Location and civil engineers - Revision history

Editor at 17:08, 24 March 2021

2021-03-24T17:08:54Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:08, 24 March 2021
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	* ISO/TC 211 Geographic information/Geomatics.		* ISO/TC 211 Geographic information/Geomatics.
	* Land surveying.		* Land surveying.
		+	* Stink pipes.

	[[Category:DCN_Commentary]] [[Category:DCN_Guidance]] [[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]] [[Category:Products_/_components]]		[[Category:DCN_Commentary]] [[Category:DCN_Guidance]] [[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]] [[Category:Products_/_components]]

Designing Buildings at 06:56, 11 February 2021

2021-02-11T06:56:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:56, 11 February 2021
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	* Land surveying.		* Land surveying.

−	[[Category:~~Construction_techniques~~]] [[Category:~~Design~~]] [[Category:~~Products_/_components~~]] [[Category:~~DCN_Product_Knowledge~~]]	+	[[Category:DCN_Commentary]] [[Category:DCN_Guidance]] [[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]] [[Category:Products_/_components]]

Editor at 11:56, 6 July 2020

2020-07-06T11:56:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:56, 6 July 2020
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	-----		-----
−	This article originally appeared on the ICE Civil Engineer Blog under the title "[https://www.ice.org.uk/news-and-insight/the-civil-engineer/july-2020/why-location-is-key-for-civil-engineers Why it’s all about location, location, location for civil engineers]". It was written by Elspeth McIntyre PIEMA, AMICE, Geospatial Consultant, Atkins and published on 01 July 2020.	+	This article originally appeared on the ICE Civil Engineer Blog under the title "[https://www.ice.org.uk/news-and-insight/the-civil-engineer/july-2020/why-location-is-key-for-civil-engineers Why it’s all about location, location, location for civil engineers]". It was written by Elspeth McIntyre PIEMA, AMICE, Geospatial Consultant, Atkins and published on 1 July 2020.

	--[[User:The_Institution_of_Civil_Engineers\|The Institution of Civil Engineers]]		--[[User:The_Institution_of_Civil_Engineers\|The Institution of Civil Engineers]]
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	= Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki =		= Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki =

		+	* Building Information Modelling BIM.
	* Geographic information system GIS.		* Geographic information system GIS.
	* Geospatial.		* Geospatial.
Line 62:		Line 63:
	* Land surveying.		* Land surveying.

−	[[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]] [[Category:Products_/_components]]	+	[[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]] [[Category:Products_/_components]] [[Category:DCN_Product_Knowledge]]

Editor at 11:35, 6 July 2020

2020-07-06T11:35:46Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:35, 6 July 2020
Line 58:		Line 58:
	* Geospatial.		* Geospatial.
	* Global positioning systems and global navigation satellite systems.		* Global positioning systems and global navigation satellite systems.
		+	* ICE articles on Designing Buildings Wiki.
	* ISO/TC 211 Geographic information/Geomatics.		* ISO/TC 211 Geographic information/Geomatics.
	* Land surveying.		* Land surveying.

	[[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]] [[Category:Products_/_components]]		[[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]] [[Category:Products_/_components]]

Editor at 11:33, 6 July 2020

2020-07-06T11:33:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:33, 6 July 2020
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	[[File:Choleramap.jpg]]	+	[[File:Choleramap.jpg\|link=File:Choleramap.jpg]]

	A variant of the original map drawn by Dr. John Snow (1813-1858), a British physician who is one of the founders of medical epidemiology, showing cases of cholera in the London epidemics of 1854, clustered around the locations of water pumps.		A variant of the original map drawn by Dr. John Snow (1813-1858), a British physician who is one of the founders of medical epidemiology, showing cases of cholera in the London epidemics of 1854, clustered around the locations of water pumps.
Line 24:		Line 24:
	Manage these diverse elements poorly and you’ll find your project blocked at planning, poorly used once complete, inefficient to operate or perhaps just really difficult at end-of-life disposal stage. Multi-discipline project teams will come to loggerheads over mutually exclusive design decisions, construction teams will despair over how to implement environmental mitigation, and valuable information will be obfuscated at every data exchange point.		Manage these diverse elements poorly and you’ll find your project blocked at planning, poorly used once complete, inefficient to operate or perhaps just really difficult at end-of-life disposal stage. Multi-discipline project teams will come to loggerheads over mutually exclusive design decisions, construction teams will despair over how to implement environmental mitigation, and valuable information will be obfuscated at every data exchange point.

