MKAQ 1123 – GIS FOR CIVIL

ENGINEERS
PROJECT ASSIGNMENT MKAQ1123

Master of Engineering (Geotechnics)

Semester 2 2017/2018
DEPARTMENT OF FIRE BRIGADE AND RESCUE – FIRE HYDRANT
INVENTORY IN JOHOR

QURRATU AINI BINTI SIAT@SIRAT (MKA161173)

NOOR IMAN SAFIYA BINTI MOHD MUHTAR (MKA161171)

LECTURER:
ASSOC. PROF. SR. DR. MOHD ZULKIFLI BIN MOHD YUNUS
Contents
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3

2 System Analysis ................................................................................................................. 4

2.1 The GIS application to be developed .......................................................................... 4

2.2 User background ......................................................................................................... 5

2.2.1 Jurisdiction ........................................................................................................... 5

2.2.2 Organization ......................................................................................................... 5

2.2.3 User ...................................................................................................................... 5

2.2.4 Software ............................................................................................................... 6

2.2.5 Hardware .............................................................................................................. 9

2.3 Size or volume of the database and capabilities ........................................................ 10

2.4 Data model ................................................................................................................ 11

2.4.1 Vertical data organization .................................................................................. 11

2.5 The availability and format of the existing data ........................................................ 12

2.6 Costing estimation ..................................................................................................... 12

3 System Analysis ............................................................................................................... 12

3.1 System Planning ........................................................................................................ 13

3.2 System Preparation .................................................................................................... 13

3.3 System Development................................................................................................. 16

4 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 17
 Proposal of Project for Implementation of GIS for Fire Hydrant Mapping
in Batu Pahat, Johor

1 Introduction

Installation of fire hydrant consist of a system of pipework connected directly to the main water
supply to provide water to each of fire hydrant outlet. Fire hydrant intended to provide water
to firefighter to fight a fire. The water is discharged into the fire engine and from it; the water
is then pumped and sprayed over the fire. However, inability of the firefighter to locate usable
and functioning fire hydrants in efficient and effective approaches can jeopardize any rescue
mission. Time is the most critical aspect for firefighter as any seconds of delays can lead to the
loss of life and properties. Globally, fire causes considerable losses.

Figure 1.1 : Fire, Rescue and Special Task Statistics in Malaysia

Figure 1above illustrates a statistics of fire, rescue and special task in Malaysia at Jun 2017.
The amount of loss is very huge not only in terms of economic loss but also even killed and
injured quite a number of people. These can be minimized by taking appropriate precautions
facilitate by sophisticated systems supported by information technologies. Thus, effective
handling of these fire hydrants requires an effective planning response system by developing a
new system that is much easier, portable, and also time and cost effective in locating the fire
hydrants. Information technologies (IT) have developed rapidly in these recent years and used
in many sectors including in Fire Department sector.

Along with development of IT, geographical information systems (GIS) also developed and it
is become possible to produce dynamic fire maps as the GIS application is based on spatial
information. For practical purposes, GIS can be defined as a computer-based system to aid in
the collection, maintenance, storage, analysis, output and distribution of spatial information.
Since GIS can analyse intensive data volumes and highly effective in responding to spatial
queries, GIS application can be used in analysis data that help in locating the fire hydrants.
When the cost benefit analysis of the establishment of GIS compared with the economic losses
that occurred because of fire, it could be seen that the implementation and the management of
a system based on GIS is relatively economic. Despite being implemented in the fire
department, a better GIS system is needed which is much easier, more portable, and most
importantly is reduce the cost and time.

Since mobile GIS has become more advanced technology in GIS, it can be implemented to
build a system that can overcome the problem faced by the fire department. Thus, the aim of
the proposal is to design and develop a fire hydrant information system as for fire hydrant
mapping and maintenance using mobile GIS where in effective firefighting, it is not only
important that there are sufficient fire hydrant but also it should appropriately maintained.

