ARCADIS completed a comprehensive GIS plan for a large steel manufacturer in Ohio. Our client had mapping information that consisted of old engineering plans, as-built drawings, hand-sketched mini drawings, analytical sampling data, geologic sampling data, and much more. These existed in various degrees of completeness and scale. Utilizing GIS, the information was compiled and organized in a way that the client report could more easily be created. The end goal was being able to prove that the site was clean and that the client's liabilities had been met.

In order to meet the client's needs as quickly and inexpensively as possible, multiple offices within ARCADIS combined to share various expertise in geologic characterization, regulatory sampling, database design, and GIS system development.

Once the physical analytical data was compiled and verified by an accredited lab, it was made available to everyone via a GIS system. In this case the new ArcInfo 8.1 was used to create all GIS projects and maps. All sampling data was generated from an Access2000 database on the fly and all spatial data came from a site specific personal geodatabase.

Once the primary goal of analyzing and mapping the data was complete, the GIS system will be used on other site-specific projects. By utilizing GIS as a document management tool, past problems with data have been easily identified and corrected. Prior to GIS, putting this information in one place for analysis was very difficult. So, in effect GIS is a powerful mapping, document management, and analysis tool.