−	GIS (Geographic Information Systems) is of course only one tool to prevent this kind of chaos, but it’s a very important one, and one that’s frequently overlooked or seen as a competitor rather than a colleague or player within other data management systems such as BIM. Given that the big software houses on both sides are becoming increasingly intertwined, here are a few ways ~~you as an engineer~~ can interact with GIS and implement it in workflows;	+	GIS (Geographic Information Systems) is of course only one tool to prevent this kind of chaos, but it’s a very important one, and one that’s frequently overlooked or seen as a competitor rather than a colleague or player within other data management systems such as BIM. Given that the big software houses on both sides are becoming increasingly intertwined, here are a few ways engineers can interact with GIS and implement it in workflows;

−	Layered insight	+	= Layered insight =

−	Due to the diversity of elements within the environmental context of a project, GIS is frequently the only solution which can examine them all within a single system, by looking at their sole unifying factor; their location. GIS can instantly count how many trees with bat potential sit within 20km of a site or calculate the population ~~who~~ would suffer power outages in the event of substations flooding. It can calculate energy use baselines for a whole town on the journey to ~~Net Zero~~, or identify every viewpoint impacted by development of a new road. Adding layers of data enables powerful analysis to be carried out.	+	Due to the diversity of elements within the environmental context of a project, GIS is frequently the only solution which can examine them all within a single system by looking at their sole unifying factor - their location. GIS can instantly count how many trees with bat potential sit within 20km of a site or calculate the population that would suffer power outages in the event of substations flooding. It can calculate energy use baselines for a whole town on the journey to net zero, or identify every viewpoint impacted by development of a new road. Adding layers of data enables powerful analysis to be carried out.

−	Automating to unlock insights	+	= Automating to unlock insights =

−	GIS really lends itself to automation, via integration with sophisticated Python data ~~Libraries~~ such as NumPy and SciPy, as well as the use of licensed tools such as FME. Using these tools allows GIS specialists to build reusable tools for iterative analysis and data processing tasks ranging from multi-sheet ~~Compulsory Purchase Order~~ drawings for infrastructure development to networking tasks for water utilities. As above, by using multiple data sources, these insights can be updated based on changes in the surrounding area, not just changes within your own project. Having an iterative source of insight into these outside changes will enable you to easily pinpoint and manage risk from externalities providing a more realistic view.	+	GIS really lends itself to automation, via integration with sophisticated Python data libraries such as NumPy and SciPy, as well as the use of licensed tools such as FME. Using these tools allows GIS specialists to build reusable tools for iterative analysis and data processing tasks ranging from multi-sheet compulsory purchase order drawings for infrastructure development to networking tasks for water utilities.

−	~~Crack your~~ data ~~management~~	+	By using multiple data sources, these insights can be updated based on changes in the surrounding area - not just changes within a project. Having an iterative source of insight into these outside changes will enable engineers to easily pinpoint and manage risk from externalities providing a more realistic view.

