GeoEngineering and the Internet: Collaborative Computing Finds its Connective Environment

GeoEngineering and the Internet: Collaborative computing finds its connective environment

Peter Abashian
Bentley Systems Inc.

Introduction
In GeoEngineering, engineers, planners and other professionals collaborate to design, build and manage society’s infrastructure. Integral to the development of GeoEngineering as an effective collaborative work environment, is the need for efficient communications—the ability to share ideas and information unencumbered by geographic and organizational barriers. Today, however, the most efficient, economical and widespread way to communicate is over the Internet, using the simple interface of the World Wide Web.

The Internet serves as an ideal communications medium in which GeoEngineering can thrive. Its strengths lie in its ability to supply information to specialized and disparate groups effectively, economically and with unprecedented timeliness. These capabilities make the Internet ideally suited to support the collaborative nature of GeoEngineering.

This marriage of communications and GeoEngineering technologies is both advantageous and natural. Both the Internet and GeoEngineering are connective technologies. They embrace open standards, linking dissimilar and formerly incompatible computer platforms and data formats. Both are enabling technologies. They let users replace outmoded work processes. Organizations have embraced both to bridge the gaps between departments, suppliers, partners and customers. Web-enabled GeoEngineering will hasten these advances.

GeoEngineering as Collaborative Model
Planners and engineers who develop, maintain and manage infrastructure are on the front lines in the drive to reinvent their organizations to be more efficient, competitive and responsive to their customers. They are responsible for everything from roads and highways to energy distribution networks, from wastewater and storm sewers to land ownership records. The success of their collective efforts in a complex and constantly changing environment is essential to our societal well-being.

GeoEngineering was born in the convergence of computer-aided drafting (CAD) and geographic information systems (GIS). This convergence effectively breaks down many technical and organizational barriers and lets planners and engineers collaborate in new ways, beneficial to the organization and to their customers and constituents.

GeoEngineering
GeoEngineering represents a new, highly collaborative business model and professional discipline for organizations and individuals involved in infrastructure management.

Converging Technologies
Since its inception, GeoEngineering has expanded to incorporate other technologies that are commonly required in the engineering workflow. The convergence of these technologies has led to a unified environment for supporting the design, construction and management of infrastructure in AMIFM. They include imaging, document management, spatial data server technology, traditional office automation tools and, now, the Internet.

With its interactive communications capabilities, the Internet further enhances the integrated functionality of CAD and GIS and extends the GeoEngineering model into the public forum. Web-enabled GeoEngineering takes on the advantages and distinct characteristics of the Internet:

Information is readily available and accessible in a universe of latent data.
Communications are ubiquitous and inclusive by nature.
Management is based on the exchange of information.
The network transcends technical (proprietary) limitations.

Data-Rich Environment
GeoEngineering is driven by the need for information. Government agencies, universities, and private organizations around the world own and maintain valuable data that can be shared and used in ways that increase its value exponentially. Geospatial data and CAD drawings, satellite images and aerial photos are combined with corporate and public databases, research studies and historical information. Together they render a detailed record of the surface of the earth, its natural resources and the man-made infrastructure that honeycombs the planet.

The data lie hidden, like an underground aquifer of latent information just waiting to be tapped and used to their full potential and value. The Internet provides a conduit to access these volumes of distributed information. Countless organizations are working double-time to put the necessary capabilities into place.

The Federal government, for example, is the largest collector, maintainer and user of geospatial information. Its catalog of maps, images and related data is measured in terra bytes. Through a variety of activities supported through the National Information Infrastructure program, the USGS and other agencies are developing systems to deliver Federal information via the Internet. The program will serve a number of objectives in facilitating the sharing and funding of information gathering efforts in a more efficient manner. It will also provide unparalleled access to public data by organizations and individuals in the private sector.

Through its Spatial Data Clearinghouse (SDC) initiative, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is organizing its collection of spatially oriented data. The clearinghouse will operate as a series of digital catalogs based on internationally standardized metadata to enable people to effectively locate and access geospatial and non-graphic data efficiently and economically.

