Land Use: Planning And Geographic Information System (Gis)

Geographic information system (GIS) and related technologies (e.g., remote sensing and global position system) have proven to be a valuable tool in land use planning activities. The GIS approach is important in this area because it provides functions to capture, store, organize, and analyze spatially referenced data. Moreover, GIS has been coupled to a variety of models (e.g., crop productivity, hydrology, and water quality simulations) and may be an important component of spatial decision support systems and land resource information systems. GIS enhances model flexibility and efficiency in these systems where it is often regarded as a centralized data analysis, management, and planning system. As a result, decision-makers and land use planners in private companies, in universities, and at various levels of the government are using GIS to develop spatial environmental databases, perform land evaluations, and analyze and manage resources. There is no doubt that the use of GIS and GIS-based systems in land use planning activities will continue to increase in the future, as more detailed digital environmental data sets become available and the capability of computers to handle large volumes of data increases.