GIS as Effective Tool for Construction Materials Management, Dr. P. Partheeban, Professor and Head,Department of Civil Engineering, St. Peter's University, Avadi,Chennai - 600 054.
This article deals with the effective use of the GIS technology for managing the construction materials. This study suggests the way in which the transportation of construction materials cost can be minimized. With the advancement in construction techniques, lot of materials has to be transferred from the retailers to the consumers (Construction sites). As GIS is a readily available spatial analysis tool, which gives unique and unparalleled insights into the natural and man made environments due to its strength to link the generic information with its location. Hence an attempt is made to graphically represent the construction materials shops combined with the graphical representation of construction sites so as to identify the optimal routes based on the distance between the shops and the cost of the various construction materials. It is proved that the GIS is best tool for materials management for the construction industry,which not only analysis the current scenario but also helps in projecting the future in other words, one can effectively use the GIS tool for past, present and future studies in the construction field.
Construction industry is the second largest employer after agriculture supporting 32 Million people and 16 major core sectors Industries. The Civil Engineering is updated with computerized finding with regard to procurement of Materials, Manufacturing, strengthening and implementation. GIS is a tool for the management, query, visualization and analysis of spatially referred information. GIS is capable of handling spatial and non-spatial data. It also identifies the spatial relationship between Map and its features [2].
Proper planning in a construction project is one of the major contributing factors to the success of a project. The construction process is subjected to the influence of highly variable and sometimes unpredictable factors. Therefore, any construction project has to be planned well, anticipating and solving the problems in that particular project to optimize the cost of construction and to commission the project in the shortest possible time [3]. With the rapid advances in science and technology resulting in new construction of complex nature, the need for the introduction of effective and improved planning techniques has been felt for quite sometimes.
GIS technology will lead to increased productivity in many industry operations and to greater accuracy and timeliness of information for both professionals and the general public. If its full potential is realized, the market will move to higher levels of efficiency, which may ultimately drive down the cost of construction. There should also be a reduction in traditional information arbitrage of construction industry, where inside information or market knowledge historically has allowed for unusually large construction returns.
Recent innovations in GIS technology will not only increase the productivity of existing construction industry operations but will also lead to greater accuracy of information and access to information that previously was cost prohibitive or simply unavailable. These advances will provide a greater range of information with which a construction industry decision can be made, which will benefit consumers by leading to decisions that more closely address their needs and preferences. From the perspective of the industry, as GIS and related computer technology are integrated into market operations, fewer people may be needed to perform some of the traditional tasks such as residential brokerage and mortgage origination [6]. Somewhat as a counterbalance,however, the need for professionals with advanced technology skills, including GIS, will grow.
This article assesses the current and potential contribution of GIS to the residential and commercial construction activities efficiently and economically. GIS applications by major industry function are examined, including materials purchase, materials transportation, new building construction, cost of materials and market analysis. The article concludes the optimum use of cost specific to construction materials in GIS framework.
Study Area Characteristics
Thiruninravur is located at 30 km northwest of Chennai city has taken as case study to demonstrate the capabilities of GIS in effective use of construction materials by civil Engineer. This area comprises a total area of 5 sq. km out off which 50 percent of them are residential. Population in this town panchayat is 53,321 comprising 27,973 male and 25,348 female. The birth rate and death rate is 233 and 165 per year respectively.
Thiruninravur is an educational centre attracts hundreds of students each year. In and around the study area there are about 22 educational institution and 10 of them are colleges. In the last ten years, this place has experienced unusually strong population growth, increasing at 20 percent per year. This growth is part of the pattern of long-term rural growth of the nation. It is the result of small industrial growth in rural towns, house construction, an increase in the number of urban people who choose rural areas for retirement and an increased ability to sustain a living through telecommunications linkages.
The challenge of growth faced by Thiruninravur is common to the problem faced throughout the Chennai city is population growth. A total number of houses in this area are 9927 with a household ratio of 5.37, because this area is earlier rural in nature. The status of income level is varying from lower level to higher level. The rainfall in this area is moderate and the main source of the drinking water is from the borewell. The quality of the water is within the standard limits for drinking. The development of Chennai city is at saturated level in the west direction and hence at present development is taking place at Thiruninravur. So due to the above said reasons lot of construction activities are taking place in this study area.
Data Collection and Analysis
Secondary data such as basemap of the Thiruninravur town Panchayat, population data, etc were collected from the town panchayat office. Primary data such as location of material shops, location of the construction site were surveyed physically. As the construction materials cost varies in different shops and in different locations, the cost variation of each material was collected.
