GIS Applications In Civil Engineering

We can describe a Geographic Information System (GIS) as a computerized scheme that helps the phases of data entry, data analysis and data presentation especially in cases when we are dealing with georeferenced information. This means that a GIS user will expect support from the system to enter data, to analyse it in several ways, and to produce presentations (maps and other) from the data. Many kinds of functionality should come with this support for various kinds of coordinate systems and transformations between them, many different ways of 'computing' with the georeferenced data, and obviously a large degree of freedom of choice in presentation parameters such as color scheme, symbol set, medium etc. GIS is the software package that can be applied to many different applications.

Nowadays most of civil engineers use GIS technology and also it provides a new way of resolving environmental problems. By using this technology, we can easily reduce costs, support multi-discipline analysis and improve quality of project.

GIS application supports numerous data formats while maintaining the data's core reliability. In an individual project file, it supports civil engineers to provide many type of data formats, manage, share, use again, analyze data and saving time. Few of the main objectives of the GIS are,

• Increase the decision making and planning efficiency.
• Information in multiple choices.
• Update data inexpensively and quickly.
• Eliminating redundant data and minimizing duplication.

GIS uses in Civil Engineering

There are so many applications of GIS in many streams of civil engineering works. GIS is got a vital role which is more used in technical practice in construction industry. Further GIS gets and important role in infrastructures progress which is basically what civil engineering is all about. In the preparation of the construction phase, many problems are occurred which are spatial positioning of the construction have to be solved jointly by the checking of the feasibility and purposefulness, and the alternative more answers of the technical problems are designed. At a construction project, there have many forms of initial documents, surveys, map sheets, photographs and other documents referring to the problems solved, and appropriate legal and practical standards.

Planning

GIS give prearranged data set to engineers. It can help to face complex situations relating to the site selecting, studying and impacting with the environment, risk management with natural resources, issues of sustainability, roads and pipeline routing, handling traffic congestion.

Data Collection

GIS tools and functions supports user to have access to the required precise and accurate data. This kind of accurate data set conduce to successful project.

Analysis

Analysis part plays major and most powerful stages of construction field. It is a technique which helps our project. It helps engineers about the validity or accuracy of project. These are some analyses that can be done by using GIS.

• Water supplying
• Traffic controlling
• Soil analyzing
• Site feasibility analyzing
• Environment effect analyzing
• Capacity or Area analyzing in catchment
• Waterway designing
• Temperature and humidity analyzing.

Construction

In this step all designed plans come into existence in the practical world. The GIS supports the engineers to comprehend the construction site circumstances that affect the schedule and cost baseline. It helps to manage the construction within budget and schedule GIS helps engineers about how to use our resources on site competence by:

• Timely usage of site apparatus.
• Hours of working
• Effects of seasonal variations
• Control dumpers and concrete trucks
• Earth filling and earth cutting
• Calculation of capacities and areas of site (It helps to Estimate and Valuate)
• Infrastructure Management.

GIS helps to visualize the construction area when we are constructing infrastructure. And also it helps organize our work. When designing the project, GIS assist us to make most suitable decisions. We can easily understand requirements in better way if there is precise picture of the project. Also it causes to reduce difficulties and environmental effects. Using GIS helps to improve all these procedures. By using tools that modernize your business processes, you can reduce your time and you can get greatest visualization and mapping. GIS is tended to present information in a direct method to your scheme. If you want map of something you can easily create it by using ArcGIS Desktop software and then post it on the Web. It may help your construction field team and partner to get some idea about how a scheme is developing.

Land Fill Site Assortment

By using GIS, we can search suitable new landfill sites and it is very useful. It also provides precise spatial data processing covering a larger number of themes. Landsat satellites, digitalized map data and other related devices have intensely improved with arrival of highly sophisticated high-tech GIS systems. It helps to define land use patterns.

Better Management at a Reduced Cost

Engineers can save money by using GIS technology, because they don’t need expensive printers, technical pens and papers or other related properties. Similarly, they don't require having a large control of drafters and hand sketched land plans or a particular structure. They have only required to state a location on GIS mapping. We can have better communication with the team members with this technology. The engineer is able to do changes easily while the phases in the project is finalized.

Urban Development and Town Planning

Many problems have been caused by urbanization in numerous countries. Some problems are power supply, sanitation, water supply and pollution of environment etc. Urban land use plan and resources development model need to be generated by collecting the information on socio economic statics and demographics GIS domain that are available satellite annals.

Transportation Planning

GIS technology can be used to solve problems of transportation system. When engineers are constructing new road or railway, they are adding topographical and environmental data into the GIS platform. It shows the best guideline for transportation just based on criteria. By using this technology, we can reduce harm to habitat and reduce disturbance to the society.

The utilization of GPS and GIS are combined frameworks in transportation designing zone unit expressed beneath. All the transportation data and information are commonly used with activity tallies from unequivocal destinations, the movement volumes on express streets or connections, and so forth. Further vehicles are used GIS technology for the identify for their own route and we can easily find place that we want to go. Larger companies use GPS system for their vehicles such as private bus owners and others.

Environmental Analysis

GIS technology helps to manage environmental analysis techniques. As examples, Consumption of materials, soil load analysis, erosion control, slope constancy, traffic capacity, and capacity controls.

Construction Management

When engineers building new infrastructure, GIS technology helps to manage it. Machine control, Movement of earth, traffic controlling, logistics, material tracking and calculation of payments are some uses. The feature that is covering the barren surface can be defined as Land cover. The area in the surface utilized for particular use is called Land use. When we use GIS technology for land use and land cover applications, we can find land use/land cover changes in the different areas. Automatically it can notice and estimate the changes in the land use/ land cover pattern within time. It is useful to manage sudden changes in land use and land cover. After that we can find it was natural forces or other actions like deforestation.

Land Information System

We can use GIS based land acquisition management method when we want to find information about land. This application will provide us complete and accurate data about the land. We can find Land purchase details before the past 3 or 4 years. It would help us assessment, to find payments, owner details, tracking of land allotments and properties identification.

Development of Public Infrastructure Facilities

We can use GIS software for space management, visualization and design, disaster planning and response. These are the main benefits in the field of facility management. It can be used to space planning. Also it provides facilitate better planning and analysis.

Geologic Mapping

GIS plays major role in geological mapping. It helps surveyors to draw 3D maps of any area with accurate scaling. final results provide precise sizes. It helps in several ways where geological map is required. This can be done for effective cost and give more valuable data. This is the easy scaling method to studying geologic mapping.

River Crossing Site Selection for Bridges

When we select a site for bridge we have to consider some facts. They are the strength of slope leading down to and up from the water crossing, the amount of river channel contraction, nature of bed and bank materials, flood flow, flow depth, degree of curvature of the river and also have to collect past data on erosion and sedimentation. By using these facts through GIS technology we can estimate correct data for river crossing site selection for bridges.

Water management

Improper whirlwind water systems can influence the movement of both the drinking water and wastewater structures. Drinking water can be impeded in view of sullying of surface water supply sources from dirtied storm water outfall discharges. Wastewater social affair and treatment can be influenced by unfortunate inflow of whirlwind water into the perfect sewer systems. The blend of mechanized mapping and database capacities is the thing that isolates GIS from other information systems. In the earlier decade, incredible PCs and present day programming have joined to pass on the GIS ability to any work region.

Advantages of GIS

By using GIS helps to the engineer for minimize the cost as the engineer no longer have to acquire tools to store data in hard copies and also building storage houses. Nowadays all the engineers use GIS applications for their works. It is easy to cover the many other works correctly. Therefore, the GIS is the most useful computer based software and it is used in civil engineering as follows,

• Designing a complete map
• To get the area of selected place
• In construction works
• Presents a catalog of data
• Offers a quick collection of data
• Can visualize spatial information
• Time management.

Further GIS is used in civil engineering because it has most correctly data and engineers can design most correctly work and it is easy to operate and then engineers can save their time by using GIS applications in civil engineering. In this report, a portion of the uses of GIS in Civil Engineering were examined. In Construction, utilizing GIS, every one of the information can be put away in a focal area and it enables us to roll out any fundamental improvements rapidly and effectively. In the field of Environmental Affairs like woodland fire, one can utilize the backwoods fire reproduction to foresee and control the out of control fire. Additionally, on account of Tsunami, GIS is utilized for overlaying of satellite pictures joining characteristic asset information for powerful investigation.

Finally, Geographic data system has found application in the many fields in civil engineering and it's a vital tool that's enhancing construction fields. Geographic information systems links completely different aspects of civil engineering comes like emergency designing, history and even earth science a particular purpose on a map. GIS is valuable in virtually each organization or business and of recent there has been nice awareness of the economic importance and the educational importance of GIS. GIS may be a precise analysis tool and its output is simply as correct as what you input into it. GIS is alleged to be the inspiration of next generation engineering science and it is the actuation for the event of all sectors. In related to the current wave applications of GIS will be increased so as subject in civil engineering it will always play an important role.