What is GIS?

GIS is a collection of computer hardware, software, and

geographic data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and

displaying all forms of geographically referenced

information.

Why Geography?

Geography is a serious discipline with multibillion dollar implications for

businesses and governments. Choosing sites, targeting market segments,
planning distribution networks, responding to emergencies, or redrawing
country boundaries—all of these problems involve questions of geography.

Here's an example of how Bank of America used

GIS to show the geographic distribution of the
bank's network in relation to deposit potential in
the New York City market area. From this
analysis, Bank of America can determine where
their coverage is strong and where it is weak.
Red dots symbolize strong coverage; no dots means coverage is nonexistent.
Learn more.

Learn more about why Geography Matters [white paper, PDF-319 KB].
How Does GIS Use Geography?

With a geographic information system (GIS), you can link information

(attributes) to location data, such as people to addresses, buildings to
parcels, or streets within a network. You can then layer that information to
give you a better understanding of how it all works together. You choose
what layers to combine based on what questions you need to answer.

In this example, emergency medical service

(EMS) call information, including call type,
elapsed travel time, and which rescue unit was
dispatched to the call's location, has been linked
to addresses. With this GIS-linked database,
questions such as "What percent of dispatched
calls did each EMS unit respond to within its assigned zone?" can be
answered. Learn more.

Three Views of a GIS

A GIS is most often associated with maps. A map, however, is only one way
you can work with geographic data in a GIS, and only one type of product
generated by a GIS. This is important, because it means that a GIS can
provide a great deal more problem-solving capabilities than using a
simple mapping program or adding data to an online mapping tool
(creating a "mash-up").

A GIS can be viewed in three ways:

1. The Database View: A GIS is a unique kind of database of the world

—a geographic database (geodatabase). It is an "Information System
for Geography." Fundamentally, a GIS is based on a structured
database that describes the world in geographic terms. Learn more.
 2. The Map View: A GIS is a set of intelligent maps and other views that
show features and feature relationships on the earth's surface. Maps of
the underlying geographic information can be constructed and used as
"windows into the database" to support queries, analysis, and editing
of the information. This is called geovisualization. Learn more.

3. The Model View: A GIS is a set of information transformation tools

that derive new geographic datasets from existing datasets. These
geoprocessing functions take information from existing datasets,
apply analytic functions, and write results into new derived datasets.
Learn more.

In other words, by combining data and applying some analytic rules, you can
create a model that helps answer the question you have posed. In the
example below, GPS and GIS were used to accurately model the expected
location and distribution of debris for the Space Shuttle Columbia, which
broke up upon re-entry over eastern Texas on February 1, 2003. Learn more
about this project.

Together, these three views are critical parts of an intelligent GIS and are
used at varying levels in all GIS applications.

What Can You Do with GIS?

Map Where Things Are

Mapping where things are lets you find places that have the features you're looking for,
and to see where to take action.

1. Find a feature—People use maps to see where or what an individual feature is.
2. Finding patterns—Looking at the distribution of features on the map instead of
just an individual feature, you can see patterns emerge.

Maps of the locations of earthquake shaking hazards

are essential to creating and updating building codes

used in the United States. Online, interactive

earthquake maps, as well as seismicity and fault data,

are available at earthquake.usgs.gov.

Map Quantities

People map quantities, like where the most and least are, to find places that meet their
criteria and take action, or to see the relationships between places. This gives an
additional level of information beyond simply mapping the locations of features.
 This map shows the number of children under 18 per

clinically active pediatrician for a particular study

area. It was created by the Center for the Evaluative

Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth Medical School as part

of an effort to develop a national U.S. database of

primary care resources and health services.

For example, a catalog company selling children's clothes would want to find ZIP Codes
not only around their store, but those ZIP Codes with many young families with relatively
high income. Or, public health officials might not only want to map physicians, but also
map the numbers of physicians per 1,000 people in each census tract to see which areas
are adequately served, and which are not.

Map Densities

While you can see concentrations by simply mapping the locations of features, in areas
with many features it may be difficult to see which areas have a higher concentration
than others. A density map lets you measure the number of features using a uniform
areal unit, such as acres or square miles, so you can clearly see the distribution.

Mapping density is especially useful when mapping areas, such as census tracts or
counties, which vary greatly in size. On maps showing the number of people per census
tract, the larger tracts might have more people than smaller ones. But some smaller
tracts might have more people per square mile—a higher density.

This map shows population density in the east Asian and Indian Ocean regions.

Find What's Inside

Use GIS to monitor what's happening and to take specific action by mapping what's
inside a specific area. For example, a district attorney would monitor drug-related arrests
to find out if an arrest is within 1,000 feet of a school--if so, stiffer penalties apply.
 This image from The Sanborn Map Company, Inc., shows a geoprocessed sample explosion radius

around an area in California. Each separate zone represents 1/4-mile, the outermost perimeter being

1 mile away from the source.

