GIS — Transforming Civil Engineering and its Career Prospects!

An evergreen stream whose requirements will never go to an end is Civil Engineering. Facing a challenge with a skillful and creative approach is all one needs to develop. In the 21st century, we are being in an era of just quick search and reach. The journey from manual map marking of the evidence of any particular thing to an age of just a click and will give the overall result is just remarkable. The technology that is still providing a long way career prospect and also empowers modern Civil Engineers is the Geographical Information System (GIS).

About Geographical Information System (GIS)

GIS is a framework that is used to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data. Geographical data refers to the location on the earth. In more general terms, when we used to find out any location of a particular object or place, we use GIS technology that provides us the exact position and also the distances from any other position. It has been the most used technology so far with diverse applications.

How does GIS help a civil engineer?

GIS is a powerful tool that opens multiple doors with a large scope for civil engineers. GIS provides layers of the data on the top of the geographical map that provides better suitability for the engineer to make the right decisions.

Some core areas of civil engineering which is directly influenced by GIS:

What is being imagined in the mind and will it get fail, if yes then what can be the reason? These all queries can be easily solved by referring to the past failures which can be easily done by incorporating 3D GIS maps with traditional design strategies and hence designs can benefit from past failures.

Conjugation of traffic, traffic flow trends, peak flow, etc all can be easily identified with the help of GIS. Along with this additional map layers, such as those showing the optimum routes for future bridges, can be added at any time.

GIS can integrate with hydraulic and hydrologic modeling data to provide an overall analysis of water utility systems. Combining data from the customer end, water flow at different nodes and historical data can easily predict water demand.

GIS can help engineers assess plan effective responses. Mapping software helps in comparing historical data with post-disaster data to make an informed analysis.

The above is just a part of the applications of GIS in Civil Engineering. Almost in every sector, this tool can be used.

Career Opportunities in Civil Engineering

Civil engineering is one of the oldest streams of engineering and available in many top engineering colleges in Bhopal. It has a long way and multiple opportunities, some of them are -

• Various private organizations recruit GIS students or professionals such as Kaiinos Geospatial Technologies Pvt Ltd., GeoSpoc, Skylark Drones, and many more.
• Many public sectors and government organizations recruit if one has completed a master’s in GIS such as ISRO, National Remote Sensing Center (NSRC), National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), etc.
• Wide scope abroad as a GIS graduate.
• Move to higher studies such as Ph.D., Post-doctorate, etc.

Salary Expectations

At the entry-level one may get up to a package of CTC 2.4 LPA to 8 LPA depending upon the scene but as moving forward with experience one can reach the highest. The only need is the curiosity of learning and moving ahead.

Civil Engineering in SISTec Campus

We the department of civil engineering work holistically to complete the overall profile of the student. More precision is given on the training and practical exposure. Conducting seminars, expert talk, industrial visits at regular intervals to make the student fully equipped with the present scenario.

USPs of SISTec Department of Civil Engineering -

1. The department works on a blend of theoretical and experimental work — 14 laboratory lectures schedule per week.
2. The department has conducted a 10-day training program on QGIS by JP Survey Academy which enabled the students to be familiar with the software used in GIS such as ArcGIS, AutoCAD Map 3D, etc.
3. The department has well-organized laboratories with the latest equipment to perform any experiment.
4. Industrial visits are scheduled from the second year onwards with a minimum of 2 visits per semester.
5. For the overall development of the student from the first year onwards, co-curricular activities are organized such as Varnit Chalcitra — a short film competition organized for first and second-year students.
6. The department is funded by the TEQIP III, AICTE-RGPV for conducting STTPs, FDPs, etc.
7. Technical talks are conducted at regular intervals for updating the students about the ongoing research.

Assistant Professor

SISTec Department of Civil Engineering

Originally published at https://www.sistec.ac.in on May 11, 2021.