2 System Analysis

2.1 The GIS application to be developed

Mobile geographic information system (GIS) application is proposed system to help the fire
department locating the fire hydrant. Mobile GIS technology extends the application of GIS
beyond the office and allow the fire department to make accurate decisions which collaborate
in both fields and office environments as mobile GIS can integrates to one or more of the
mobile portable technology devices such as laptop, tablet and smartphones. Since, nowadays
most of the people owns mobile devices, it make it easier for not only the fire fighters but also
local people to access the location of fire hydrants and also inform fire department with regards
to the poor condition of fire hydrants respectively through mobile GIS application.
Besides, mobile GIS comes along with the Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless
communication system for internet based make it accessible and increase the accuracy and
saving time to locate the fire hydrants. With the application of mobile GIS, fire fighters can
easily access the location of nearest fire hydrants without being facilitate through the fire
department office as this might take more time and miscommunication to occur are also high.
There are two main functions of the proposed mobile GIS application, which are:

To locate, view and map fire hydrants and its related information to assist the firefighter during
the inspection, maintenance and emergency cases.

To display fire hydrants information to public as for identifying the location of the fire hydrants
that are found to be in poor condition and facilitate the fire department by informing them
through this mobile GIS application.

2.2 User background

2.2.1 Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction for this mobile GIS is Batu Pahat, Johor Darul Takzim, with the population of
468,058 in this district. Batu Pahat Municipal Council (MPBP) administers Batu Pahat with
525-gazetted villages, including the housing areas. Batu Pahat is also one of Johor’s
manufacturing industrial town, which includes textiles, electronics, food processing, porcelain
and plastic industries; that are located in Tongkang Pecah, Parit Raja, Sri Gading, Sri Sulong,
Lian Aik and Buditama.

2.2.2 Organization
There are four Zone divided for Batu Pahat District. Zone A is located at the centre of the
district, Zone B located at the north west, Zone C located at south east, and Zone D located at
south of the district. The Fire and Rescue Department is located at Zone A.

2.2.3 User
The user for this mobile GIS would be the fire fighter and the people of the Batu Pahat District.
This mobile GIS will help them to locate the fire hydrant if there is any emergency happened.
The mobile GIS can also being used report fire hydrant for inventory or any problem happened
to it.
 B

D
C

Figure 2.1 : Location of Fire and Rescue Department

2.2.4 Software
2.2.4.1 GeoJot+
GeoJot+ is a mobile application for field data collection. The application allows the users to
capture field data on GPS-enabled mobile devices and embed this information into spatially
referenced photos. GPS coordinates and attribute data are stored and displayed directly within
the header of the collected images, allowing the collected photos to be easily converted into
geospatial data. GeoJot+ can be easily downloaded into computer while GeoJot+ mobile
application can be downloaded to any modern-day smart phone or tablet either in iOS or
Android, as long as the device has a GPS, front and rear camera.
 Figure 2.2 : Screen depicts the GeoJot+ application collecting a photo with coordinates
attributes can be averaged to improve the photo coordinate
In the field, users can select the desired form and begin collecting data by using the camera
icon. When taking a picture, user can use the Lock on function to lock in the coordinates of
the object and then step back from the object to take the picture. This is beneficial for
documenting large items or button has selected. The display settings icon can be used to change
what will be displayed on the camera screen. Item that can be displayed including latitude,
longitude altitude, direction of photo, GPS accuracy etc. Once the photo has taken, the form
screen will automatically appear on the mobile device.

Figure 2.3 : A form that is used for collect attribute information that is then imbedded inside
the photo
 Figure 2.4 : Example of the camera roll
Data Editor Tab is where the user can edit the attribute information for the photos included in
the project. The screen contains three windows showing the photos in the project, the attributes
of the selected photo and a map of the photo locations. From the Data Editor, user also allowed
adding additional information to each photo, and the user be able to edit the photo such as
colour correction and cropping.

Figure 2.5 : “Data Editor” tab displaying the information GeoJot+ stores in each photo.
The simplicity of the GeoJot+ application makes the data collection fast and effortless. The
application itself eliminates the need to carry multiple data sheets in the field and ensures
uniformity in the data collected.

