**8. Spatial data of study area and method of processing**

For the purpose of designing the proposed road elements of the study area between Mosul and Makhmour, the spatial data of the study area were obtained from the Ministry of Municipalities of Mosul City.

The spatial data is the field survey data of the route of the road, completed by a team of engineers from the Ministry of Municipalities. The survey data was conducted in the form of a strip width 900 m around the proposed route. A 900-m width was selected to cover all the places that the road path might pass, because the path was selected roughly, not accurately. The length of the strip survey is 20 km to connect the two urban areas.

The survey data contains a set of point coordinates (3626 points) observed with a high-precision equipment (Leica viva GS15). The coordinates' projection was WGS84-UTM-Zone38N. These data is an unprocessed raw data, unrelated to each other, and contains many coordinates that may not be connected to the pathway. For the purpose of processing these data and linking it together, adjusting the system of coordinates, adjusting the elevations, and creating a digital elevation model for the region, the Civil 3D Land Desktop program will be used to process this data and then export it to the GIS program.

Spatial analysis will be used in the GIS program to select the optimal path that connects the two study areas based on spatial data. The optimal path for the proposed road will be chosen according to planning and design criteria. This path will be exported to the Civil 3D program again to identify the rest of the design elements of the road.

In the Civil 3D program, all the design elements of the road will be defined according to the AASHTO standards, leading to the final stage where the road contains an integrated database ready for implementation.
