The Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) migrated its whole Geospatial infrastructure to an open source solution: implications and results One of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe decided after having worked for 15 years on a proprietary architecture, to migrate the whole geospatial infrastructure to open source components. The starting situation, the migration process and the final result will be described, along with the advantages of the new architecture. In particular the new multilingual WebGIS interface based on QGIS server will be presented.

1. The new WebGIS of the BBT completely
developed on free spatial software
Claudio Floretta (BBT SE)
claudio.floretta@bbt-se.com
Marta Pederneschi (R3GIS)
marta.pederneschi@r3gis.com
Paolo Viskanic (R3GIS)
paolo.viskanic@r3gis.com

2. Starting point
2004 R3GIS designed the first Geodata
infrastructure for BBT, based on commercial
proprietary software.
The proposed Geo-Infrastructure was tendered in
2005 and realised between 2005 and 2009 in
different steps.
R3GIS was involved to test and accept all modules
developed.

3. Original set-up
The developed Geodata
Infrastructures included the
WebGIS framework mapaccel,
based on an Oracle Database
and ArcGIS components.
The result were different
WebGIS modules tailored at
different user groups:
- internal users
- hydrologists
- projecting
- Geologists
- Topographer
- public.

4. Redesign in 2020
Redesign based on the user experience
2005-2020
New propose open source software
infrastructure with modern and user
friendly interface
Interoperability becomes a central
aspect: standardised WMS and WFS
services
Easy configuration with QGIS desktop
Performance and multilanguage.

5. New proposed components
QWC2 (QGIS WEB CLIENT 2 ): web client
developed in React JS especially for QGIS
QGIS to create and update the maps
MAPPROXY:
- to cache the cartography (quicker upload of tiles)
- to merge in one single layer the orthophotos of
Tyrol and South Tyrol
- to generate maps with the specific Reference
System of BBT
POSTGIS as DataBase
BBT WebGIS Client
DOCKER to automate the process of deploying
applications within software containers

6. What isQGIS ?
QGIS is a professional and user friendly GIS (Geographic Information System) application
that is built to be a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). It is licensed under the GNU
General Public License.
QGIS is an official project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).
It runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, Windows and Android and supports numerous
vector, raster, and database formats and functionalities.
QGIS is maintained and developed by a large group of international members.

7. New Architecture PUBLIC PORTAL
● Three different QGIS projects connected to public DB with
data in the different languages (Italian, German and English)
● Specific tool to calculate distancing of a point from the new
BBT infrastructure
● Two basemaps
PRIVATE PORTAL
● Two different QGIS projects connected to public DB with
data in the different languages (Italian, German)
● Specific tool to update the excavation progress along the
different tunnel infrastructures (Back-office tool)
● Internal data as detail Orthophotos produced by BBT SE,
geological and hydrological data
● Custom Reference System calculated by BBT SE
Each box
is a
docker
server1
server2 server3

8. Data Migration
37 RASTER
384 SHAPEFILES
analysed
Conversion from BBTs Oracle DB through ArcMAP to PostGIS
319 available datasets 108 available datasets
ITALY AUSTRIA

9. Data Migration: Raster layers
29 Resources:
❏ 16 archived
❏ 1 used in public portal
❏ 12 used in private portal

10. Data Migration: Vector layers
365 Resources:
❏ 144 archived
❏ 32 used in public portal
❏ 189 used in private portal

11. Public portal: https:/
/www.bbt-se.com/en/gis/
1- Main map
2- Toolbar with actions
➢ calculate the
distances between
a point on the map
and the
infrastructure
➢ change language
(IT, DE, EN)
➢ fix legend
3- Map & Tools
4- Background Map
selection tools
1
2 3
4

12. Public portal: DISTANCE TOOL
To calculate the 3D
distance to tunnels
within 5 km from a
point or from a
specific address.
The height
calculation is based
on DTM values and
3D shape of tunnels.

13. BBT Private portal
In addition to the tools present in the public portal:
➔ Two languages (DE and IT)
➔ Specific geological data (such as geotechnics, geomorphology, sedimentology…)
➔ More accurate orthophoto layer
➔ Backoffice tool to update the excavation progress on both maps (private and public)
➔ Custom Reference System developed by BBT SE
➔ Reachable only form BBT internal IT network
➔ For specialised user groups
➔ Different DB with different kind of data

14. BBT Private portal: BACKOFFICE TOOL
➔ It allows to update the excavation progress by
inserting in a table the kilometric value of the
distance along the section.
➔ Based on the value entered, the two segments,
completed and planned, are highlighted in different
colors on the map.
➔ The various excavation fronts are represented on the
map by arrows in the correct direction of excavation
progress.
Precise data on the progress of excavation work are also available here: https://www.bbt-se.com/en/tunnel/construction-progress/

15. Conclusions
Advantages of the new set-up
- renewed, performant and modern user interface
- open tools can be shared and extended without licence limits
- more freedom to develop your own customizations
- no maintenance costs of software licences (no fixed yearly costs)
- easy update of the portals through QGIS desktop
- open technology, no vendor binding
- interoperability through open data formats and standards
- compliance with EU Open source software strategy 2020-2023.

16. Sitography and bibliography
● QGIS: https://www.qgis.org/it/site/
● BBT SE: https://www.bbt-se.com/it/gis/
● R3GIS: https://www.r3-gis.com/
● REACT JS: https://it.reactjs.org/
● QWC2: https://github.com/qgis/qwc2
● POSTGIS: https://postgis.net/
● DOCKER: https://www.docker.com/