Applications of GIS-Enhanced Networks of Engineering Information

The current manner in which engineering data, especially the structural details of buildings and infrastructure, is managed is highly inefficient and leads to a wide variety of unnecessary costs and risks. The revolution in Building Information Modelling (BIM) has given designers the ability to perform useful technical analysis on lifelike models and representations of a future structure. Consequently, the quantity of information being produced for a typical project, and the cost of producing that information, has increased substantially. This is driving a shift towards better systems of data storage and sharing. It is the contention of this report to demonstrate that structural design is a process which can be largely divided, automated, and outsourced. The conclusion reached is that a Building Information Model, when linked with a Geographical Information System (GIS), could provide enough information to conduct the entire design process. It is upon this basis that a radical new system for the post-construction storage and sharing of BIM is proposed.