The size of the Earth seems to be the same from the time of the Big Bang up to now, but everything else has escalated in numbers. The escalation we are referring to is, human population, and the need for construction and housing for everybody on the surface of the earth. Dwindling resources and space deficits has put mankind on the brink of destroying natural habitats, in doing so, creating a complete ecological imbalance. Thus, we absolutely need to think about positive urbanization through smart cities. Various technologies can be integrated to form a robust platform wherein a city can be developed through zero deforestation, conservation of natural resources, and the use required technology for it to function on a daily basis.

What is the “Smart City” Buzz after all?

“Smart Cities” has been the buzzword for most of the people around. While most of them do understand the words, they actually do not understand the core motto of what a smart city is all about.  The definition of a smart city holds much more than just being smart. Most of the people feel there is no definition of a smart city, and it depends on one’s choice on how and what should be included in a city to make it smart. People need to find trust in the technology they are participating in, they are more likely to engage if they gain trust over technology.

While some would like cleaner sources of drinking water, better sewage, transportation, and more to be a part of a smart city, others would prefer a city going digital through Wifi, IoT, artificial intelligence, surveillance, renewable sources of energy, and more. Every citizen has their preferences, but we do need to define these two words for the people to understand it on a broader perspective. So, a smart city would be, or can be defined as a city that is equipped with good basic infrastructure, providing optimum living conditions for citizens through the integration of innovative smart solutions.

Smart cities

Some of the smart joiners would be –

• The Government
• Manufacturing
• Digital Communications
• Smart & responsible citizens
• Smart data
• Healthcare
• Energy Systems
• Transportation

GIS – A technology framework made for Smart Cities

Geographic Information System or GIS plays  a vital role to transform a normal operating city into a “smart city”.  The last blog focused on LIDAR as a tool to collect data points, for smart urban planning through streams of data and mapping techniques. In this blog we are going to determine the applications of core GIS technology as a platform for smart cities.

Pinpoint the right location

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can accurately pinpoint potential areas or locations based on land geographies, boundaries, various soil types, and more. Building a city on required land sites is vital for all the stakeholders who would be investing and staying in that particular city. Better or informed decision can be made through high quality visualization tools for identification and valuation of the topography, some of the parameters in addition to the ones mentioned above would be soil bearing capacity, water depth, vulnerability points for earthquakes, floods, etc. It gives construction owners, consultants, and other personnel to understand the land at precision details.  The integration of Building Information Modeling or BIM with GIS can make city planning efficient and effective in every dimension, we have already mentioned the importance of BIM in the previous blogs. Moving further to the next pointer……

PinPoint The Right Location

Plan ahead through precise designs

As mentioned above BIM can prove to be a vital backbone with GIS to integrate 3D modeling using state-of-the-art CAD or other software for greater visual and information insight. Digitization of data in real-time through geodata, spatial databases, integrated architecture, or big data analysis can prove to be a huge positive for individuals to study the land more carefully and gain improved efficiencies, optimal use of resources, and deeper insights on man-made and natural phenomenon. Moving On..

GIS Technology

GIS and Project Management

Construction companies require precise numbers on various parameters like land type, nature of the soil, vulnerability assessments, and relevant information to move forward and create and plan engineering drawings, maps, inventory, and various asset controls. For example, if individuals and companies were to build a city on land that has earthquake vulnerabilities, bad soil, etc. would prove to be a complete failure in terms of urbanization. GIS thus helps construction companies organize vital data in terms of documents, 3Dmodels, drawings, maps, and more for all the stakeholders to analyze.

Construction & Project Management

Holistic Planning      

The robust nature of GIS makes it so powerful as it can be used for multiple planning purposes like  –

• Transportation Planning –  Can be used to design transportation systems to  avoid congested areas.
• Surveying – Precise survey information can be used to determine nature of the land system.
• Traffic Planning – The application of traffic density planning provides accurate data to identify traffic patterns & create optimum traffic planning for the city.
• Energy Requirements – GIS technology is also deployed to estimate energy consumption of a city through precise information on the basis of number of residential, commercial, healthcare, and various infrastructure units built or to be built in a given area or city.
• Agriculture Planning  – Agriculture plays a very important role for the Indian economy. It is one of the most vital sector for all the people of India, as India is a substantial exporter of agriculture products, as well as one of the biggest markets that caters to the Indian public in terms of vegetables, fruits, employment, and more. GIS can accurately pinpoint potential agriculture locations and areas for each crop type on the basis of water collection, soil type, and land quality.

Applications of GIS

Come Full Circle

Now that you’ve seen multiple uses of GIS for vital practical applications, it is essential that a greater number of individuals look at GIS as a career opportunity, as the avenues are absolutely endless. Students and technology professionals can actually enroll for various GIS courses provided by training institutes in India. The innovation and integration of GIS in the future will certainly create waves for various applications in geospatial analysis, construction, smart cities, and more.