Engineering and Survey-Exchange Standard Engineering Data Format: Standard Engineering Data Format

Data exchange, sharing, and archiving are universal problems for departments of transportation (DOTs) and the consulting industry. Unlike computer-aided design, for which translators have been in place for years, engineering data lack universal standards to enable electronic exchange. The lack of standards means that the civil and transportation engineering data are proprietary. Thus, in most cases, manual transcribing is required to share data from division to division or from department to consultant. In addition, archiving this information puts the DOT at risk of not being able to use this information in the future. A consortium of DOTs, consultants, and vendors was formed in June 1998 to define, document, prototype, and disseminate standard engineering data formats. This nonproprietary file format, Engineering and Survey-Exchange (EAS-E), will enable vendors to provide importing and exporting engines within their proprietary software products that will survive the test of time. EAS-E will foster a more efficient project work flow by DOTs, surveyors, design consultants, owner’s construction staff, and construction contractors. The data of primary interest are horizontal alignments, vertical alignments, coordinate geometry, cross sections, and surface data. Suggested formats for these data are presented.