How do you maintain oversight on the Oosterweel Link?

Building on a postage stamp, in the heart of Antwerp

The Oosterweel Link is far more than an infrastructure project. It is one of Europe’s largest and most complex urban construction sites, located in the middle of a densely populated region where mobility, quality of life, safety, and economic activity are constantly intertwined.

Lantis is completing the Antwerp Ring Road through a new Scheldt crossing, tunnels, major interchange complexes, and a large-scale redesign of the surrounding area. At the same time, the project aims to make Antwerp more liveable, with capping structures over the ring road, new urban parks, cycling infrastructure, and a strong focus on sustainable mobility.

But building a project of this scale in the heart of Antwerp comes with exceptional challenges. “We are not building this in the middle of nowhere,” says Pieter Van den Dries of Lantis. “In some locations, we are literally working within half a metre of existing infrastructure, while residential neighbourhoods, businesses, and tunnels continue operating right next to the construction site. Meanwhile, the ring road itself has to remain fully operational.” 

“Sometimes it really feels like we are building on a postage stamp,” adds Anne Faes. “You are dealing with temporary bypasses, metro tunnels, existing infrastructure, and construction zones that all need to fit together perfectly.” In an environment like this, access to accurate, shared information is no longer a supporting process. It becomes a daily operational necessity.

A few years ago, GIS within Lantis was still fragmented across multiple teams and external partners. Geographic information was often shared through Excel files, CAD drawings, PDFs, and isolated dashboards.

“In the past, you had to email different project managers or teams to piece information together,” Faes explains. “We frequently received screenshots from Google Maps or local files. It was incredibly time-consuming.” 

As the project grew in scale and complexity, that fragmented approach became increasingly difficult to sustain. To address this, Lantis and its GIS and IT teams developed Oosterbeeld: a central gateway to the project’s spatial information.

Oosterbeeld brings together a wide range of data sources within a single, accessible GIS environment. From drone imagery and permits to BIM models, construction data, stakeholders, and assets, all information is spatially connected within ArcGIS Enterprise. 

“We see Oosterbeeld as a starting point,” says Van den Dries. “A place where people can quickly gain an overview and, if needed, drill down into specialised applications.” Ease of use was a key priority throughout the platform’s development. 

“We deliberately developed Oosterbeeld from a user perspective,” says Faes. “Technical experts can still dive deep into the data, but for many colleagues, it is primarily about quickly understanding what is happening.” This approach also changed the internal perception of GIS and led to much broader adoption across the organisation. 

“GIS used to be relatively unknown and underappreciated,” says Van den Dries. “But the more people saw what was possible, the more requests and new projects emerged from across the organisation.”

Within the Oosterweel Link project, GIS now supports far more than mapping alone. Teams use it to bring together and visualise construction data, permits, BIM models, and project information in one place. 

Environmental managers, for example, use Oosterbeeld to analyse construction situations, permits, stakeholders, and mobility impacts together. By centrally combining spatial data, teams can make decisions faster and coordinate more effectively with contractors, government agencies, and local communities. 

“The real strength lies in combining all that spatial information,” says Van den Dries. “It gives you a complete picture of what is happening across the construction site.” 

Lantis also integrates BIM data directly into GIS. Users can view the outlines of structures such as bridges, tunnels, and technical installations directly on the map, then navigate to specialised applications for more detailed information. 

In addition, GIS supports several concrete operational processes throughout the project: 

• operation, management, and maintenance of assets  

• resident communication linked to address registers  

• permit procedures and administrative boundaries  

• collaboration with contractors through shared field apps  

• planning and coordination of infrastructure works with external stakeholders such as De Lijn, the City of Antwerp, AWV, and emergency services  

One example is the monitoring of Japanese knotweed on and around the construction site. Through ArcGIS Field Maps and ArcGIS Enterprise, TM ROCO, Lantis, and other involved teams share the same information on locations, follow-up activities, and management measures. “This prevents teams from unknowingly duplicating the same work,” says Faes. 

In a project where hundreds of people work with data every day, version control is essential. Teams need confidence that they are working with the same up-to-date information. Today, Oosterbeeld consolidates that information into one shared overview of the construction site.

“If you constantly have to search for and combine data from separate places, you can never be completely sure you are working with the latest version,” says Van den Dries. “Within Oosterbeeld, we ensure that everyone starts from the same source.”

Weekly drone and aerial imagery also play an important role. Teams can remotely monitor the evolution of the construction site, review past situations, and analyse future scenarios without having to physically visit the site every time.

Lantis is also exploring how a public-facing version of Oosterbeeld could be developed in the future, allowing residents and visitors to see through their smartphones how the area is evolving today and how it will change tomorrow.

During the development of Oosterbeeld, Lantis worked closely with Esri BeLux on both the technical implementation of the platform and the exchange of knowledge and collaboration between different stakeholders. 

“Esri BeLux quickly connected us with the right people and expertise,” says Faes. “Not only from a technical perspective, but also in terms of collaboration and sharing experiences.” 

Esri BeLux also supported the setup of ArcGIS Enterprise and the integration of different data sources throughout the project. As a result, planning systems, BIM models, asset systems, and spatial data are now far better connected. 

Although the Oosterweel Link is still under construction, Lantis is already looking beyond the delivery phase.

Even after the works are completed, GIS and Oosterbeeld will continue to form the foundation for managing infrastructure, assets, land, and technical installations across the entire project area.

For Lantis, GIS today goes far beyond maps and visualisation alone. It gives different teams a shared view of a project that is constantly evolving.

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