The assigned reading, "Database Management Systems" from Access Science went through a full description of what a database is, different types, and how they work. The basic description that I took away from the article is that a database is an organization of information with a mechanism of easily filtering through the information. The article reminded me of how often we each use databases, whether it be online for personal use, school use, or in the work place. It is apparent that relational databases are most widely used and helpful databases, out performing some of the simpler database set ups. The end of this article mentioned geographical information systems (GIS) as an emerging technology that uses relational database management systems so I decided to investigate GIS a little further. In the article, "GIS Solutions for Civil Engineering" I discovered that GIS itself is basically a relational database management system. Allowing engineers to bring together all the information known about a specific geographical location including geographical characteristics and CAD data from existing databases and use this information to visualize and make decisions.
Another interesting aspect of a GIS database is its capabilities to create plans for emergency assessment and response. When planning an emergency response route, GIS is able to take into account flood elevations of roads, evacuation routes, bridges along these routes, and could even bring up the latest inspection results for different bridges and compare them in order to assess the best route.
The GIS server, called ArcGIS, is also able to integrate with AutoCAD and display geographical maps and features within CAD drawings. It allows you to include GIS calculations in CAD drawings and reference in geographical base maps onto drawings.
GIS appears to be a next step in relation databases in the Civil Engineering field allowing engineerings to incorporate past work and information into current projects.
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