Find What's Nearby

Find out what's occurring within a set distance of a feature by mapping what's nearby.

The Pacific Disaster Center has developed and applied a Vulnerability-Exposure-Sensitivity-Resilience

model to map people and facilities (what's nearby) exposed to flood risk in the Lower Mekong River

Basin (the feature).

Map Change

Map the change in an area to anticipate future conditions, decide on a course of action, or
to evaluate the results of an action or policy.

1. By mapping where and how things move over a period of time, you can gain
insight into how they behave. For example, a meteorologist might study the paths
of hurricanes to predict where and when they might occur in the future.
2. Map change to anticipate future needs. For example, a police chief might study
how crime patterns change from month to month to help decide where officers
should be assigned.
 3. Map conditions before and after an action or event to see the impact. A retail
analyst might map the change in store sales before and after a regional ad
campaign to see where the ads were most effective.

These images are from a poster titled "Losing Cape Cod," which is distributed by the Woods Hole Research Center in Woods Hole,
Massachusetts. The poster shows the severe change in land use on Cape Cod since 1951. The image on the left shows the town of Barnstable in
1951 and the image on the right shows Barnstable in 1999.

DIVISION :: GIS

Q. WHAT IS GIS?
A. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing things that
exists and events that happen on earth.

Q. HOW IT WORKS?
A. It integrates common database operations such as query and statistical analysis with the unique
visualization tool and geographic analysis benefits offered by maps.

This ability distinguishes GIS from other systems and makes it valuable with efforts of AnantAccess.

Q. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR CHALLENGES IN GIS?

A. the major challenges we face today in the world –overpopulation, pollution, deforestation, and natural
disasters-have a critical GIS dimension.

Q. WHY GIS?
A. FIRST-the cost of computer hardware needed for the task is dropping down rapidly and thus it is widely
available to people at affordable rates.
A. SECOND-geography is part of our everyday world; almost every decision we make is constrained,
influenced by some fact of geography. so in each and every field today we can apply this GIS effectively with
Anantaccess !

DIVISION :: GPS

Q. WHAT IS GPS?
A. Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite based navigation and surveying system, launched and
controlled by US department of defense (DOD),for determination of precise position and time, using radio
signals from satellites in real time or in post processing mode.

GPS primarily was a military navigation system for real-time positioning. However the transformation from
the ground-to-ground survey measurements made possible by GPS.

In India GPS is now used for applications in diverse fields like navigation, surveying, GIS, cadastral survey
etc.

Q. HOW ITS BENEFITIAL?

A. one of the most significant and unique features of the global positioning system is the fact that the
positioning signal is available to users in any position worldwide at any time.

It gives the exact position of the point universally. so easily we can carry out precise survey.

Q.HOW GPS WORKS?

GPS receivers collect signals from satellites in view. They display the user's position, velocity, and time, as
needed for their marine, terrestrial, or aeronautical applications. Some display additional data, such as
distance and bearing to selected waypoints or digital charts.

The GPS concept of operation is based upon satellite ranging. Users determine their position by measuring
their distance from the group of satellites in space. The satellites act as precise reference points.

Each GPS satellite transmits an accurate position and time signal, giving us the desired result.

Q. WHAT ABOUT SURVEYING ,MAPPING AND CIVIL ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS?

A. As our company Anant Access is a civil engineering company with GIS and GPS background we know
very well how we can do wonders with this combination….

The high precision of GPS carrier phase measurements, together with appropriate adjustments algorithms,
provide an adequate tool for a variety of tasks for surveying and mapping as executed by AnantAccess.
The GPS is used to map cut blocks, road alignments, environmental hazards like land slides, forest fires, oil
spills etc..

Applications, such as cadastral mapping, needing a high degree of accuracy also can be carried out using
high-grade GPS receivers.

Also for topographic and linear mapping.

Q. WHY ANANTACCESS?
A. Anant Access is well equipped with most advanced GIS and GPS techniques and instruments. Our team
of expert surveyors, engineers, analysts, project managers and office staff we can carry out any kind of
survey, analysis and provide most accurate results to users.

GIS Software for Civil Engineering Verticals: An

Overview
Satya Priya, Puneet Sharma and Premal Mehta
RMSI, A-7, Sector –16, Noida, UP 201 301, INDIA
Tel: 91-120-451-2101, 1102, Fax: 91-120-451-0963
E-mail: SatyaP@riskinc.com

Abstract
Geographic Information Systems have become a prevalent method of analysis in
civil engineering. Flexible GIS models that manipulate compile and process
spatial data above or below the earth’s surface have provided a powerful tool in
civil engineering applications. To realize this RMSI provides a wide range of
Geographic Information Systems services and solutions such as geological
applications, Bore hole study, ground engineering, geotechnical engineering,
environmental engineering, rural, urban and regional planning. For projects
where spatial representation and analysis are not separable from the science
and substance, RMSI provide the experience, intellect and self-guidance needed
to produce top-quality GIS applications.

