BİMTAŞ Innovates Data Collection for Improvement of Istanbul's Transportation Infrastructure Using GIS

BİMTAŞ is a Turkish company that contracts with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and its subsidiaries, district municipalities, as well as other public and private organizations providing engineering, consultancy, and planning services. These services specifically include infrastructure and superstructure planning for healthy and smarter urbanization.

BİMTAŞ meets the demands of local governments and the private sector in all areas of life in Turkey including river reclamation,  marine structures, energy and metro systems, industrial facilities cultural centers, sports complexes, and public parks and gardens.
 

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) Department of Transportation commissioned BİMTAŞ to determine how tunnels, bridges, viaducts, and other transportation road reinforcements would be affected when damaged in an earthquake.

Previously, studies of this kind would have been carried out using paper-based and manual data collection processes. Attribute information had to be collected from the field by different professionals like architects, civil engineers, and surveyors, then photographed and submitted to the department as a report. But to cover the whole of Istanbul, staff needed to collect data from the field quickly, analyze it in the office, convert it into a report, and share that information more efficiently among stakeholders.
 

To accomplish the project at this larger scope, BIMTAS used ArcGIS Survey123, a mobile data collection application, along with ArcGIS Enterprise. The new GIS software enabled personnel to collect and share data quickly and accurately on a single web-based platform.

Mobile staff used ArcGIS Survey123 with prepared forms to collect data on infrastructure, utilizing unique location-based codes with custom scripts. This tool minimized user errors and increased data accuracy, as well as automated the reporting process by 90%. In addition, ArcGIS Enterprise enabled staff at the office to track and instantly analyze data coming from the field on real-time dashboards.
 

By implementing ArcGIS Survey123 and ArcGIS Enterprise BİMTAŞ was able to collect data from multiple different disciplines and then manage, analyze, and share it from a single source. In addition, different hardware requirements were eliminated and user errors were prevented thanks to the custom form structures created in advance. Real-time collection, transmission, and reporting of data also strengthened collaboration between the field and the office, accelerating the decision-making processes.

BİMTAŞ plans to use the successes and experiences from its work with IBB as a model for other projects in the future to save time and minimize administrative errors. GIS technology has become an indispensable tool for BİMTAŞ to achieve growth and further its mission.