2.2.4.2 Mango Maps

Mango Maps is a multi-function mapping program that uses Google Maps as its base. Mango
Maps lets the user to transform the data into online web mapping solutions, cloud based without
coding, programmers, servers. Mango Maps can be accessed mobile, with extensive GIS tool
library and completely customizable. Most counties and cities are still running the first
generation web mapping system, that is self-hosted and running proprietary server software.
The system often suffer from issues such as:

 Poor or non-existent support for mobile phones

 Inconsistent results or behaviour between different browsers
 Reliance on redundancies browser such as Flash or Java
 Complicated and outdated interface
 Difficult to update maps and data
 Server instability

2.2.4.3 ArcGIS
ArcGIS is a GIS for working with maps and geographic information, used for creating and
using maps, compiling geographic data, analysing mapped information, sharing and
discovering geographic information, using maps and geographic information in a range of
applications, and managing the information in a database.

The system offers an infrastructure for making maps and geographic information available
throughout the location for the fire hydrant.

2.2.5 Hardware
Both software can be accessed in computers and mobile phones.
 Figure 2.6 : Mango Maps accessed by computers

Figure 2.7 : Mango Maps accessed by mobile phone

2.3 Size or volume of the database and capabilities

Geospatial data are traditionally collected by using ground surveying, photogrammetry and
mobile mapping

 Volume: Terabytes archives photogrammetry data, increasing data of observations and

location-based data, and analysis data
  Variety: map data, imagery data, geotagged data, raster and vector structures, data
management strategies and technologies
 Veracity: much of geospatial big data are from unverified sources with low or unknown
accuracy, level of accuracy varies depends on the data sources
 Visualisation: provides valuable procedures to impose human thinking into big data
analysis. Visualisation also helps user to identify patterns for better grasp of GIS

Figure 2.8 : Location of Fire and Rescue Department for Batu Pahat District
2.4 Data model
Most GIS software organizes spatial data in a thematic approach that categorizes data in
vertical layers. The definition of layers is fully dependent on the organizations requirements.
Typical layers used in natural resource such as forest cover, soil classification, elevation, road
network.

Spatial data layers are commonly input on at a time, such as forest cover. The attribute data is
entered one layer at a time. Depending on the attribute data model used by the data storage
subsystem data must be organized in a format that will facilitate the manipulation and analysis
tasks that will be required.

2.4.1 Vertical data organization

This approach allows data to be input as different themes and overlaid based on analysis
requirements. This approach is required for any GIS project, as to these data is a compulsory
to identify before the project is started and priority given to the input or digitizing of the spatial
data layers.
 Figure 2.9 : Spatial data layers
2.5 The availability and format of the existing data
The primary function in the data storage and retrieval subsystem involve the editing and
updating of data. The map data is available in Google Maps format, and can be downloaded
into kml file.

2.6 Costing estimation

Budget of this project is calculated by using spreadsheet, and the estimation is as below.

Resources Cost (RM)

GIS Manager 340
Application Developer 320
Support/Server 3000
Fire Hydrant Dataset 200
Transportation Cost 150
Hardware 300
Software/Licenses 100
Misc 300
Total 4710

3 System Analysis

The system analysis can be categorized into three (3) stages. First stage is system planning,
which begins with the study area, then a proper study about existing mobile data collector and
software to create and design web mapping to assist in locating the fire hydrant. Next stage in
system preparation which includes the process of data collection with regards to the installation
of related software. As for last stage, the system development will cover on the data preparation
and creation of the mobile GIS based on web based mapping. Finally, mobile GIS is
implemented by publish the web map of fire hydrant to the users.
3.1 System Planning

The study area is limited only fire hydrant at Batu Pahat, Johor as a proposed area for
implementation of the application of mobile GIS. As mentioned in previous chapter, Batu Pahat
divided into four (4) zones: Zone A, Zone B, Zone C and Zone D. The amount of fire hydrant
within these area need to be collected first. Existing mobile data collector and software to be
proposed are studied first by reviewing the articles from websites, journals, books and also
some thesis paper. For this project, GeoJot+, Dropbox and Mango Map are used.

GeoJot+ mobile apps are used as a mobile data collection which are available in both Play
Store and Apple Store. It turns a smartphones into mobile GIS data collection tools. GeoJot+
also enables the users to quickly capture field data with geotagged photos on mobile devices,
automatically upload all the data to the cloud, and then process them back in the office creating
reports, maps and database input. Figure 2 shows GeoJot+ mobile apps existed in the Apple
Store. Dropbox is linked to the GeoJot+ mobile apps for online data storage and Mango Map
is used as design web mapping tools as it not only create engaging visualization but the
designed map can be easily assessed by anyone with a web browser.