This federal effort is linked with similar programs at the state and local level. It involves private initiatives as well. Moreover, access to spatial data is extending beyond national boundaries. The G7 nations have undertaken to coordinate a worldwide project called the “Global Information Society.”

But raw data is not enough. It must be integrated into a cohesive, useable and understandable form. Web-enabled GeoEngineering provides a practical and effective means to tap into this data-rich environment, locate and access relevant information from the universe of data and organize it in a useful way in order to manage and execute a particular project.

Inclusive Communications
In collaborative work, everyone involved in a project or process must have access to accurate and current information. The larger the number of people who require access to the information, the greater the need for open access. In GeoEngineering applications, the sphere of interaction covers a large span. Depending upon the size and scope of the project, the team may reside in multiple locations, even multiple countries. A Web-enabled system allows easy data access and interaction between people regardless of time or location.

Consider, for example, a project to build a hydroelectric facility in a remote area of Burma. The project may be funded by an international group, like the World Bank, and managed by an international consortium of engineering, construction and other support firms. The collaborative group may include hundreds of firms and thousands of people.

Or, consider a city or municipality that manages roads, signage, zoning, building permits, ownership records and tax assessments. It maintains basic geographic information that is valuable not just to its planning and engineering departments, but also to other city departments, regional governing groups, utilities, developers and private service providers.

At this level, GeoEngineering represents a sphere of interaction in which the need for access becomes nearly universal. The need for access transcends project or organizational lines. Since we share the surface of the globe, geographic data is very public, with many providers and many users of interrelated geologic, geographic, network, cadastral and other types of data. As the size of the group increases and the distance between members grows, communications become more difficult and tools to support collaboration become more important. The Internet is the ideal communications tool for such a multi-user, multi-location, multi-discipline GeoEngineering environment.

Management by Shared Information
The biggest changes brought about by the distributed, group-centered GeoEngineering model can be seen in management techniques and styles. Unlike the traditional, centralized management models, the collaborative GeoEngineering model relies on a distributed approach to management, based on shared information. The Internet is critical for data sharing and these new forms of management.

Shared knowledge both empowers and equalizes a group. Knowledge frees members of a group to take responsibility and to contribute more fully to the project. Leadership, in the collaborative model, is not necessarily based on title or assignment, but depends on who can best contribute to the overall goals and may shift from person to person, or firm to firm, throughout the course of the project.

Traditional models sometimes incite information-hoarding as a means to accumulate or maintain power within a group. In a team environment, this is always counterproductive. In the GeoEngineering/Internet model, knowledge is opened to the group. The entire process is changed, not so much by imposing a different working philosophy, but as a natural by-product of the tools and processes in use.

Web-based Project Management
Web-based communications extend the efficiencies of project management throughout a project’s stages. The Internet can serve as the center for all project management functions. With authorization capabilities to limit public access, projects will be managed by means of a project home page on the Web. It will serve as a clearinghouse for communications, design updates, progress reports, budget monitoring, task assignments and delegation. Using broadcast e-mail capabilities, project managers can quickly and proactively notify all parties of major changes that affect their roles in the project. The same capabilities may be used to issue reports required by regulatory agencies or banks and investors. Whoever requires more information can access the Web site.

Field Applications
With portable computers, wireless communications networks and a host of new field automation applications, field crews can have access to the same up-to-the-minute information as their home offices. Suppose a field crew begins to survey a road and finds that they have alignments for the road two surfaces ago. Rather than return to the office and waste most of a day, they could download the latest data from the municipality’s Web site. They could return to work in minutes with the correct data.

Management in the Public Forum
Organizations responsible for different services in the same area such as highway and utility administrations have varied means and procedures for communicating with one another. The size of the organizations and the scope of their responsibilities make it nearly impossible to coordinate their activities with traditional technologies, even when it would clearly serve the public interest to do so.

