“Out on the airfield, with countless underground utilities, airspace limitations, and safety zones to consider, capturing highly accurate data within inches is vital.” – Posh Supupramai, Aviation Digital Delivery Lead
When it comes to airfield inspections, the team at C&S Companies recognizes the value of accurate and precise digital as-built data. It’s a way to improve active project management and reporting while providing a strong foundation for their aviation clients’ asset management databases. With the goals of accuracy, collaboration, and future-ready data in mind, C&S Companies started testing a GIS-powered inspection solution.
Solution: An integration between Appia, a cloud-based construction administration and inspection platform, and Esri ArcGIS Field Maps, an industry-leading application for real-time geospatial data collection. Appia acts as the authoritative source of truth for all construction activities, while Field Maps streamlines the capture of precise, geo-located field data.
This solution is powered by GeoBridge, a data bridge developed by Seiler Geospatial to connect the data in Appia and Field Maps through a notebook configuration.
Results:
C&S Companies’ use of the Appia x ArcGIS integration has resulted in the following benefits:
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High-accuracy geo-located inspection data for aviation work
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Improved inspection efficiency by eliminating the PDF-based process
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The ability to review and respond to daily construction activities in real-time
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A comprehensive, information-rich deliverable to aviation clients that supports future asset management efforts
Meet Posh, C&S Companies GIS Champion
Posh Supupramai is the Aviation Digital Delivery Lead at C&S Companies. As a civil engineer with a decade-plus of experience on airport projects, Posh is driven by an interest in the vast potential of the data captured throughout the construction process. He joined C&S to tap into the capabilities of GIS in their airfield work.
“I always wanted to explore what more I can do to leverage data that we design and build. That’s how I happened into the GIS world. By [leveraging] BIM and CAD into GIS, I’m able to do more with the data like asset management, different dashboards, maps – different ways to digitize the data,” he said.
Acknowledging the potential of GIS to improve the accuracy of inspections today while offering an enhanced, future-focused deliverable to C&S Companies’ aviation clients, Posh began leading a team to test the use of GIS for inspection work.
Two Test Projects Come Into Focus
“We want to make sure the inspectors are comfortable – this is something new to them so we wanted to play it safe.”
Posh and his team took a sensible approach to introducing GIS into their inspection process. Armed with a Trimble DA2 receiver and the Field Maps application, the inspections would capture one line item on two test projects:
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Taxiway reconstruction at the Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, capturing light cans
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Pavement repairs at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, capturing pavement demolitions
Section 2: Old Process/New Process
The Challenges of a PDF-Based Process
The alternative to the GIS process is to physically markup PDF plan sets to note item locations. This process is useful for getting a general sense of item installation but doesn’t offer the same precision or data flexibility that GIS can provide. The data is simply not as reliable when capturing as-built conditions.
“If you’re marking up a PDF and I bring that PDF in and overlay it with CAD, the scaling will be off and pose inaccuracy issues.”
Posh and his team aren’t trying to capture data for data’s sake. They want to be able to provide that data to their aviation clients in a useful format – for project progress reporting, design comparisons, and future use in asset management. With GIS, the value of project data vastly increases.
The Benefits of GIS-powered Inspection
“Airports are increasingly building comprehensive GIS databases. By using Field Maps to capture data in the field, we can accurately document the location of constructed features. This approach is a big step forward from the old methods that lacked GPS capabilities.”
Read the full case study here.