Figure 3.1: The GeoJot+ Mobile Data Collection Apps

3.2 System Preparation

Unlike typical paper map, a GIS-generated map can represent many layers of different
information. By linking the layers database, GIS enables the users to visualize, manipulate,
analyze, and display spatial data. The data layers used in the design of mobile GIS are given in
Figure 3 where these data layers and their attributes data expanded according to needs analyses
and users requests. The proposed data layers as shown in Figure 3 is the data that needs for fire
hydrant mapping. The basic data needed in order to locate the nearest location of fire hydrants
are the locations of fire station, location of fire hydrants, streets networks and parcels of zones
in Batu Pahat, Johor as to distinguish which fire hydrant belong to which zone.

Figure 3.2: Main Spatial Data Layers used in GIS in locating the Fire Hydrants

Then, data is collected using GeoJat+ mobile apps as a mobile data collector and the procedure
to collect data using GeoJot+ Apps mobile data collection are illustrated in Figure 4. Based on
the figure, the process can be categorized into three (3) phases which are settings phase, create
form phase, and data collection phase. In setting phase, the camera is set to the highest
resolution image and as for data storage, Dropbox is link by sign in Dropbox account so that
the data will automatically sent and save to user Dropbox account. As for unit, in coordinate
setting the unit is change into degree, minute, seconds whereas in distance setting the unit is
change into meter. The GPS is enable in the advanced setting as to increase the data accuracy
and internet system of mobile device should be on and in the online mode.

After everything is set, form are created for fire hydrant inventory as shown in Figure 5. Then,
data collection process is conducted by taking pictures of the fire hydrant and filling the form
as created before in the GeoJat+ mobile apps. All these data will automatically sent and save
to Dropbox and those data will be edit and convert using GeoJot+ Core on laptop.
 • Camera
Phase 1 • Cloud
Settings • Unit
• Advanced

Phase 2 • Fire Hydrant Data

Collection Inventory
Create Form

• Fill form
Phase 3
• All data sent and
Data Collection save in Dropbox

Figure 3.3: GeoJot+ Apps Phases

Figure 3.4: Form of Fire Hydrant Inventory in GeoJot+ Mobile Apps

All the fire hydrant information and the locations of the fire hydrants can be edit in the GeoJot+
Core software and the output and attributes features are export and convert into shapefile (.shp)
and Keyhole Markup Language (.KML) file format to be used in system development stage.

3.3 System Development

The system development is customize follow the user needs using appropriate hardware and
software. In data preparation, streets and batu pahat zone parcels features were created in
ArcGIS using Open Street Map and update features using imagery online and polygon features
is used. Then, all the data features in shapefile (.shp) and Keyhole Markup Language (.KML)
features format input in Mango Map web mapping. In Mango Map, the fist step is creating a
new map using own Mango Map account. Map title is edit and map theme is choose at map
setting. Next, all the data layers is for each zones are added to web mapping. Lastly, this web
mapping can be publish for the users to access. Figure 6 shows the system development for fire
hydrant system in Batu Pahat, Johor.

Mango map can publish either for public for anyone in the internet can find and access the map,
hidden for anyone who has the link can access the map and private for anyone who knows the
password can access the map where this is usually for GIS team to edit and update the data.
This mobile GIS easily access using any mobile devices as long as there is an internet network
and Figure 7 shows the interfaces of web based mapping of Mobile GIS.

Figure 3.5: System Development on Mobile GIS Application

 Figure 3.6: Interface for Mobile GIS Mapping

4 Conclusions

The conventional system of paper documents is inefficient and time consuming process to
facilitate the fire fighters in identifying the locations of the nearest fire hydrants during the
emergency cases and jeopardize the rescue mission. With the advanced technology nowadays,
more effective applications system that is much easier, portable, and also time and cost
effective in locating the fire hydrants can be developed such as Mobile GIS through the
application of Mango Map. Fire department can use this system to locate fire usable fire hydrant
for inspection, maintenance, and during emergency cases. However, not only fire department
and fire fighters can access the data information, public also can easily access the system as
long there is mobile devices and internet access. Public can use the system to locate the fire
hydrant within the housing area and help them during the emergency cases and they also can
help the fire department to locate poor condition of fire hydrants through the Mobile GIS
application.