In the GeoEngineering model, Web-enabled project management provides an automated means for coordinating activities with other organizations. Schedules can be published on project or departmental Web sites. Agents built into project management software will search the Web and alert managers of potential conflicts or inefficiencies. If the electric utility needs to run new power lines in a particular area, and knows the telephone or cable company will be in the same neighborhood two months later, they may adjust their schedules in order to perform their work more efficiently. They may share the costs of the trenching crew, saving them both money and making their customers happier because they did not tear up their backyards twice in the same summer.

Of course, this operational model changes the fundamental role of information in business. Organizations, especially private companies, will have to grapple with the question of what constitutes public information and what should remain a competitive advantage.

Transcending Technical Barriers
An important advantage of GeoEngineering is its ability to transcend proprietary barriers. With its open, standardized communications protocols, the Internet points the way for resolving this challenge on other fronts. As enterprises move away from the closed systems they have outgrown, Web-enabled GeoEngineering begins to resolve key interconnectivity issues, including:

Geospatial data standards
Data management
Broadband connectivity
Multidimensional (voice and data) conferencing

These areas show the most dramatic activity and opportunity for advances as GeoEngineering matures.

Open Geospatial Standards
Geospatial data maybe one of the last bastions of proprietary data structures and closed systems. Most business systems have unlocked their data by adopting standards—such as SQL for relational database queries—that enable the easy transfer and use of data between systems. While the Internet is expected to have little impact on GIS or CAD underlying data formats, vendors are clearly conscious of the Internet opportunity. With a little help from the Federal government, which is the largest user and producer of geospatial information, data standards will be a reality. Bentley has joined the Open GIS Consortium as a principal in order to participate in this process and ensure that its products support the forthcoming standards for geospatial data.

Data Management
Among the most challenging issues relative to geospatial data is the question of managing design transactions, state transitions, network relationships and change over time. In a GeoEngineering environment, changes tend to be complex and may affect objects and systems thought to be far removed from the objects and systems under consideration. Version management and data checkout protocols will need to be enhanced to address the demand of multiple users accessing and changing information.

Fortunately, the Internet-based distributed data model allows data to reside with the organizations best suited to maintain it, regardless of who else may access the data. A data owner will establish the appropriate procedures and protocols to protect the integrity of its underlying data structures.

Broadband Connectivity
The size and complexity of geospatial data files present the ultimate challenge for bandwidth limitations of the public communications infrastructure. In the long tern--five to seven years— super-fast communications technology will no doubt increase speed and bandwidth exponentially. In the short term, it will take more than faster modems, more RAM and bigger hard drives to fully overcome this limitation. Data storage will be designed so that larger, seamless maps and multiple data layers can be unbundled and transmitted in smaller portions. Users will acquire just the data they need for their immediate uses.

Multidimensional Conferencing
With the capability to combine voice and data in a teleconferencing format, dispersed teams can “meet” more efficiently throughout the design process. With web-enabled design software, teleconferencing can be extended to data conzferencing, which adds the ability to show an image of the subject under discussion. With tools to mark up images and sketch new ideas, teams will present their ideas in real time to team members in remote locations. Remote data conferencing will be nearly as valuable as face-to-face meetings, without the time and cost of travel.

Conclusion
GeoEngineering is on the frontier of engineering collaboration, and the Internet is an enabling technology that makes the advantages of GeoEngineering not only practical but compelling. The integration of Intemet technology into GeoEngineering products makes it possible to distribute work more efficiently, and still manage projects effectively.

Interestingly, tools like GeoEngineering and the Internet are succeeding where philosophically imposed approaches to re-engineering and reinventing the workplace have had only marginal success. Useable, standardized tools are initiating revolutionary transformations of the workplace with far less resistance.

Perhaps we are learning in business what archeologists have long known: fumdamental advances in human knowledge, culture and society are generally the byproducts of new tools. The tools come first. Then, as we accept and use them, they enable us to transform our societies, art, science, understanding of the universe, and eventually our business practices.