−	Many of the burgeoning document management systems, such as Projectwise, don’t yet handle spatial data files well. However GIS as a sector has adapted to this technological drawback by building new links between systems to facilitate better cross-project data management. A Spatial Common Data Environment, as we have developed at Atkins, provides a single-source-of-truth for spatial data, with visualisation tools such as 3D and 2D WebGIS already built in, to give a whole-project window for the full team. Using automated versioning, GIS can automatically allow design fixes to be shared with multi-disciplinary teams within, for example, a DCO process, helping to get deliverables done on time and with minimal rework.	+	= Crack your data management =

−	~~GI-Yes for Engineers –~~ a ~~match made in Data?~~	+	Many of the burgeoning document management systems, such as Projectwise, don’t yet handle spatial data files well. However GIS as a sector has adapted to this technological drawback by building new links between systems to facilitate better cross-project data management.

−	Atkins ~~recently won accolades for their work in Geospatial led design~~, ~~where geospatial data on environmental constraints was considered first before~~ a single ~~engineer got~~ to ~~work~~. ~~The resulting linear infrastructure centre line options handed~~ to ~~its civil engineers achieved the maximum avoidance of environmental~~, ~~heritage and socioeconomic assets~~, ~~speeding up delivery~~ and ~~reducing costs dramatically~~.	+	A Spatial Common Data Environment, as we have developed at Atkins, provides a single-source-of-truth for spatial data, with visualisation tools such as 3D and 2D WebGIS already built in, to give a whole-project window for the full team. Using automated versioning, GIS can automatically allow design fixes to be shared with multi-disciplinary teams within, for example, a development consent order (DCO) process, helping to get deliverables done on time and with minimal rework.

−	There is more data available than ever, ripe for GIS use. As our industries continue to develop digital processes, we will all need to use as much data as we can lay our hands on, and geospatial consultants alongside engineers can be the ideal partnership to ~~ensuring~~ this happens.	+	= GI-Yes for Engineers – a match made in data? =
		+
		+	Atkins recently won accolades for their work in geospatial led design, where geospatial data on environmental constraints was considered first before a single engineer got to work. The resulting linear infrastructure centre line options handed to its civil engineers achieved the maximum avoidance of environmental, heritage and socioeconomic assets, speeding up delivery and reducing costs dramatically.
		+
		+	There is more data available than ever and ripe for GIS use. As our industries continue to develop digital processes, we will all need to use as much data as we can lay our hands on, and geospatial consultants alongside engineers can be the ideal partnership to ensure this happens.

	-----		-----
Line 57:		Line 61:
	* Land surveying.		* Land surveying.

−	[[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]]	+	[[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]] [[Category:Products_/_components]]

Editor at 11:25, 6 July 2020

2020-07-06T11:25:11Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:25, 6 July 2020
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	[[File:Choleramap.jpg]]
		+
		+	A variant of the original map drawn by Dr. John Snow (1813-1858), a British physician who is one of the founders of medical epidemiology, showing cases of cholera in the London epidemics of 1854, clustered around the locations of water pumps.
		+
		+	-----
	= Introduction =		= Introduction =

Line 5:		Line 10:
	= History =		= History =

−	One of the first pieces of GIS analysis was performed amidst an outbreak of cholera in London’s Soho district in 1854. The transmission mechanism for the disease was unknown at the time, so the evidence to investigate was constrained to the people who had fallen ill.	+	One of the first pieces of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis was performed amidst an outbreak of cholera in London’s Soho district in 1854. The transmission mechanism for the disease was unknown at the time, so the evidence to investigate was constrained to the people who had fallen ill.

	John Snow, an early epidemiologist was the first recorded person to treat this data as spatial data. He interviewed residents to understand key interactions with local environmental factors, including water pumps in the area. He put patients on a map and undertook Voronoi analysis [a spatial pattern technique] to draw a link between a single water pump and the illness, and further substantiated his findings by showing an anomaly; nearby brewery workers who should have been falling ill at the same rate were spared by their daily beer allowance, which enabled them to avoid the problem pump.		John Snow, an early epidemiologist was the first recorded person to treat this data as spatial data. He interviewed residents to understand key interactions with local environmental factors, including water pumps in the area. He put patients on a map and undertook Voronoi analysis [a spatial pattern technique] to draw a link between a single water pump and the illness, and further substantiated his findings by showing an anomaly; nearby brewery workers who should have been falling ill at the same rate were spared by their daily beer allowance, which enabled them to avoid the problem pump.
Line 11:		Line 16:
	His findings are commonly cited within health geography, but rarely enter an engineering syllabus, despite his further geospatial work comparing practices of various waterwork engineering companies.		His findings are commonly cited within health geography, but rarely enter an engineering syllabus, despite his further geospatial work comparing practices of various waterwork engineering companies.

