Geographic Information Systems

SGI's GIS specialist, Michael Salcedo, has used GIS in a variety of applications including engineering support, master plan studies, and city resource management projects. Please click on the small thumbnails to see enlarged images of these GIS exhibits.

GIS provides a management team with the most accurate information available, utilizing aerial photography, construction plans, and database linked infrastruction features to equip the team to easily visualize large datasets. In this exhibit, a subdivision is depicted with as-built utilities overlaid with a digital aerial photograph. The features of the subdivision are stored in a geodatabase, which includes all pertinent attribute information for each feature. This database linked arrangment allows a managment team to quickly query the features on the ground giving them the ability to create dynamic maps on-the-fly.

This same highly detailed techniques can be applied to a full city. This becomes an tremendous resource for a decision making team, as all the detail of the construction plans are laid out seamlessly through an entire city or development. In this exhibit, I have developed parcel and road centerline data from construction as-built plans for an entire city. This data is highly detailed and accurate to the resolution of the latest aerial photography. I have also overlaid a Digital Elevation Model, which gives a quick perspective of the terrain of the city. It is very useful in the planning of city-wide utility systems to quickly visualize the terrain and manipulate the data interactively.

GIS can accomplish a great number of possibilities for project applications. For example, In this exhibit, I have combined the datasets of aerial photography, parcel and road centerline data, and utilized that information to generate a throughfare and future landuse masterplan map for a city. This information is displayed in a map form, with specific database information extracted.

 

This same type of planning can be applied to all utilities and many other applications as well. In the following exhibits, for a city of 20,000 acres, GIS data is the backdrop and engine for a series of utility master plan maps:

These exhibits on this page were all created with ESRI products, such as ArcGIS 9x, taking into account topologies of features, and being organized in geodatabase feature classes.