RMSI works at all project levels, from project management, to production, to

technical services. Depending on a client's needs, we perform routine task, or
take charge of an entire project, from team building to creation of maps and
models. RMSI GIS technical services cover the full range, from map production,
to spatial analysis, to remote sensing, to application development, to on-site GIS
project executions.

For MapAsia 2002, we would like to present few top class software applications
developed for our Japanese Client - Oyo Corporation to demonstrate RMSI GIS
engineering capabilities to meet complexity of the problem maintaining world-
class quality. Applications to be presented at MapAsia 2002 will be:

1. OYOGIS Software: A geotechnical GIS application.

2. NETGIS: A fast and scalable enterprise solution for Intranet, and Internet
using web technologies.
3. BH Manager: Aim is to create a user-friendly environment for loading
Borehole data, associating Borehole Images with the selected borehole in
ArcView and then Printed on the Plotter.

To address the title of the paper the authors preferred to present the content
comprising three applications in brief in the form of case studies as follows.

Case I – About OYOGIS

OYOGIS is an integrated multi-lingual desktop GIS application designed to
perform geological data analysis and extract geological information from spatial
and non-spatial data. OYOGIS is intended for geo-technical professionals and
consultants involved in water resource management and infrastructure related
projects.

Geo-technical engineers using this application can relate alignments and cross-
sections find the geological composition of a specific point along the alignment,
associate documents related to a specific location on the map, and create
thematic maps based on attributes of a map. Engineers can also zoom to specific
parts of an alignment and see the associated cross-section area, perform spatial
and non-spatial queries, and print required reports and maps.

There are administrative and client components to the system. This gives
managers the control needed when dealing with large projects and data sets.
The administrator can create, delete, and update users and user rights, create
projects, and also audit any data changes made by users.

The system is open enough to support different types of data and can be
customized to fit specific user needs. The software configuration used for
OYOGS includes Visual Basic 6.0, Crystal reports for report creation and
generation, VC++ for custom DLL’s, and ESRI MapObjects for the display and
analysis of maps.

GIS Software for Civil Engineering Verticals: An

Overview

Case II – About NETGIS

NetGIS is a bilingual web based application developed by RMSI for the corporate
intranet of the OYO Corporation Japan. It gives its users the power to visualize
geographic information, search and navigate through spatial and aspatial data,
perform analysis on data and print reports for future use. The application is
intended to help in feasibility studies for construction activities, aid in construction
planning and assist in facility management.

The application is designed to perform geological data analysis and extract

geological information from spatial and non spatial data. NetGIS has a perfect
blend of all common desktop GIS application features like zoom-in, zoom-out,
pan , feature identify, search, print and thematic maps. Geo-technical engineers
using this application can relate alignments, find the geological composition of a
specific point along the alignment, associate digital documents related to a
specific location on the map, and create thematic maps based on attributes of a
map. Engineers can also perform spatial and non-spatial queries and print maps
at scale.

There is an administrative component to the system. This gives managers the

control needed when dealing with large projects and data sets. The administrator
can create, delete, and update users and user rights, create projects, and also
audit any data changes made by users.

 The application is currently meant for intranet deployment and uses

MapXtreme-Java in its middle tier for map-data processing
 At the back-end is Oracle database (that can be easily replaced with any
other RDBMS like MS-SQL server)
 The map rendering and image creation is done at server using
MapXtreme servlets and then the response is sent to browser.
 The system has been tested extensively for load tests using Rational suite
of tools and is found to give stable performance while delivering high
scalability
 It can support up to 100 concurrent users with simultaneous requests
being received at the server from clients – the testing platform being:
MapXtreme Server: PIV 2GHz Dual Processor 1 GB RAM; Database
Server: PIII 450 MHz 512 MB RAM

Case III – About Bore Hole Manager

The Borehole Manager Project is specifically customized for the Punjab State
Tube well Corporation. This Project allows the users to Load the borehole data
(captured through GPS / Digitizer), and also Link & View / Print the Borehole
images. Aim is to create a user-friendly environment for loading Borehole data,
associating Borehole Images with the selected borehole, which can then be
viewed in ArcView and then Printed on the Plotter.

Some of the major processes/functions are as follows:

 Data Transfer from GPS device to GPS Pathfinder and then Export GPS
data to ArcView Shape Files through GPS Pathfinder
  Exporting the Borehole Log to Borehole BMP Images through Viewlog
Load Borehole location data using ArcView Merge Borehole Shape files /
Themes Link/Associate Borehole Image (Images Exported through
Viewlog) using ArcView
 View/Print/Plot Borehole Image using ArcView Printer/Plotter

The above mentioned three cases has been defied in separate sheet below to
realize the scope, need and technology used to address daily civil engineering
GIS needs in practice.