−	The key learning point for engineers ~~today~~ is that if Snow had been working with merely a list of patients, he would have had no opportunity to link that list with the deadly water pump and it could have remained a medical mystery and a worsening tragedy. So where else can geospatial data uncover hidden value?	+	The key learning point for engineers is that if Snow had been working with merely a list of patients, he would have had no opportunity to link that list with the deadly water pump and it could have remained a medical mystery and a worsening tragedy. So where else can geospatial data uncover hidden value?

	= Finding a context =		= Finding a context =

−	Whether you deal in utility networks, transportation, energy production or telecoms, your project has a location (grid coordinate, depth, height), or perhaps even a moving location, which is even more important to manage well. When an object has a location, it allows you to discover, explore, analyse and interact with its context of multiple, delicate interdependencies on built and natural environmental elements both inside and external to the project elements themselves. This might be demography, geomorphology, utility grid issues, flood forecasting, mobile phone pings of a moving population, bat records; the list goes on.	+	Whether you deal in utility networks, transportation, energy production or telecoms, your project has a location (grid coordinate, depth, height), or perhaps even a moving location, which is even more important to manage well. When an object has a location, it allows you to discover, explore, analyse and interact with its context of multiple, delicate interdependencies on built and natural environmental elements both inside and external to the project elements themselves. This might be demography, geomorphology, utility grid issues, flood forecasting, mobile phone pings of a moving population, bat records, the list goes on.

	Manage these diverse elements poorly and you’ll find your project blocked at planning, poorly used once complete, inefficient to operate or perhaps just really difficult at end-of-life disposal stage. Multi-discipline project teams will come to loggerheads over mutually exclusive design decisions, construction teams will despair over how to implement environmental mitigation, and valuable information will be obfuscated at every data exchange point.		Manage these diverse elements poorly and you’ll find your project blocked at planning, poorly used once complete, inefficient to operate or perhaps just really difficult at end-of-life disposal stage. Multi-discipline project teams will come to loggerheads over mutually exclusive design decisions, construction teams will despair over how to implement environmental mitigation, and valuable information will be obfuscated at every data exchange point.

Editor at 11:11, 6 July 2020

2020-07-06T11:11:54Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:11, 6 July 2020
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	Engineers of all disciplines need Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the very simple reason that geospatial data makes projects faster, better, and more cost effective.		Engineers of all disciplines need Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the very simple reason that geospatial data makes projects faster, better, and more cost effective.

−	One of the first pieces of GIS ~~Analysis~~ was performed amidst an outbreak of cholera in London’s Soho district in 1854. The transmission mechanism for the disease was unknown at the time, so the evidence to investigate was constrained to the people who had fallen ill.	+	= History =
		+
		+	One of the first pieces of GIS analysis was performed amidst an outbreak of cholera in London’s Soho district in 1854. The transmission mechanism for the disease was unknown at the time, so the evidence to investigate was constrained to the people who had fallen ill.

	John Snow, an early epidemiologist was the first recorded person to treat this data as spatial data. He interviewed residents to understand key interactions with local environmental factors, including water pumps in the area. He put patients on a map and undertook Voronoi analysis [a spatial pattern technique] to draw a link between a single water pump and the illness, and further substantiated his findings by showing an anomaly; nearby brewery workers who should have been falling ill at the same rate were spared by their daily beer allowance, which enabled them to avoid the problem pump.		John Snow, an early epidemiologist was the first recorded person to treat this data as spatial data. He interviewed residents to understand key interactions with local environmental factors, including water pumps in the area. He put patients on a map and undertook Voronoi analysis [a spatial pattern technique] to draw a link between a single water pump and the illness, and further substantiated his findings by showing an anomaly; nearby brewery workers who should have been falling ill at the same rate were spared by their daily beer allowance, which enabled them to avoid the problem pump.

