3 Pipeline Engineering and Construction

The design and building of pipelines has made use of geomatics through traditional field surveys. Land surveyors would select the route and then collect data for alignment sheets or for submitting plans with the land titles registry. Modern geomatics professionals still assist in these tasks but advances have helped pipeline designers and builders deal with more data, address more regulations, and effectively maintain pipeline systems better than they were able to in the past.

This chapter discusses those aspects of pipeline design and construction that provide some context to the reader as to why and how geomatics and specifically Geographic Information Systems (GIS) could affect and interact with pipelines during design and construction. The chapter approaches the design and construction of pipelines, at an introductory level, using the framework of a pipeline project. Then we will touch specifically on areas where different classifications of pipelines require further detail. This will also help with introducing concepts of GIS and where the pipeline industry currently sees the benefits of this discipline.