Acknowledgements:
Authors takes this opportunity to thank RMSI team and Oyo Corporation, Japan
in particular for sponsoring the project, which has been derived from the actual
need from their business perspective. From Oyo, authors would also like to thank
Mr. Yamada Toshihiro and his team for providing technical support throughout the
project for its successful accomplishments.

GIS Software for Civil Engineering Verticals: An

Overview

Project Case Study I - OYOGIS

Brief
To develop a desktop GIS application for managing geological/geotechnical
information and integration with non-GIS based engineering applications.

Business Case
The requirement was to design and develop a GIS application to perform
geological data analysis and extraction, enable visualization of geographic
information, search and navigate through spatial data, and print customized
reports including maps, graphics and tabular data. Specialized engineering
modules such as the Bore-Hole viewer were developed and linked to the GIS
application.

Scope of work·

 System Requirement Study (SRS).

 Design and development of the system.
 Testing.
 Prepare documentation to assist use and maintenance of site quality
assurance and documentation.

Technologies·
  OOD and OOP
 VisualBasic
 COM
 RDBMS
 MapObjects

Salient Points

 Bilingual.
 Component based architecture.
 Fully parameterized and user customizable.
 Windows 9x and Windows 2000 compatible.
 Enabling and disabling of functionalities allows various system
configurations.
 Component architecture enables easy add-ins of new and enhanced
functionalities.

Engineering and GIS – OYOGIS

| Previous | Next |
 GIS Software for Civil Engineering Verticals: An
Overview

Project Case Study II - NETGIS

Brief
To develop a bilingual scalable web based GIS solution.

Business Case
A need was felt to develop a fast and a scalable solution that would allow access
to centralized spatial data store enabling data sharing across the enterprise and
also with key clients via an Extranet or the Internet, and perform GIS analysis
using the Web technologies.

Scope of work

 System Requirement Study (SRS).

 System architecture and design.
 Development and testing of the website.
 Quality a Assurance and documentation. <,/li>

Technologies

 Operating Environment
• Server – Windows 2000 Server
• Clients – Java enabled Web Browser (IE)
 Programming
• Server Side - JDK1.3, Servlets, JSP, JDBC, XML, MapXtreme
Servlet
• Client side – Java Plugin, Applets, Swing, MapXtreme Beans,
JavaScript
 Application Server/ Servlet Container
• BEA Weblogic / Tomcat4.0 (currently)·
 Database
• Oracle 8i(Spatial) / Oracle8i (currently)

Salient Points

 Bilingual.
 Highly parameterized and user configurable.
 Secure.
 IE compatible.
  Feature rich – for both casual and experienced GIS users - basic GIS
functionalities such as pan, zoom, identify, fast navigate and advanced
functionalities such as export maps, combined spatial and data queries,
templates based to scale printing, document management system and
creating and saving Acetate Layers have been incorporated.
 Robust and fast – tested for 100 concurrent with an average response
time of 3-5 sec for various functionalities.

Engineering and GIS – NetGIS

GIS Software for Civil Engineering Verticals: An

Overview

Project Case Study III – Bore Hole Manager

Brief
Complete business solution, integrating the functionalities of Global Positioning
System (GPS) & GIS. The objective was to create an application to manage
boreholes captured through GPS and the log images captured using Viewlog and
digitization, all within a common user interface of ArcView.

Business Case
This was a Japanese Government aided project for Punjab State Tube Well
Corporation, India, to enable state water table mapping and maintain spatial data
of the various boreholes. The application was required to be developed as
ArcView extension and be able to integrate various external interfaces of GPS
and Viewlog.

Scope of work

 System Requirement Study.

 System architecture and design.
 Development and testing of the component.
 Quality assurance and documentation.
 User acceptance test.
 Training for the system.

Technologies

 ArcView-GIS Application Software

 Trimble GPS Geo Explorer 3 and PathFinder
 ViewLog/PRO

Salient Points

 Dynamic loading & unloading of multiraster data.

 On the fly projection settings.
 Compatible with ArcView 3.2 and lower versions.
 Feature rich and intuitive for all levels of GIS users. Basic GIS
functionalities such as pan, zoom, identify, fast navigate and advanced
functionalities such as combined spatial and data queries, template based
to the scale printing, document management system have been
incorporated.
 Digitizing the features in ArcView and plotting the images.
 Dynamic Linking/Viewing of the Borehole Log Images.
 Training the users in GIS, GPS, ArcView /ul>
Engineering and GIS – Borehole Manager

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