Geographical Information System (GIS) application to construction and geotechnical data management on MRT construction projects in Singapore

Major construction projects, such as the North East Line (NEL) and Changi Airport Line (CAL), being undertaken by the Land Transport Authority in Singapore, produce vast quantities of construction related data which require management and interpretation. The management information system developed and deployed by the Land Transport Authority to handle such data is a client-web server based Geographical Information System (GIS) termed the Land Transport Authority (LTA) Geotechnical Database (GDB). This paper briefly discusses the design and architecture of the GDB. Then the user interface and the varied data management and presentation capabilities of the system are described in detail. Finally, the performance of the system is assessed in terms of the quantity of data handled the user profile and numbers. It is concluded that the system performs well in its role of managing large volumes of instrumentation and construction data, and providing this to clients in user-friendly graphical formats that makes interpretation faster and easier. This has resulted in the GDB being widely used and providing tangible benefits to the organisation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.