Halcrow one of the world's leading civil engineering consultancies, has used the TatukGIS Developer Kernel (VCL edition) as the GIS engine for its SANDS (Shoreline And Nearshore Data System) solution for sustainable asset management and analysis. SANDS is a data capture, monitoring and analysis suite developed for use by asset managers, engineers, researchers and scientists, typically involved with the maritime environment, coastal areas and ports etc. Once populated with the appropriate data, e.g., wind, wave and water level data, topographic and hydrographic survey data - SANDS can undertake tidal analysis and prediction, extremes analysis, wind/wave rose plots, sediment transport analysis, joint probability analysis; plus erosion/accretion analysis and area/volumetric analysis.
SANDS can also be used to relate asset values (properties, etc), habitat areas and heritage sites to coastal defenses and the associated flood risk areas to perform risk assessments or determine the most cost effective method of investing maintenance resources. Other key SANDS applications include: centralized data storage and management, data access, asset inspection reports and monitoring, and wave transformation.
SANDS application illustrating the location of typical coastal process unit, survey photographs, and cross sectional topographical data. |
SANDS used to perform cost/benefit analysis based on flood risk areas. U.K. Coastal Defense Asset Data Imported is from the National Flood and Coastal Defense Database (NFCDD). |
SANDS application illustrating the locations of beach profiles, site photographs, and offshore wave records. |
SANDS is used internally by Halcrow and externally by independent SANDS users for numerous projects in a number of countries. SANDS clients include the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors (USA), City of Flagler Beach (USA), Department of Marine and Natural Resources (Ireland), Gardline Environmental (UK), Government of Barbados, South of England Regional Coastal Monitoring programs (UK), North West of England Regional Coastal Monitoring program (UK), Environment Agency (UK), Ministry of Works and Transport (Trinidad), Ceylon Fishery Harbor Corporation (Sri Lanka), Department of Irrigation and Drainage (Malaysia), National Hydraulic Research Institute (Malaysia), 31 local authorities in the UK, and the universities of Aberdeen, Nottingham and Plymouth in the UK.
Halcrow specializes in the provision of planning, design and management services for infrastructure development, with core interests in the areas of transportation, water, maritime, and property. The Company operates through a network of 80 offices worldwide which, collectively, are responsible for commissions in over 80 countries.
In addition to SANDS, Halcrow's New York City office employs the TatukGIS DK-VCL extensively to create tools and utilities for on-going projects, including an extensive toolbox for use by underwater inspection of urban piers. In addition, CommunityCartography, which is a long-time user of the DK and is now completely owned by Halcrow, continues to offer specialized urban mapping tools to the New York City metro region.
For more information about SANDS, refer to: www.halcrow.com/sands
For more about information about Halcrow, refer to: www.halcrow.com