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Design and Implementation of an Integrated Digital Project Management Platform for the Visualization of Road Assets

The Government of Maharashtra has formed a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd. (MSRDC) Tunnels Limited for the execution of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway Missing Link project.

MSRDC is augmenting the capacity of MPEW by constructing a Viaduct and Tunnel (Missing Link Project) that will not only decongest the traffic flow but also reduce the expressway distance and time. MSRDC has come up with the need for the establishment of an Owner Support Office (OSO) to help them establish a necessary organizational framework, procedure & policies, control & tracking mechanisms for successful deployment of the Digital Project Management Platform, and timely completion of the MPEW Missing Link Project.

Information Technology (IT) is the backbone of this digital project for setting up a Digital Project Management Platform. This digital platform consists of a 5D Building Information Modelling (BIM) using BIM enabled Common Data Environment (CDE), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System, Business Analytics System (BAS), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Facility Management Services (FMS).

MSRDC appointed Ceinsys Tech Ltd. (CTL) as the ‘System Integrator’ (SI) for the Supply, Implement, and Support of the Digital Project Management Platform (DPMP) including 5DBIM, ERP, GIS System & Establishment of Owner’s Support Office (OSO).

Project Brief

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway presently has a 6-lane cement concrete pavement with a 2.5 m wide paved shoulder on both sides and a length of 94 km. Heavy traffic and landslides frequently cause congestion in this stretch. Due to the decrease in speed and increase in travel time in this section & to save time, vehicles move at a faster speed on the rest of the expressway, resulting in an increased number of accidents.

The project is divided into two packages:

1. Package I consists of constructing two tunnels (two tubes of 4 lanes each) of lengths 1.75 km and 8.92 km, respectively.
2. Package II consists of two 8-lane viaducts of lengths 790 m and 650 m, respectively, with Capacity Augmentation (6-lane to 8-lane) of the existing Expressway.

Digital Project Management Brief Scope

To ensure the implementation of a successful DPMP comprising 5D BIM, ERP, and GIS, Ceinsys carried out:

• Establishing Owner support office.
• IT infrastructure provisioning and maintenance.
• Supply, Implement & Support Digital Project Management System (DPMS).
• Training MSRDC Tunnels Ltd. in resources for the use of installed systems.
• Establishing a Helpdesk to handle & resolve project-related queries.

One of the prime motives for establishing this platform is to create a systemized ‘Document & Information repository’ during various stages of the project lifecycle to establish a datum for all upcoming/future works related to MPEW–ML Project and form a reliable source of information from the backup. Otherwise, it would have been a primary uphill task, using traditional information/data/document storage methods and legacy systems. Preserving information in digital form would also be helpful for quick retrieval and reference for future developments.

GIS-based Progress Monitoring System development is the crux of the project through which users can view the status of the project, run queries on the spatial database developed, and have all the data in the dynamic reports format thus generated.

Developing a GIS-based open-source application integrated with other applications/components of a digital project management system would provide the visual and geo-tagged information of land, property, utilities, etc., to all the stakeholders at different layers during construction and the project’s operation and maintenance stages. The BIM Models made by other contractors can be taken by the OSO and converted into an asset-rich GIS database, in which the required attributes for asset management can be filled in.

A minimum set of data requirements was established for any data gathered to maintain a high quality of spatial data and its associated metadata.

• GIS-based Progress Monitoring System to deliver an open-source system with inbuilt and customized features for viewing, managing & locating features of interest to the project.
• The system is to have spatial and non-spatial data to analyze and serve user requirements like displaying the ongoing work status on the internet with thematic maps and textual and graphical reports.
• GIS-based Progress Monitoring System allows authorities to visualize construction and identify potential spatial/ temporal conflicts at various stages.

Business Challenges

• Scattered Data from Multiple stakeholders.
• Multiple sources of truth were complicated to analyze the progress.
• Progress visualization in one frame.
• Absence of Asset information.

Business Requirements

• All Land Records need to be captured.
• Land parcels are to be shown on the GIS application along the alignment.
• Shapefiles of all 2D drawings are to be superimposed on the application as per geo-coordinates.
• Textual data in the form of reports can be extracted from the application.
• Project status using Drone survey in the form of MP4 and UAV generated 2D Maps in TIFF format Point cloud in LAS.
• Spatial Analysis of the Data.
• Displaying Thematic Maps along with Legends.
• Upload and View the images and videos attached with spatial data.

Geospatial Solution for Project Monitoring

The proposed system used spatial and non-spatial data to analyze and serve user requirements, like displaying the ongoing work status online with thematic maps and textual and graphical reports. There was no chance of losing data using the application. Even old records could be viewed quickly. The application provided the best online communication between internal departments and users.

The web-based solution provided the following key features to users:

• Publishing of the Missing link critical plan and other land parcels and road Map layouts online.
• Tooltip display for features.
• Features allow end users to click on the individual attribute and return a selected set of attributes for features from the database.
• Separate windows for map data and attribute database.
• Simple and easy-to-use built-in tool to simplify the user interface regarding menu items, etc.
• Thematic Map for displaying work status & legends display.
• Base map layer like Open Street Map, Ortho-photo images taken by drone for location reference, etc.
• Pan, zoom facility on the map.
• User registration facility to register himself to access the application features.
• User Role based access to application features.
• Basic functionality for users like view, a basic search on map, etc.
• Spatial analysis facilities like buffer and measure.

Benefits of the Solution

Implementation of the Digital Project Management system using a GIS web-based application ensured:

• Effective project progress tracking.
• Visualization of Geographical Information and Live data monitoring using Drone photogrammetry.
• Integrated dashboard system to visualize high-level project health.
• Integrated Project Land Acquisition Status with an actual view of the land parcel.
• Integrated drone video along the stretch and site photographs can be uploaded to the application for status updates and live project monitoring.
• Various status reports can be generated.
• 20% saving in time and cost over-run.
• Real-time monitoring.
• Optimize operational efficiencies.
• Single source of truth to avoid duplications.

Conclusion

The project has been successfully implemented and has gone live for MSRDC officials. Users can update the project progress in the GIS application and visualize the progress over the map. This application enables users to compare the progress using drone videos attached to the respective project alignment sections. Furthermore, users have used these layers for Asset Information Management which shall be available to users with required asset metadata along with the geo-coordinated location of the assets.