Skip to Content

Infrastructure Management

The geographic approach

Create a resilient, sustainable, and equitable future in Europe with GIS

Composite image with a mirrored skyscraper towering over other skyscrapers, overlaid with small colorful maps, aerial images, 3D models, and map point icons

BUILDING A BETTER WORLD

What is infrastructure management?

Infrastructure management is the planning, delivery, and operation of assets, networks, projects, and IT across organisations to deliver a modern, sustainable, resilient, and equitable future. Organisations use GIS for infrastructure management to model, connect, and enable relationships of the built, social, and natural worlds with advanced visualisations and analytics across the entire infrastructure life cycle.

A map of the United Kingdom bisected by a river with locations of green infrastructure highlighted in green

THE GEOGRAPHY OF INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS

GIS powers infrastructure management

Modern infrastructure management requires holistic thinking on both micro and macro scales. A geographic approach to planning and operations helps leaders understand how infrastructure projects relate to surrounding environments. GIS is the nervous system for modern infrastructure management, connecting systems, workforces, organisations, and communities. ArcGIS is the cornerstone by which organisations modernise their networks and improve resiliency in a sustainable and equitable way.

A stylized map of a city with a grid of streets in the center surrounded by neighborhoods shaded in yellows and grays

A foundation for modern infrastructure

Building resilient, sustainable, and equitable infrastructure requires a deep understanding of each asset's location-based relationship to environmental and human-made systems. GIS shows where infrastructure investments will provide the greatest benefit.

What is sustainable infrastructure?

Sustainable infrastructure ensures that the needs of modern society and its infrastructure are met while factoring in economic, social, and environmental needs. GIS is essential in managing the infrastructure life cycle in a sustainable manner—including planned, designed, constructed, operated, and decommissioned states. Location intelligence supports the social, economic, and environmental processes required to maintain human equity, resilience, and the health of natural systems.

A map of Rotterdam, Netherlands, with a color palette of light blue, green, and orange, delineating the waterways, roads, and other elements

What is resilient infrastructure?

Resilient infrastructure helps communities resist and recover from stresses and supports positive economic, social, and environmental outcomes. GIS allows organisations to plan for the unknown with maps and analysis that help leaders effectively anticipate, absorb, and rapidly recover from a disruptive event. Creating resilient infrastructure dramatically reduces costs in terms of physical, social, and economic loss.

A cityscape is viewed from above, with a superimposed map displaying a network of colored lines and areas representing various infrastructure systems

What is equitable infrastructure?

Equitable infrastructure investments support social, economic, and environmental well-being. Once organisations have acknowledged the diverse historical, social, and cultural needs of a community, leaders can use GIS-based maps and analysis to factor them into decision-making. GIS provides data and insights on communities to help decision-makers ensure that the services and resources of modern infrastructure are delivered equitably.

A vertical density map of a city with concentration levels in green and yellow on a navy blue background

GIS-based infrastructure management supports smart investments

Taking a geographic approach to infrastructure management is important for decision-makers working to modernise operations and asset management. Location-based insights improve resiliency, sustainability, and equity for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC); water utility; energy utility; telecommunications; and transportation organisations.

Location intelligence for AEC

Architects, engineers, builders, and owners use Esri solutions to improve workflows, bring context to projects, and increase collaboration throughout project life cycles. GIS is helping architecture, engineering, and construction firms build smart, sustainable communities and assets for the future.

A construction site with large cranes and partially-completed buildings under a clear blue sky
government-water-resources-48

Managing water utilities with GIS

Water utilities and resource managers use GIS to improve location data quality and accessibility, empowering users across organisations to make informed decisions and improve workflows. Esri solutions help utilities manage capital improvement projects, meet and exceed regulatory requirements, and retain institutional knowledge to last generations.

A water treatment plant with a vast open-air tank of still water beneath a sunny blue sky

Digitally transforming utilities with GIS

GIS supports the utility asset life cycle—planning, engineering, design, construction, and operations. As a result, GIS is the enabling technology that helps organisations meet sustainability and resiliency goals and prioritise infrastructure investments. In addition, GIS uncovers and supports unforeseen events that continually challenge utilities.

A person wearing a yellow safety vest and hard hat smiling as they use a handheld tablet with wind turbines in the background

Driving success with location intelligence

Every aspect of building a broadband network involves location and geography. GIS is uniquely suited to help an organisation bid on, plan, design, construct, and operate networks while meeting reporting obligations associated with funding applications and awards.

A large red broadcast tower on a green tree-covered hilltop under a bright blue cloud-swept sky

Understanding transportation data with GIS

Managing modern airports, ports, and rail organisations has become increasingly complex. Esri's GIS technology transforms transportation organisations into performance-driven agencies guided by spatial data. GIS helps decision-makers better plan, manage, and maintain infrastructure and understand activity in real time.

A shipping yard with blue and green storage crates stacked high with an airplane flying low overhead through a bright blue sky

Meet Europe’s game changers

Denmark: Balancing growth and sustainability

Ramboll helps the Technical University of Denmark achieve sustainable growth.

Read the case study

Download the infrastructure management ebook

Explore the ebook, How Europe Applies the Geographic Approach for Infrastructure Management, to learn how industry leaders use a geographic approach to support modernisation, climate risk mitigation, and day-to-day operations.