−	His findings are commonly cited within ~~Health Geography~~, but rarely enter an engineering syllabus, despite his further geospatial work comparing practices of various waterwork engineering companies.	+	His findings are commonly cited within health geography, but rarely enter an engineering syllabus, despite his further geospatial work comparing practices of various waterwork engineering companies.

	The key learning point for engineers today is that if Snow had been working with merely a list of patients, he would have had no opportunity to link that list with the deadly water pump and it could have remained a medical mystery and a worsening tragedy. So where else can geospatial data uncover hidden value?		The key learning point for engineers today is that if Snow had been working with merely a list of patients, he would have had no opportunity to link that list with the deadly water pump and it could have remained a medical mystery and a worsening tragedy. So where else can geospatial data uncover hidden value?

−	Finding a ~~Context~~	+	= Finding a context =

	Whether you deal in utility networks, transportation, energy production or telecoms, your project has a location (grid coordinate, depth, height), or perhaps even a moving location, which is even more important to manage well. When an object has a location, it allows you to discover, explore, analyse and interact with its context of multiple, delicate interdependencies on built and natural environmental elements both inside and external to the project elements themselves. This might be demography, geomorphology, utility grid issues, flood forecasting, mobile phone pings of a moving population, bat records; the list goes on.		Whether you deal in utility networks, transportation, energy production or telecoms, your project has a location (grid coordinate, depth, height), or perhaps even a moving location, which is even more important to manage well. When an object has a location, it allows you to discover, explore, analyse and interact with its context of multiple, delicate interdependencies on built and natural environmental elements both inside and external to the project elements themselves. This might be demography, geomorphology, utility grid issues, flood forecasting, mobile phone pings of a moving population, bat records; the list goes on.

Editor at 10:53, 6 July 2020

2020-07-06T10:53:42Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:53, 6 July 2020
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	= Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki =		= Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki =
		+
		+	* Geographic information system GIS.
		+	* Geospatial.
		+	* Global positioning systems and global navigation satellite systems.
		+	* ISO/TC 211 Geographic information/Geomatics.
		+	* Land surveying.
		+
		+	[[Category:Construction_techniques]] [[Category:Design]]

Editor: Created page with "= Introduction = Engineers of all disciplines need Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the very simple reason that geospatial data makes projects faster, better, and more c..."

2020-07-06T10:50:22Z

Created page with "= Introduction = Engineers of all disciplines need Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the very simple reason that geospatial data makes projects faster, better, and more c..."

New page

= Introduction =

Engineers of all disciplines need Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the very simple reason that geospatial data makes projects faster, better, and more cost effective.

One of the first pieces of GIS Analysis was performed amidst an outbreak of cholera in London’s Soho district in 1854. The transmission mechanism for the disease was unknown at the time, so the evidence to investigate was constrained to the people who had fallen ill.

John Snow, an early epidemiologist was the first recorded person to treat this data as spatial data. He interviewed residents to understand key interactions with local environmental factors, including water pumps in the area. He put patients on a map and undertook Voronoi analysis [a spatial pattern technique] to draw a link between a single water pump and the illness, and further substantiated his findings by showing an anomaly; nearby brewery workers who should have been falling ill at the same rate were spared by their daily beer allowance, which enabled them to avoid the problem pump.

His findings are commonly cited within Health Geography, but rarely enter an engineering syllabus, despite his further geospatial work comparing practices of various waterwork engineering companies.

The key learning point for engineers today is that if Snow had been working with merely a list of patients, he would have had no opportunity to link that list with the deadly water pump and it could have remained a medical mystery and a worsening tragedy. So where else can geospatial data uncover hidden value?

