Ralph Diego F.

Manansala
2014-60907

Earth, Geography, and Civil Engineering

The earth can be treated as a canvas. For some, they learned to alter this natural environment to
survive. Some alter it to improve standard of living. Others do it due to artistic impulses, a way to reflect
themselves to the earth they live in. Whatever reasons humans had to engineer a portion of the physical
earth, these ‘works of art’ done by humans can be considered to be temporary when compared to the
delicate art done by nature itself in the course of millions of years. Much of the work done by civil
engineers can be grouped to the second type mentioned above, alteration of the physical earth to improve
human standard of living.
Civil Engineering is a profession aimed to serve society to improve the quality of life. It is an
engineering discipline that deals with the constructed environment. Civil engineers plan, design,
construct, and maintain infrastructures with the main aim of serving the general public. These works
include roads, railroads, bridges, airports, seaports, dams, pipelines, sewage systems, and power plants.
All of these are done on the physical earth and often require support from disciplines related to
geography. Due to this connection, Improvements in geographical assessment heavily affects the quality
of work done by civil engineers.
One of the more recent technological advancements in geography related to civil engineering is
the availabilty of computer-aided geographic information systems (GIS). Essentially, GIS is a collection of
maps that gives its users a representation of earth’s various properties. GIS maps can provide information
with regards to land area, natural formations, elevations, geotechnics, population, etc. For engineers,
these maps represent guides towards making better judgement on the site, enabling planners to make
data-drive decisions on construction. This innovations help civil engineers save money and improve
project management, overall helping all stakeholders involved including the environment.
Although despite the availability of common GIS softwares, many still utilize traditional
engineering drawings, especially when it comes to structural engineering. Much of the trade still rely on
established ways of assessing the geography on-site, particularly those related to the social geography of
the site. Whatever modes civil engineers of today utilize in their projects, it can be argued that geography
cannot be and will not be isolated from civil engineering works. Multitudes of the daily routine in the field
rely on geographical insight, as without this project managers will likewise encounter multitude of
problems. Knowledge on geomorphology, like the static and dynamic properties of the earth, is crucial for
civil engineers.