Harvard University has been working on an ambitious plan to develop a new campus in the Allston area in the City of Boston, MA. Sensitive to the surrounding neighborhood, they have been working with local and state leaders to create a plan that addresses all stakeholder concerns.
WSP SELLS was selected to provide on-call land surveying, aerial mapping, subsurface utility engineering and CAD/GIS data implementation. Our role in this multi-billion dollar project is to provide them with a rapid response of accurate site information to be shared with an international group of architects, engineers, planners and construction firms.
Given the 300+ year history of development within the proposed project area, accurate surface and subsurface location of infrastructure is a key factor in determining design and construction challenges and costs as it relates to conceptual and final design efforts. WSP SELLS has deployed a wide range of technology including GPS survey, soft copy photogrammetric mapping, vacuum extraction and electro-magnetic induction location techniques to obtain the required utility information.
At the start of the project, WSP SELLS was tasked with creating CAD and GIS standards that the project will use for the duration of this multi-year project. GIS technology is used to track and analyze site characteristics, roadways, utility networks and a central data warehouse for existing conditions, boundary, and topographic mapping and survey information, to name a few datasets. All data is collected for use in AutoCAD and ArcGIS software.
Project information
Client: Harvard University/Allston Development Group