QGIS for Civil Engineering, Infrastructure Planning and Spatial Analysis Training Workshop

Course overview

The QGIS for Civil Engineering, Infrastructure Planning and Spatial Analysis Training Workshop equips civil engineers, infrastructure planners, surveyors, GIS professionals and development practitioners with practical skills to apply Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to engineering design support, infrastructure planning, site suitability assessment and spatial decision-making.

Participants learn to manage geospatial datasets, analyse terrain and elevation, work with coordinate reference systems, map roads and utilities, conduct proximity and network analysis, assess drainage and catchment characteristics, and produce professional engineering maps using QGIS, an open-source GIS platform. The workshop demonstrates how spatial analysis can support road development, water supply, sewerage planning, urban infrastructure, construction site assessment and public infrastructure management.

Course objectives

• Acquire, manage and prepare spatial datasets relevant to civil engineering and infrastructure planning using QGIS.
• Produce professional engineering maps, spatial analysis reports and infrastructure planning outputs to support technical decision-making.
• Use digital elevation models and hydrological tools to support preliminary drainage, catchment and site assessment.
• Perform terrain, slope, elevation, proximity, buffer, overlay and network analyses for infrastructure planning.
• Apply coordinate reference systems, georeferencing, digitisation and spatial data quality procedures to engineering datasets.

Who should attend

Course content

• Module 1: Introduction to GIS for Civil Engineering and Infrastructure Planning Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, applications of GIS in civil engineering, infrastructure lifecycle and spatial information, raster and vector datasets, spatial
• Module 2: QGIS Interface, Project Setup and Data Management Installing and configuring QGIS, navigating the QGIS interface, understanding map canvas and layer panels, creating and saving projects, organising engineering project folders, loading vector and
• Module 3: Coordinate Reference Systems and Engineering Survey Data Understanding geographic and projected coordinate systems, latitude and longitude, map projections, selecting appropriate projected coordinate systems for engineering projects, coordinate
• Module 4: Spatial Data Acquisition, Import and Quality Control Importing shapefiles, GeoPackage, GeoJSON, CSV coordinates, GeoTIFF rasters and supported web services, accessing open geospatial datasets, importing survey and engineering records, obtaining
• Module 5: Digitisation, Georeferencing and Engineering Feature Mapping Digitising roads, buildings, drainage channels, utility routes and project boundaries, creating point, line and polygon layers, configuring snapping and topological editing, editing ve
• Module 6: Terrain Analysis and Digital Elevation Models Understanding digital elevation models and digital terrain models, acquiring elevation datasets, loading and inspecting DEMs, generating hillshade and elevation visualisations, producing contour line
• Module 7: Site Selection and Infrastructure Suitability Analysis Defining site selection criteria, identifying suitable land for infrastructure projects, applying buffer and exclusion zones, analysing slope constraints, assessing proximity to roads and ut
• Module 8: Road Network Planning and Transport Spatial Analysis Mapping road networks and road hierarchy, analysing road access to project sites, measuring distances and road lengths, generating service-area buffers, identifying communities underserved by
• Module 9: Hydrology, Drainage and Catchment Analysis Preparing elevation data for hydrological analysis, understanding flow direction and flow accumulation, delineating catchments and sub-catchments using appropriate terrain-processing tools, identifying
• Module 10: Water Supply, Sewerage and Utility Infrastructure Mapping Mapping water pipelines, sewer networks and utility assets, representing infrastructure as points and lines, managing pipe and asset attributes, mapping valves, manholes, reservoirs and
• Module 11: Spatial Analysis for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Planning Integrating administrative boundaries, land-use data, population datasets and infrastructure layers, mapping settlement expansion, assessing access to schools and healthcare facili
• Module 12: Environmental Constraints and Infrastructure Impact Screening Mapping wetlands, rivers, forests, protected areas and other environmental features, identifying infrastructure proximity to sensitive areas, applying environmental buffers, overlayi
• Module 13: Spatial Databases, PostGIS and Engineering Data Integration Understanding spatial database concepts, introducing PostgreSQL and PostGIS, connecting QGIS to spatial databases, importing vector layers into PostGIS, querying spatial features, filt
• Module 14: Engineering Map Production, Layouts and Reporting Designing professional map layouts, configuring page size and orientation, creating map frames and insets, adding scale bars, north arrows, legends and coordinate grids, applying engineering sym
• Module 15: Integrated Civil Engineering GIS Capstone Project Defining an infrastructure planning problem, assembling road, terrain, settlement and environmental datasets, establishing a suitable coordinate reference system, cleaning and validating source

General notes

• The course emphasises practical engineering applications using topographic data, digital elevation models (DEMs), satellite imagery, cadastral boundaries, road networks, land-use datasets and infrastructure asset records. Participants complete hands-on exercises that produce spatial analysis outputs, infrastructure planning maps and decision-support deliverables.
• Training tools and software The primary platform is QGIS, supported by open geospatial datasets and appropriate processing tools. Depending on the exercises, participants may use GDAL processing algorithms, digital elevation models, OpenStreetMap road data, satellite imagery, survey coordinate files, GeoPackage, GeoJSON, CSV and GeoTIFF datasets. Advanced sessions may introduce PostgreSQL/PostGIS for spatial database management and selected QGIS plugins for network or hydrological analysis. Civil engineering CAD software may be used separately when detailed design drawings or engineering calculations are required.
• Practical exercises and expected outputs Participants will import and validate survey coordinates, digitise a road network, georeference a scanned map, generate contour and slope maps from a DEM, identify suitable sites for infrastructure facilities, analyse road access to settlements, delineate a sample catchment, map water or sewer infrastructure, identify environmental constraints along a proposed corridor and prepare professional engineering planning layouts. Expected deliverables include a QGIS project file, cleaned spatial datasets, terrain analysis maps, a road accessibility map, a preliminary drainage and catchment map, an infrastructure suitability map, an infrastructure asset inventory and a technical spatial analysis report. These outputs support planning and preliminary assessment; they do not replace certified survey work, hydraulic modelling, detailed road design or other regulated engineering deliverables.
• Learn QGIS for civil engineering, infrastructure planning and spatial analysis through practical training in terrain modelling, road network analysis, drainage and catchment assessment, utility mapping, site suitability analysis and engineering map production. This workshop helps civil engineers, surveyors, GIS professionals, infrastructure planners and county government teams develop spatial decision-support skills for infrastructure projects in Kenya and across Africa.

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Schedule & fees