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Case study of the benefits of BIM and GIS solutions used on a live infrastructure project

Rieke, Paulina Magdalena LU (2025) In Student thesis series INES GISM01 20251
Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
Abstract
Progressing urbanisation puts strong pressure on existing infrastructure, forcing new projects to provide for society’s increased demand. Owing to modern state-of-the-art knowledge and imposed regulations, publicly driven initiatives are mandatory to use Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technologies for project realisation. The thesis examines High Speed 2 (HS2), a live infrastructure mega-project based in the United Kingdom (UK), from BIM and GIS perspectives.
The HS2 project, currently the largest infrastructure project in Europe, is an inspirational case study demonstrating whether BIM and GIS can be used together effectively. HS2 is meant to provide a new rail connection between London... (More)
Progressing urbanisation puts strong pressure on existing infrastructure, forcing new projects to provide for society’s increased demand. Owing to modern state-of-the-art knowledge and imposed regulations, publicly driven initiatives are mandatory to use Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technologies for project realisation. The thesis examines High Speed 2 (HS2), a live infrastructure mega-project based in the United Kingdom (UK), from BIM and GIS perspectives.
The HS2 project, currently the largest infrastructure project in Europe, is an inspirational case study demonstrating whether BIM and GIS can be used together effectively. HS2 is meant to provide a new rail connection between London and Birmingham, the two major economic hubs in the UK. The analysed data comes from the project section handled by Skanska Costain Strabag Joint Venture (SCS JV).
The benefits of BIM and GIS on the project are assessed individually and as co-existing disciplines, but the thesis does not discuss the HS2 project in the context of pure GeoBIM. The study compares the two main information systems – Joint Venture (JV) Maps (for GIS) and iTwin (for BIM) – from the functionality and application point of view, bringing some conclusions concerning systems coexistence. The research questions are answered using the case study approach – analysing project data and conducting interviews with the team members. The answers are project-oriented and need further investigation if conclusions drawn in the thesis are to be applied in different scenarios. The research questions oscillate around three topics: the technical aspect of BIM and GIS IT tools, BIM and GIS data users’ experiences, the interviewees’ statistics and how they affect their perception of BIM and GIS.
The research results reveal numerous observations. BIM and GIS run close to parallel on the SCS project. Almost half of the interviewees use GIS solutions more than once a week, unlike BIM solutions, which are considerably less popular. The off-the-shelf BIM and GIS IT solutions bring multiple benefits. iTwin platform is used primarily for design, discipline coordination and data validation and checks concerning BIM, while JV Maps is used predominantly for data validation and checks, followed by discipline coordination concerning GIS. (Less)
Popular Abstract
As cities grow, existing infrastructure struggles to sustain the demand. It is driving the need for its further development and expansion. Today, public infrastructure projects are required to use advanced digital tools such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The study examines the application of these tools on High Speed 2 (HS2) project, which is the UK’s major rail scheme connecting the two megacities, London and Birmingham.
Focusing on the part of the project managed by Skanska Costain Strabag Joint Venture (SCS JV), the dissertation looks at how BIM and GIS work, separately as well as combined disciplines, without considering fully integrated GeoBIM. It compares two main platforms used... (More)
As cities grow, existing infrastructure struggles to sustain the demand. It is driving the need for its further development and expansion. Today, public infrastructure projects are required to use advanced digital tools such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The study examines the application of these tools on High Speed 2 (HS2) project, which is the UK’s major rail scheme connecting the two megacities, London and Birmingham.
Focusing on the part of the project managed by Skanska Costain Strabag Joint Venture (SCS JV), the dissertation looks at how BIM and GIS work, separately as well as combined disciplines, without considering fully integrated GeoBIM. It compares two main platforms used on the project: JV Maps (GIS) and iTwin (BIM), evaluating their strengths, weaknesses, and how they are applied in practice. Insights were gathered from real project data and interviews with the team members.
The findings show that BIM and GIS are used in parallel, not fully integrated. GIS tools are more commonly used day-to-day than BIM tools. iTwin is mainly used for design and coordination tasks, while JV Maps is often used for data validation and checking. Although the tools offer clear benefits, the study suggests more research is needed before applying these insights to other projects due to the limitations listed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Rieke, Paulina Magdalena LU
supervisor
organization
course
GISM01 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
GIS, Geographical Information Systems, Geography, GeoBIM, BIM, Building Information Modelling, IFC, Industry Foundation Classes, FME, Feature Manipulation Engine, iTwin, ArcGIS Online, case study, infrastructure, HS2, High Speed 2, SCS, Skanska Costain STRABAG
publication/series
Student thesis series INES
report number
193
language
English
id
9207518
date added to LUP
2025-07-31 12:29:28
date last changed
2025-07-31 12:29:28
@misc{9207518,
  abstract     = {{Progressing urbanisation puts strong pressure on existing infrastructure, forcing new projects to provide for society’s increased demand. Owing to modern state-of-the-art knowledge and imposed regulations, publicly driven initiatives are mandatory to use Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technologies for project realisation. The thesis examines High Speed 2 (HS2), a live infrastructure mega-project based in the United Kingdom (UK), from BIM and GIS perspectives. 
The HS2 project, currently the largest infrastructure project in Europe, is an inspirational case study demonstrating whether BIM and GIS can be used together effectively. HS2 is meant to provide a new rail connection between London and Birmingham, the two major economic hubs in the UK. The analysed data comes from the project section handled by Skanska Costain Strabag Joint Venture (SCS JV).
The benefits of BIM and GIS on the project are assessed individually and as co-existing disciplines, but the thesis does not discuss the HS2 project in the context of pure GeoBIM. The study compares the two main information systems – Joint Venture (JV) Maps (for GIS) and iTwin (for BIM) – from the functionality and application point of view, bringing some conclusions concerning systems coexistence. The research questions are answered using the case study approach – analysing project data and conducting interviews with the team members. The answers are project-oriented and need further investigation if conclusions drawn in the thesis are to be applied in different scenarios. The research questions oscillate around three topics: the technical aspect of BIM and GIS IT tools, BIM and GIS data users’ experiences, the interviewees’ statistics and how they affect their perception of BIM and GIS. 
The research results reveal numerous observations. BIM and GIS run close to parallel on the SCS project. Almost half of the interviewees use GIS solutions more than once a week, unlike BIM solutions, which are considerably less popular. The off-the-shelf BIM and GIS IT solutions bring multiple benefits. iTwin platform is used primarily for design, discipline coordination and data validation and checks concerning BIM, while JV Maps is used predominantly for data validation and checks, followed by discipline coordination concerning GIS.}},
  author       = {{Rieke, Paulina Magdalena}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Student thesis series INES}},
  title        = {{Case study of the benefits of BIM and GIS solutions used on a live infrastructure project}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}