures, and people. Hardware systems like scanners, digitizers, plotters, and more interface with various software in the industry such as ArcGIS, Microstation, Terra Solid, etc. to provide the necessary information in the form of data, transformations, output, etc. Whatever data is collected such as maps, satellite imagery, or any other infrastructure photograph is analyzed and transformed in the necessary format for viewing or presentation.

The applications of GIS are vast, and they are mostly used for civil engineering applications like –

• Determination of Landslide Hazards
• Solid Waste Removal
• Site Selection
• Transportation analysis
• Weather analysis
• Landfill selection
• Pollution analysis…. & more

Improving project processing through GIS

Project Processing through GIS

Precise Planning

This phase of the project involves detailed planning from the ground-up for various scenarios and functions that need to be deployed such as location, environmental conditions, utilities, contingency scenarios, modeling, etc. Accurate planning makes it easier to initiate a project or a series of projects.

Information logging  

Whilst collating data, it is crucial for people and devices to collect data for pre-design analysis, engineering calculations, traffic systems, soil type, area geology, photogrammetry, and more. A centralized information architecture provides vital information on multiple data patterns that can be evaluated further.

Environmental Examination

Looking at the vast size of the environment, construction engineering companies need to examine various environmental factors that could affect infrastructure development at the later stages of construction. Environmental examinations generally include soil types, load bearing capacity of land,  erosion , infrastructure and traffic capacity, forest areas, and more. The application of GIS for civil engineering renders GIS professionals and construction companies with transparent information on various geographical trends, multiple area patterns,  and other vital connections that can facilitate efficient & productive  construction.

Beginning Design

As soon as vital data has been collated, it is analyzed and converted into design models through next-generation CAD tools and software, taking into account parameters like grading, cross-sections, design calculations, and more. Through accurate 3D models, construction engineers can move onto the next phase, i.e. construction.

Moving to construction  

Once all the models and information is in place, it paves the way for construction companies to deploy various  engineering tools and machines onsite, as well as calculate material quantities and volumes, logistics management, manpower creation, traffic analysis, and more.

Coming to a closure

GIS technology helps companies visualize, upgrade , and build infrastructure  and make informed decisions to move further with your construction plans. Through the demands of time and budget, it has become very important for engineering firms to focus on GIS as the best alternative that makes absolute sense for mapping and high quality visualization.

Source: https://blog.nibt.education/2018/07/reasons-to-switch-geographic-information-system-gis-for-civil-engineering/