Integrating GIS in the Engineering, Planning and Design Processes

Drawings alone are no longer a sufficient format to manage complex project data. To establish a competitive advantage in a very competitive industry, engineers, planners and designers must embrace the benefits of enterprise wide project data sets. This paper presents an approach that transforms the traditional engineering design project lifecycle by synthesizing drawing data, planning applications based on ArcGIS and ArcSDE software, designing workflows and methodologies, and applying this approach creatively to the existing process. The result is a centralized and organized data store that may be distributed quickly, efficiently, and digitally to reduce project costs and duration.