Finding a Context

Whether you deal in utility networks, transportation, energy production or telecoms, your project has a location (grid coordinate, depth, height), or perhaps even a moving location, which is even more important to manage well. When an object has a location, it allows you to discover, explore, analyse and interact with its context of multiple, delicate interdependencies on built and natural environmental elements both inside and external to the project elements themselves. This might be demography, geomorphology, utility grid issues, flood forecasting, mobile phone pings of a moving population, bat records; the list goes on.

Manage these diverse elements poorly and you’ll find your project blocked at planning, poorly used once complete, inefficient to operate or perhaps just really difficult at end-of-life disposal stage. Multi-discipline project teams will come to loggerheads over mutually exclusive design decisions, construction teams will despair over how to implement environmental mitigation, and valuable information will be obfuscated at every data exchange point.

GIS (Geographic Information Systems) is of course only one tool to prevent this kind of chaos, but it’s a very important one, and one that’s frequently overlooked or seen as a competitor rather than a colleague or player within other data management systems such as BIM. Given that the big software houses on both sides are becoming increasingly intertwined, here are a few ways you as an engineer can interact with GIS and implement it in workflows;

Layered insight

Due to the diversity of elements within the environmental context of a project, GIS is frequently the only solution which can examine them all within a single system, by looking at their sole unifying factor; their location. GIS can instantly count how many trees with bat potential sit within 20km of a site or calculate the population who would suffer power outages in the event of substations flooding. It can calculate energy use baselines for a whole town on the journey to Net Zero, or identify every viewpoint impacted by development of a new road. Adding layers of data enables powerful analysis to be carried out.

Automating to unlock insights

GIS really lends itself to automation, via integration with sophisticated Python data Libraries such as NumPy and SciPy, as well as the use of licensed tools such as FME. Using these tools allows GIS specialists to build reusable tools for iterative analysis and data processing tasks ranging from multi-sheet Compulsory Purchase Order drawings for infrastructure development to networking tasks for water utilities. As above, by using multiple data sources, these insights can be updated based on changes in the surrounding area, not just changes within your own project. Having an iterative source of insight into these outside changes will enable you to easily pinpoint and manage risk from externalities providing a more realistic view.

Crack your data management

Many of the burgeoning document management systems, such as Projectwise, don’t yet handle spatial data files well. However GIS as a sector has adapted to this technological drawback by building new links between systems to facilitate better cross-project data management. A Spatial Common Data Environment, as we have developed at Atkins, provides a single-source-of-truth for spatial data, with visualisation tools such as 3D and 2D WebGIS already built in, to give a whole-project window for the full team. Using automated versioning, GIS can automatically allow design fixes to be shared with multi-disciplinary teams within, for example, a DCO process, helping to get deliverables done on time and with minimal rework.

GI-Yes for Engineers – a match made in Data?

Atkins recently won accolades for their work in Geospatial led design, where geospatial data on environmental constraints was considered first before a single engineer got to work. The resulting linear infrastructure centre line options handed to its civil engineers achieved the maximum avoidance of environmental, heritage and socioeconomic assets, speeding up delivery and reducing costs dramatically.

There is more data available than ever, ripe for GIS use. As our industries continue to develop digital processes, we will all need to use as much data as we can lay our hands on, and geospatial consultants alongside engineers can be the ideal partnership to ensuring this happens.

-----
This article originally appeared on the ICE Civil Engineer Blog under the title "[https://www.ice.org.uk/news-and-insight/the-civil-engineer/july-2020/why-location-is-key-for-civil-engineers Why it’s all about location, location, location for civil engineers]". It was written by Elspeth McIntyre PIEMA, AMICE, Geospatial Consultant, Atkins and published on 01 July 2020.

--[[User:The_Institution_of_Civil_Engineers|The Institution of Civil Engineers]]

= Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki =