APPLICATIONS OF GPS &

GIS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

 Geographic Information Technologies
• Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
– A system of Earth-orbiting satellites which provides precise
location on the earth’s surface in lat./long coordinates.
– 11 hours 58 minutes orbital period
– 24 hour 3D coverage worldwide
• Remote Sensing (RS)
– Use of satellites/aircrafts to capture info-earth’s surface.
– Digital ortho images a key product.
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
 GIS-What is it?
GIS
•Computer-based Technology
•Designed with software, hardware, data,
procedure, network and live ware.
•Storage, retrieval, mapping and analysis of
geographic data.
•Data is stored in coordinate form.
•Layered together for mapping analysis.
 GIS are designed to answer
the followings:
 Location
 Patterns
 Trends
 Conditions

1. Where r particular feature found?

2. What geographical patterns exist?
3. Where have changes occurred over given
period?
4. Where do certain conditions apply?
 Basic Components

Requires well-defined, consistent methods to

produce accurate, reproducible results.

The availability and accuracy of data

affects results
of query/analysis.
People develops the procedures and
define
the tasks of the GIS.
Includes database, drawing, stats. &
imaging software.
Affect processing
speed, ease of use,
and type of output
Hardware Software-GIS
architecture
DATA INPUT

GEOGRAPHIC

DATABASE
DISPLAY AND
REPORTING

TRANSFORMATION

USER
INTERFACE
 Data and Analysis
Data, Information, Knowledge, Intelligence
•Data: Collection of facts/figures that pertain to places, people, things,
events, and concepts.
•Information: Data transferred – through processes.

HARDCOPY
HARDCOPYMAPS
MAPS
DIGITAL
DIGITALDATA
DATA

COORDIN
COORDIN GIS
ATES
ATES
480585.5,
480585.5,
3769234.6
DATA
3769234.6
483194.1,
483194.1,
3768432.3
3768432.3
485285.8,
GPS
GPS
485285.8,
 Components of Geographic Data

• Three general components to geographic information

Geometry
Geometry Attributes
Attributes Behavior
Behavior

Rules:

Streets and
highways may
not intersect

• Each feature corresponds to a record in the attribute table

 GIS Functions

• GPS
satellites
• Stores in Vector or Raster format
• Spatial and Attribute data
• Identifying specific features
• Identifying features based on
conditions
• Proximity analysis
• Overlay analysis-overlap 2 layers
• Network analysis-examines linear
features
• Visualized as a maps
• Reports, 3-D views, photographs
• Paper map, Document,
Image
The GIS Data Model: Implementation
Geographic Integration of Information

• Data is organized by layers.

• Layers are integrated using explicit location on the earth’s
surface, thus geographic location is the organizing principal.
 The GIS Model
de
u Here we have three layers :
la t it roads •Roads
longitude •Hydrology (water)
•Topography (land elevation)
de

Layers are comprised of two data

itu

hydrology
lat

types:
longitude •Spatial data -describes location(where)
•Attribute data specifies what, how much,
whenLayers may be represented in two
de

ways:
it u

topography
lat

•Vector format as points and lines.

longitude • Raster(or image) format as pixels.

All geographic data has 4 properties: projection, scale, accuracy and

 Civil Engineering Applications
GIS Integrates Data
Transportation
Watershed Analysis Water Resources
Environment Impact Assessment Topographic Data
Remote Sensing Roads/Infrastructu
Urban Development Demographics
Land Use/Land Co
Target Site Selection Imagery
Landfill Site Selection Environmental
Mineral mapping Considerations
Pollution Monitoring Engineering
Natural Hazard Assessment
Resource Management
Planning
•Involves surveys, review of exiting infrastructure.
•GIS- integrates, manage, analyze and visualize the wide range of data
Design
•GIS- data management tools to manage and share data between GIS a
Maintenance
•Detailed understanding of the location of assets for transport infrast.
Information
•Up to date information systems for travellers.
• The wide choice of travel options require true multi-modal solutions
 GIS in Transportation Engineering
• METRO projects.
• Airlines or road transport-detailed information-Bus no,
route, timings etc.
• Disaster responses-advance warning.
• Planning and locating- railway corridors.
Location-Allocation
• Finding a subset of locations from a set of potential-minimizing
Location-Allocation
cost. Inputs
& output
• Customer or demand locations.
• Potential site locations and/or existing facilities.
• Street network or Euclidean distance.
 Pictorial Representation
Initial
Configuration Available Sites

Final Configuration Vehicle Routing

 Watershed Analysis
• GIS map water resources and link them to a database
• Planners/Engineers link their modeling system to the GIS-tie to
attribute data.
• Data – land use & land cover, geology, soils, hydrography &
topography.
• Project represented in 3-D form-the impact of facilities on
Flood Modeling process.
landscape-design
• Estimate the magnitude of high-flow events, the probability of
low-flow events.
• Determine flood zones.
• Identify high-potential erosion areas.
• Derive physical characteristics area, perimeter, soil data etc.
 Environmental Monitoring
Undertaken if all available data is utilized effectively.

• GIS-Ideal solutions
Environmental Impact
Assessment for a new
construction project,
pollution monitoring.
• GIS visualize all
available info.
 Remote
Sensing
• Image backdrop
• Source of information on:
 Land use/land cover
 Vegetation type, distribution,
condition
 Surface waters
 River networks
 Geomorphology Land use :
 Monitor change Water: 268.74
km2
Urban: 2312.35
Km2
Forest: 11182.39
km2
Agriculture: 16675.65
km2
Pasture:
 Conclusion
With increasingly complex projects, GIS provides the civil
engineers with tools for creating,managing,analysing and
visualizing all types of geographic information. GIS education is
expected to prepare individuals in the civil engineering profession
for the implementation of engineering projects/tasks with time-
and money-saving approaches.
Some of the open ended limitations the high over head cost
GPS/GIS
Geographicsoftwares andishardwares
information at the heart of all
engineering projects.

You are never lost you are