HOW A GOLDEN YEAR FOR INFRASTRUCTURE HELPED SET US ON THE PATH TO PEOPLE-READY PROJECTS AND CITIES
Mark Coates on people-ready projects and cities
1995 was something of a golden year for infrastructure. In Lisbon, the longest bridge in the European Union opened after the 17km (10 mile) $1.1bn Vasco De Gama Bridge was completed. Work progressed on the second year of construction of the world’s largest power station, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in the Hubei province of central China. China also began the relocation of the first of more than 1.3 million people during the 17-year, $59bn mega-project.
And the Warsaw Metro opened in April giving the Polish capital its first subway system after 70 years of planning. Plans for the subway were first announced in 1918, but were delayed due to the Great Depression, World War Two, Nazi occupation, almost 40 years of Soviet control and countless construction delays.
However, impressive as all those projects are I think 1995 was a more significant year for infrastructure for another reason. For those of us in the civil engineering and surveying world, 1995 marked the year when the global positioning system (GPS) reached its full operational capacity – where its 24 satellites became operational, enabling full global GPS coverage. The purpose of GPS was to provide highly accurate positioning, navigation and timing data.
What began as a constellation of satellites designed to aid with military navigation has evolved into an indispensable global utility, transforming the way we work, travel and communicate, while improving many other facets of modern life.
For example, in infrastructure site surveying, which is crucial to the beginning of any construction project, leverages GPS to assist in planning, execution and monitoring of civil engineering and infrastructure projects. GPS helps speedup the lengthy process professionals face of analysing sites for elevation, hydraulics, mapping and grading. It also increases efficiency for planners, site managers and project directors by enabling the accurate and timely determination of land and property boundaries, establish reference points for construction and locate structures and relevant infrastructure above and below ground.
Furthermore, GPS helps to inform construction layout and the planning and phasing of all construction and infrastructure works for a project enabling teams to better plan the construction timeline and stay inside the budget. The monitoring of an asset’s health and performance is also improved by GPS, as it helps to identify where asset repair and maintenance may be required.
Finally, GPS can be used to help monitor the supply of logistics during the construction phase, enabling site teams to prepare accordingly while also managing and protecting site equipment via real-time tracking. A National Institute of Standards and Technology-sponsored study estimates that GPS has generated around $1.7tr in economic benefits for America since its launch half a century ago.
Vasco De Gama Bridge, Portugal.
GPS has also enabled experts to create the first ever digital twin of a nation – Singapore. To help make better use of Singapore’s scarcity of land and to figure out the areas that are most at risk from flooding, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) began to create a 3D map of the country starting in 2012.
In fact, GPS Lands Singapore, a leading mapping surveyor and geomatics engineering company, approached SLA with a plan to develop Virtual Singapore, a digital twin using software provided by Bentley Systems. GPS Lands Singapore used laser-scanning aircraft to record the terrain and surface information of Singapore to a precise level of detail while lasers mounted on vehicles roamed Singapore’s streets, absorbing data to supplement the aerial imagery with street-level information. The digital twin displays all of Singapore in a highly detailed 3D representation that has been exported and shared across various government agencies to help with asset management and decision-making, including detailed tree and green space management. The digital twin can also be used to analyse transport flows and pedestrian movements to prevent bottlenecks and ensure a more efficient flow of movement around the city.
GPS now seems indispensable to the infrastructure sector, but there are still improvements being made to the system to increase its usefulness further. Currently, GPS needs clear line of sight access to multiple satellites to be effective, and in some locations, that is very challenging, such as inside buildings, in thick foliage, or in dense urban areas such as Manhattan or Canary Wharf in London. It becomes challenging because GPS is dependent on being able to measure the distance a signal has travelled from a satellite to a receiver. Having signals reflect off other objects or buildings can often disrupt this, making accuracy challenging.
I am reminded of an adage I discussed with attendees at the International Water Association (IWA) World Water Congress & Exhibition (WWCE) in Toronto. That adage is ‘measure twice, cut once’.
Looking ahead, advancements like multi-frequency GPS receivers will enable GPS to track signals from more satellites, which will help improve the effectiveness of GPS in challenging environments. These new receivers are expected to enable even higher levels of accuracy with better, faster real-time data integration with other communications systems through 5G and eventually 6G mobile network technology. Additionally, more powerful GPS signals are expected in the future to overcome interference that degrades existing signals that can lead to inaccuracies.
The good news is that work is well underway to improve GPS. Companies like Lockheed Martin are launching a next generation of GPS satellites, known as GPS Block III. Plus, additional work is being done in the exploration of novel positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) The monitoring of an asset’s health and performance is also improved by GPS, as it helps to identify where asset repair and maintenance may be required.
The digital twin can also be used to analyse transport flows and pedestrian movements to prevent bottlenecks and ensure a more efficient flow of movement around the city. technologies that could help further modernise the GPS. These innovations are expected to improve the way GPS is used in day-to-day surveying and engineering, and improve the structural monitoring of roads, bridges and other civil infrastructure to detect even the most miniscule of structural changes. When I think of the impact of GPS, I am reminded of an adage I discussed with attendees at the International Water Association (IWA) World Water Congress & Exhibition (WWCE) in Toronto. That adage is ‘measure twice, cut once’.
Thanks to GPS and the advert of digital design and planning solutions we can now measure, plan and survey right the first time before the shovels hit the soil. This is important because compared to the cost of delivery, planning and surveying is more affordable.
Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore.
Planning and designing a project digitally enables us to test new solutions and find new insights on how best to deliver a project before the work starts.
These insights, gleaned from GPS and digital twins, as in the Singapore example, make projects more efficient to deliver while also helping find new benefits such as improved public and green spaces, better tree management, and enhanced traffic flows.
GPS-informed insights coupled with digital twins, not only help make projects shovel-ready but also shovel-worthy – which in the end make for projects that are people-ready and people-worthy. And improving the lives of people should be the ultimate benefit.
For me, 1995 was a seminal year which set us on the path to what we’re starting to see now: People-ready, people-worthy projects.
Mark Coates FCInstCES FCIHT, Vice President of Infrastructure Policy Advancement, Bentley Systems
mark.coates@bentley.com
bentley.com