Project management/society benefits - Spatial data integrated into geographic information system

On November 4, 2003, the Board of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, approved lending to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline and the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) Phase 1 oil field. The BTC pipeline is a dedicated crude oil pipeline system, which extending from the ACG field through Azerbaijan and Georgia to a terminal at Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. The pipeline transports up to 1 million barrels per day, and at 1760 kilometers is one of the longest of its kind in the world. The BTC pipeline complements oil transport from two existing pipelines - the Northern Route pipeline to Novorossiysk, Russia and the Western Route pipeline which ends in Supsa, Georgia. Presently very sharply there is a significant safety problem of oil and gas transportation in regions of Azerbaijan/Georgia/Turkey after successful construction of the oil pipeline to the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan as well as gas pipeline Baku Tbilisi Erzurum. Construction of the railway of Baku Tbilisi Akhalkalaki Kars has received the legal status after signing an Agreement between country representatives of the foregoing railway. The use of advance technologies make available to enhance planning, project management and design, operation and maintenance of the pipeline infrastructure. Aero and satellite remote sensing data integrated into the geographic information system (GIS) creates an opportunity to assist pipeline risk assessment, environmental issues, safety of pipeline infrastructure as well social impacts. Modern capacity of data processing techniques is opening a new technological opportunities to develop capability to accomplish the pipeline mapping with a variety of futures of infrastructure and safety needs of the industry where social aspects undertaken. These technologies when combined with GIS have significant and unique potential for application to a number of cross cutting system security elements.