Land engineering aided by big data

Chinese and foreign environmental experts exchanged insights at an international academic seminar on big data and the rise of land engineering discipline, which opened in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province in Northwest China, on Tuesday.

During the two-day event, the experts discussed the recent development of land engineering, as aided by big data. Land development, soil and water conservation in landscape projects, soil reclamation, control of earth movement during urban construction, fundamental theories of urban ecological degeneration and land engineering, and international standards of brownfield development were all discussed.

Andrew Whittle, a professor with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, proposed developing land reclamation and urban construction through prediction and control of ground movements.

Fu Bojie, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, cited the Loess Plateau as an example of effective land use, as well as water and soil conservation in landscape projects.

The changes in land use in the Loess Plateau region maintain a positive effect on soil conservation and carbon fixation, while having an adverse effect on water yield, he said.

The recovery of vegetation needs to be aligned with proper regional environmental conditions and the biological bearing capacity of water, he added.

Han Jichang, general manager of Shaanxi Provincial Land Engineering Construction Group, said that the degeneration of ecological environments has prompted the proposal and practice of land engineering and established the discipline as a science. As the core technology of land engineering and the crucial concept of the discipline, organic reconstruction of land has evolved into a multifaceted system, Han said.

By harnessing big data, the discipline will be able to show its supporting role in ecological progress, he said.

As one of the event's organizers, Shaanxi Provincial Land Engineering Construction calls for increased attention on land science and technological innovation, and the growth of land engineering as a discipline. It is dedicated to the expansion of human living space, ecological progress and the coordinated development of human beings and land.

The other event organizer was the MIT Industrial Liaison Program.

The seminar provides a platform for exchanges between the Chinese and foreign engineering sectors, which are expected to promote the integrated development of big data with land science and technology.

The event is part of MIT's global innovation forum, which aims to give impetus to the discipline of land engineering, and to promote the ecological and sustainable development of land.

The seminar was co-sponsored by the Department of Land and Resource of Shaanxi province, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shaanxi, the Shaanxi Administration of Foreign Expert Afairs and the Xi'an Chanba Ecological District Administrative Committee.