GIS and Its Application in Civil Engineering

GIS and Its Application in Civil Engineering

What is GIS?

Geographic Information System (GIS) is a system intended to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data. In the simplest terms, GIS is the merging of cartography, statistical analysis, and database technology.

A GIS can be thought of as a system—it digitally creates and manipulatesspatial areas that may be for jurisdictional purpose or application-oriented. Generally, a GIS is custom-designed for an organization. Hence, a GIS developed for an application, jurisdiction, enterprise, or purpose may not be necessarily interoperable or compatible with a GIS that has been developed for some other application, jurisdiction, enterprise, or purpose.

Application of GIS

GIS is a relatively broad term, which can refer to a number of technologies and processes, so it is attached to many operations; in engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics and analysis.

History of Development

During the 1854 cholera outbreak in London, English physician John Snow used points to represent the locations of some individual cases, possibly the earliest use of a geographic methodology in epidemiology. His study of the distribution of cholera led to the source of the disease, a contaminated water pump (the Broad Street Pump, whose handle he had disconnected, thus terminating the outbreak) within the heart of the cholera outbreak.

This historical became the advent of the usage of spatial data for analysis and planning in many fields including Civil Engineering.

GIS and Civil Engineering

An advanced information system like GIS plays a vital role and serves as a complete platform in every phase of infrastructure life cycle. Advancement and availability of technology has set new marks for the professionals in the infrastructure development areas. Now more and more professionals are seeking help of these technologically smart and improved information systems like GIS for infrastructure development. Each and every phase of infrastructure life-cycle is greatly affected and enhanced by the enrollment of GIS.

• Planning: In planning its major contribution is to give us with an organized set of data which can help professionals to combat complex scenarios relating to the selection of site, environmental impact, study of ecosystem, managing risk regarding the use of natural resources, sustainability issues, managing traffic congestion, routing of roads and pipelines etc.

• Data Collection: Precise and accurate data is the core driving factor of any successful project. GIS is equipped with almost all those tools and functions that enables user to have access to the required data within a reasonable time.

• Analysis: Analysis is one of the major and most influential phases of infrastructure life cycle. Analysis guides us about the validity or correctness of design or we can say that analysis is a method which supports our design. Some of the analyses that can be performed by GIS are:
  • Water distribution analysis
  • Traffic management analysis
  • Soil analysis
  • Site feasibility analysis
  • Environment impact analysis
  • Volume or Area analysis of catchment
  • River or canals pattern analysis
  • Temperature and humidity analysis
  Construction: It is the stage when all layout plans and paper work design come into existence in the real world. The GIS helps the professionals to understand the site conditions that affect the schedule baseline and cost baseline. To keep the construction within budget and schedule GIS guides us about how to utilize our resources on site efficiency by:
  • Timely usage of construction equipment.
  • Working Hours
  • Effects of seasonal fluctuations.
  • Optimizing routes for dumpers and concrete trucks
  • Earth filling and cutting
  • Calculation of volumes and areas of constructed phase thereby helping in Estimation and Valuation.
  Operations: Operations are controlled by modeling of site data and compared by the baselines prepared in planning phase. Modeling of site may be in the form of raster images or CAD drawings. These can help us to keep track of timely operations of activities.
  GIS can help to make a record of work that has been completed and can give us visualization in the form of thematic maps which will guide us about rate of operations, completed operations and pending operations.
  In short we can say that GIS will prove to be the foundation of next generation civil engineering.

Piyush Dwivedi

Class of 2016