Development of GIS
The spatial and non-spatial data has been collected from the study area (Thiruninravur). The collected Thiruninravur Town panchayat basemap was scanned and taken in to MapInfo environment to digitize the map, where it is digitized using the technique Headsup Digitization [4, 5]. The different features of the area are separated and stored in different layer so as to facilitate for varies analysis. The digitized map is exported as shape file format to ARC VIEW GIS software for analysis. Various
themes included in this study are study area boundary, roads, existing building, buildings under construction, locations of shops, educational institutions and water bodies. Fig. 1 shows the study area basemap along the Chennai - Thiruvallur Highway. Themes showing location of shops and new building constructions are point themes and road network and boundary are line themes. Water bodies are represented as polygon themes. The locations of construction material shops and new building construction sites are presented in Fig. 2. The attributes of the various themes have been entered through data tables called Attribute Tables [2].
Results and Discussion
Buffers are created to find the radius of accessibility with a radius of 0.5 km and 1.0 km for the new construction sites. These buffers were created in the Arc/View environment. Radius of accessibility can be fixed depending upon the housing construction with respect to retailer's locations. In this study all the shops are clustered in the Chennai - Thiruvallur Highway and the construction takes place on either side of roads. Wherever the construction takes place they have to procure the materials from these retailers. On one side of the highway the construction sites were at a maximum distance of 1.0 km and other side it is 1.5 km. Hence to analyze the rate variation in the construction material shop the radius of accessibility of 0.5 km is fixed as a minimum radius. Buffers are created for the new building constructions sites with radius of accessibility of 0.5 km and1.0 km
Based on the cost of materials with respect to shops and proximity of construction sites, optimal routes were identified for each 0.5 km buffer. Fig. 5 shows the optimal route for the materials purchase for the site located within the radius of accessibility of 0.5 km. Similarly the optimal routes were identified from the material shop to the site based on the cost comparison between the shops falling within the radius of accessibility.
Critical areas are those areas, which cannot be covered within the radius of accessibility. That is, the site is more than 1 km from the highway, the sites are identified as critical sites. For these areas it is suggested for the retailers that a new shop can be established, so that the sites in the critical areas can procure the materials from the newly established shop. Fig. 6 shows the optimal route from the site to the shop 2. Even though the distance is lesser from the site to the other shops 3 and 4, when the cost comparison arises, it is found that the cost of the materials is lesser in the shop 2. Hence the material is procured from the shop 2.
Applications
The developed GIS will provide excellent support for construction industries, which develops fast. The potential application of this GIS includes:
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Local planning authorities or managers may use for their planning purposes or decision making
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Engineers or executives officers can use this system to plan and execution
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Service oriented organizations such as Red Cross, Lions Club and Rotary Club may use for general purpose
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It will be useful for the maintenance personnel
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It provides technical advice and assistance on the new house builders, contractors, real estate people, construction materials retailers and general public
Conclusion
The conclusion part of this paper gives information to the planners, Builders, Contractors, Consultants, Real Estate Business People, Administrators and the Public on cost-effective method of utilizing the construction materials. Hence this study is more useful to those who are involved in construction industry since it gives information both spatially and non-spatially. Specifically useful for those who are actively involved privately in construction activities. The advancement of software and hardware technologies has meant an improvement in the productivity and quality of construction engineering and planning in both public and private sectors. With the increase in population and registered contractors the numbers of constructions that are taking place in our country have increased tremendously. The following measures may be adopted to reduce the cost of construction:
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Maintaining the construction records
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Scientific analyses of materials and its transportation to the construction sites
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Data on construction materials cost
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Area under development or developed
To achieve all the above stated measure, greater use of GIS and Internet GIS can be used. GIS technology will continue to play a vital role in Construction field. Thus GIS becomes a primary repository of information that can be quickly accessed and viewed when required. There are virtually no limits to the scope of GIS analysis by combining any modes of analysis and query tools provided by a GIS we can derive answers to the most complex questions posed by any activity or field of study.
References
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Able Software Corporation, Users Manual for R2V for windows 9X & NT, 1998.
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ESRI, Users Manual ArcView GIS, 1996.
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Jain, K. C. and L. N., Aggarwal, Production Planning Control and Industrial Management, Khanna Publishers, 1995.
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James A, Kuiper, July 26 -30, Technical papers, XIX Annual ESRI Conference, USA, 1999
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Map Info Users Manual.
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