GIS

why do you ask? Is this a homework question or are you really interested?

yaa i am intrested in it...

there are a number of uses for GIS as a tool. I use it every day in determining mineral resources based upon 3D topography and drill hole data In water supply it is used by river basin authorities to determine flow rates compared to stream gages at surveyed places. Also , it can be used to map ground water recharge zones and potential ground water aquifers where specific rock units or sand units are either in outcrop or just below the surface (subcrop).

There are aquifers that have been mapped by their geologic formational names and by using GIS we can get a faitly accurate depiction of the lateral extent of these units.

What state are you in? If youre in India, the provincial geological surveys have taken it up to map potential ground water recharge zones and potential supply areas. They apply the GIS by making ORTHOPHOTOGRAPHS (which is a way of actually surveying the land surface from satellite photos). They then use the Orthos to take meter by meter measurements of aquifers (which are overlain using a dot matrix approach ) from the available geological maps.
GEO maps are all pretty much put up on some GIS platform Are you familiar with any of the ARC GIS programs . THere are lots more nowadays but Im used to messing with Arcview and Arcinfo

Thanks for the info...Ya i have heard about many application of GIS. well my main concern about GIS was to find out how it can be used in the water supply distribution of any particular area..there are various loop networks that supply water in each building of the community..so i was wondering if GIS could be used in such pipe distribution of the water supply network. I am in my masters now and i was wondering if i could make use of GIS application for my thesis.Well i have not done any works related to GIS however i have some knowledge and quite familier with Arc gis v9.3..

Ive seen where GIS orthophotos are overlain by all sorts of infrastructure info including water distribution. One project in particular I recall that some of my guys were working on a leak detection project and displayed all the geophone frequencies on top of the pipeline data. Also they placed a water table map to show how badly areas were leaking. I suppose you could just as well use it for displaying the data for pressure distributions using a H/C model. Anything that can be better displayed as a map is aided by a GIS routine

Can you please suggest me some more ideas as an alternatives??

That was quite intresting application of GIS as leak detection...but i couldn't exactly get what you just said...please do explain me in a bit easy way about the everything that you just wrote.

GIS itslef is just another mapping tool. It doesnt do anything for the leak detection etc. However, it does provide a means to more quickly (and perhaps accurately if the base surveys are correct) map the locations of critical points in the infrastructure. It is also a way to DSIPLAY the various data that go into a major water distribution and leak detection project. The process is called Infiltration and Inflow analyses, or I and I. GIS is almost universally used to map and display all sorts of infrastructure and physical features , soil types, geology, etc etc. By plotting a map on top of a corrected photo (orthophoto), we have a way to display and affect decision making processes .

Do you have any idea about network analyst extensions of GIS???

GIS is a wide field. If you're interested in the human side of water systems . . . pipelines, treatment plants, etc., a geographic framework is essential, and conventional GIS works great.
If you're interested in things like groundwater movement and groundwate contamination . . . which require 3D understanding of what's below the surface and how water moves through it, you need the geologist's version of GIS . . . and you often need a lot of data that aren't available.

well my major concern is about the application of GIS in pipelines, treatment plants, etc ...so how would you suggest me about the possibility of making use of GIS for those??

in the display and analyses of water infrastructure, the use of GIS is quite easy. Youve got to have seen distribution system data (shown as various color or line thicknesses for pipelines. All this is overlain atop a good orthophoto satekllite image or a GPS/satellite map. The visual display of the data that GIS affords us is its main power.

However, I find that many of the GIS applications systems use these really garish colors that annoy the hell out of me. So, many times we just customize the color palletes to provide colors that are more subdued and mpore lifelike.

The most intensive data analysis product Id ever seen was a water system leakage or "infiltration /inflow " study. Here the ground crews mapped the leaking underground pipes and displayed thema as segments on the GIS maps. Then they displayed the water system flow data from the water company's own readings and overlayed this all together. They used the data to show how they needed to correct the pipe systems and then displayed the best routes to take.

Even the city mayor got it.

One thing I failed to mention. GIS is only a tool, it doesnt correct mistakes or even allow you to know what data you have is correct or not. IT ALL MUST BE VERIFIED.

Most cities have water system infrastructure that is 50 to 100 years old and in most cases, the water lines and stations arent even located correctly. OR, there may be several instances where many kinds of pipes use one hole (Even though thats a no no). Ive seen where water pipes , all made of old wooden pipes made up like 20 ft pencils would be stuck in the same trench along with gas lines or electric lines. OR, water pipe lines would be mapped to be up to 100 feet off from where they really are. OR , the lines are incorrectly measuredOR, there would be valves incorrectly sized or located.
GIS can only be used as a tool as long as the information stuffed into the mapping system is correct. Remember the old saying 'Garbage I/O' Ive seen where giuys had their GIS maps loaded onto their hand held computers and would do the surveying to dig up the pipes and then miss the pipes by 50 feet. .

The biggest job in infrastructure is to first make the maps correct