The new geospatial guidelines released on February 15, 2021 opened up a sea of opportunities for the Indian companies and gave them the power to acquire, collect, generate, prepare, disseminate, store, share, distribute and digitize geospatial data. The integration of geospatial technology in transport infrastructure and construction industry can boost the economy by enhancing productivity and reducing time and cost in development projects.
Also Read: Development of National BIM Program: Digital transformation of construction industry
On the second day of the virtual seminar on “Sectoral Value Proposition for the New Geospatial policy”, detailed discussions were held on the integration of geospatial with Building Information Modeling (BIM), leading to GEOBIM, a revolutionary technology for infrastructure and construction industries.
Kasirajan Mahalingam, Industry Manager AEC, Geospatial World, talked about the challenges faced at the pre-construction level, such as lack of integral site condition data to arrive at optimal and efficient design to reduce project risks. “In terms of supply chain management of materials, components and machinery, we need to have more transparent commissioning and inventory management to reduce cost overruns and on-site energy consumption,” he said. These are critical factors that have a domino effect on construction and assembly network, as well as on asset lifecycle management. In these type of workflows there are issues regarding lack of digitalization of documentation and log of all the information that is processed, captured and communicated. Then there are other issues like asset tracking and monitoring, which is carried out manually.
Mahalingam explained how the use of GIS tools can help in identifying the most prominent requirement of a project, and enable efficient planning of operations. GIS can also help in connecting all the stakeholders, machines, materials, and operators. The benefits also include analysis of the spatial and geological conditions of the project site to determine efficient design.
Data-driven connectivity with smart technology
So, how can the mission of technology adoption be accomplished? According to Anand Sirohi, Director, Trimble India, “As owners, and policymakers, we have to believe that digitization and technology adoption is the way forward. The most important things that the policy talks about are transparency, connectivity, and predictability. We need to update our learnings with any organization who is working worldwide, like the Department of Defense (DoD) in the US, have created mandate. Our infrastructure and our working is not inferior to theirs. We may be 5 years behind them, but if those things are possible at a policy level with the DoD in US, then it will be easy for us as well. Anyone who wants to do it, then at Trimble we are ready to take up this challenge together with them.”
Technologies in use
In the transport infrastructure and construction industry, BIM, GIS, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), remote sensing, cloud computing, drones and lidars are some of the widely used technologies. Usage of GEOBIM solutions have be proved useful in 3D solutions projects and in creating an environment friendly and sustainable design.
