What Is Geospatial Information & Why You Need a Geospatial Survey for a Strong Build?

Whether you’re building large or small, make sure you’ve got space in your budget for a geospatial surveyor. With their advanced geospatial mapping techniques and technologies they can help ensure that your build goes off without a hitch, even saving you money in the long run.

What Is Geospatial Data?

At its simplest, geospatial data is any data about a physical object, including its size, shape and even location on the earth. Geospatial data isn’t limited to small objects though. It can be gathered about large spaces too, including land to be developed.

While these data sets alone provide limited information, it’s when geospatial data is compared in relation to other data sets that it comes into its own. With it, you’re able to easily observe the relationships between different physical objects in the same environment. For instance, you can determine the distance between objects, and where they overlap and touch each other. Understanding these intricacies of objects in time and space allows for greater insights about the location of a build.

For example, if you were developing a piece of land, the geospatial data would tell you how elements of that land interact, allowing you to plan ahead. This could be trees that need to be removed, ditches requiring filling, or where nearby streets or properties are to be conscious of them.

So Where Does Geospatial Surveying Come In?

Geospatial surveying is how you collect this data. It’s the measurement and mapping of a space using specialised mathematics, techniques and tools. You can find geospatial mapping services to accurately record the spatial data of land, the sky or even under the sea. Because of its versatility and wide range of applications, you’ll find that geospatial services are used in a wide variety of industries in Australia and around the world. It plays an important role for land development, mining, engineering and hydrographic projects.

Geospatial surveying services help us better understand the boundaries of the space we are working with. In turn, geospatial science can then be used to further understand the space, its limitations and opportunities, and how it interacts with its neighbours. With the data mapped in a clear and, potentially, interactive way, we can then predict trends and patterns, like where water may naturally run across a piece of land, thereby providing critical data and advice for construction projects.

How Geospatial Data Mapping Makes Your Project Run More Smoothly?

Ultimately, with geospatial data, you’re able to comprehensively analyse and understand a space and the surrounding environment. This then has flow-on effects for your construction project.

1. Improved Planning Solutions Before You Start

As the saying goes, it’s better to measure twice, cut once. With geospatial surveying and data mapping, you are more aware of the space that you’re working with, and how it changes and interacts with other elements. This means you are more likely to spot potential issues or problems before you reach the construction phase. Then, you can appropriately plan for them and overcome them easily.

2. More Detailed & Responsive Design

Part of a successful build is ensuring that the new or refreshed structure works within its environment, from taking advantage of sweeping views or feeling at place within the landscape to not detrimentally affecting other features in the area. Again, by understanding the space that you are working with ahead of time, you can create this kind of design. This allows for a more successful construction process overall, as well as a better end result.

3. Improved Cost-Effectiveness for Your Project

Further to the above point about understanding your space, if you aren’t dealing with unexpected issues, your final spend is going to be more aligned with your proposed budget. So, you can go into the project feeling more confident in the resources you have allocated across the board, and possibly even save some cash overall.

4. Improved Communication Between All Parties

One of the great things about working with geospatial data is all the mapping solutions and options you can use to effectively show this data. 3D renders or interactive datasets, for instance, can allow you to show key stakeholders how problems can be solved ahead of time, as well as what the final product will look like. This ensures everyone has the same clearly presented information and fewer assumptions are being made.

5. Improved Record Keeping

With all this data, you also are able to better manage records of the project. This can be useful for making future changes if the space needs to be used differently or updated. Additionally, if, for whatever reason, you need to refer back to what the space was like before the project, you have detailed and accurate records. Having this clear information at a planning stage can also be necessary for permits and similar.

What Geospatial Technologies Are There?

While geospatial surveying and mapping has been around for a long time, it has become increasingly sophisticated. The original measuring methods and mathematics used did have benefits, but with technology like aerial photography, GPS, ground-penetrating radar, and computer-generated analysis and representations, times have definitely changed. With all these advancements, the data collected is more accurate, even recording the time the data was collected as spaces can change throughout the day. Ultimately, with all these technologies, you’re able to essentially create a digital twin of what has been surveyed.

At Galaxy City, we use a variety of technologies for our geospatial solutions including:

• Drones for aerial photography
• Ground-penetrating radar
• Laser scanning
• 3D models
• Data point clouds

Connect With Galaxy City for Geospatial Surveying & More

Start your next project off strong with geospatial solutions from Galaxy City. Get in touch today to tell us about your project.