Program managers and decision-makers are getting a map interface to navigate data for 2,700 building projects, either planned or under way, in war-torn Iraq.

The Web-based viewer taps a central, national database of integrated project data, says Ray Brisbane, president and chief executive officer of Total Resource Management, Alexandria, Va. TRM is developing the $5-million data management system, whose map-enabled interface is unfolding now. TRM is populating it with data from sources including the U.S. Army and the US. Agency for International Development, says Brisbane.

Maps can be used to support many kinds of decisions. They were used recently, for instance, to study an area of unrest to determine whether or not correlations could be drawn to the status of reconstruction progress in the area, Brisbane says.

Geographic Information Services, Birmingham, Ala., is the subcontractor developing the mapping and spatial analysis module.

“Any kind of behavior can be mapped,” says Dale Dunham, GIS chief executive. GIS developed the program in fewer than 90 days for less than $250,000.

The map can be queried to show such data as the overall status of electric or oil projects, or by region, and can be used to track day-to-day progress for payments, says Dunham. “It can give a picture of what’s going on from a work-order, on up,” he says. GIS has developed similar systems for U.S. cities and for U.S. Navy installations in the Pacific.

The mapping and spatial analysis tool sits on top of mapping tools from software by ESRI, Redlands, Calif. It integrates with Maximo, an asset and work-order management product from MRO Software, Bedford, Mass.

The system is designed to be turned over to the Iraqi government June 30. “It is bilingual and self-contained,” says Brisbane.

The interface is evolving in stages, with the most recent capabilities added at the end of April. “It can be built incrementally.” says Dunham. “As we learn more it can be integrated into it.”