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GIS Applications in Urban Planning

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 Proceedings of International Conference on Emerging Scenarios in Space Technology and Applications (ESSTA2008),
Sathyabama University, Jeppiaar Nagar, Chennai, India.

GIS Applications in Urban Planning

Subash Chandra.M1, Rajalakshmi.S2, Rajakumari 3, Madhavan .K.D4
1234
GISP Pvt Ltd (MARG Group) Chennai

impact of globalization, most of the metros face tremendous

Abstract: Planning and development is mutually supportive and urban pressure, infrastructure is at stake in these areas. These
is highly a complicated activity. Most of the urban issues lie with
Metros, which have become high dense concrete jungles. The
land related activities as land is a scarce and highly valuable
main purpose of this paper is to study , analyze and choose the
commodity. Traditional methods of surveying and the land
records cannot be successful tools for managing the urban
best fit area for urbanization,
scenario today. It is because the people and technology keep The paper addresses four major areas
changing much faster and is ahead of time. What is needed in  The need for new towns
today’s scenario is a tool which captures, stores, analyses and  Stages in the urban planning models – from Large
leads to a feasible solution. GIS is one such sophisticated tool to Scale Urban theories to the current Urban Simulation
handle spatial information and sequentially analyze the physical
 Using GIS as a powerful tool to capture , analyze and
environment with that of its attribute data such as Canopy, Land
locate the various land uses
use Land cover, Environmental resources, water line, and sewer
line etc and related to its topology. GIS is a useful and powerful
 GGLSS Model that integrates AHP and GIS in
analytical tool for urban planning and urban management. analyzing an area for its best fit-land use
Rapid developments of today’s IT sector namely Internet, Mobile
Computing, WiFi WiMax, Internet Banking, Remote sensing, [Link]
Virtual reality have changed our social life in various fields. This The following methodology was adopted in the present
is reflected even in the field of urban planning. The main purpose study,
of this paper is to venture out the possibilities of GIS application _ The base map of the study area was prepared using
in urban planning with respect to urban safety. Also the concept
existing Map.
of Semantics and Syntactic to analyze the city from the view
_ Using GIS technique, the thematic maps have been
point of urban safety is addressed. Apart from the conventional
attributes of GIS like intensity of change, expansion of
prepared.
impermeable areas, Growth pattern, and the applications of GIS _ Digitizing, Editing & labeling the various thematic
with reference to urban safety has to be studied for its potentials maps, Integration and preparation of derived maps using GIS
as this is the need of the hour. The challenge of managing cities software
with respect to its safety aspects is a mind blogging and a
challenging task to the urban planners as they have to integrate [Link] AREAS
urban planning with various technological advancements. The area selected for such study to demonstrate the newer
Remote sensing and its tools if properly integrated with that of
concepts of site suitable for urban planning and Land Value
urban planning solutions will definitely lead to a safer city.
study on the priority basis of Cheyyur Taluk, Kancheepuram
District, Tamil nadu.
Keywords: Urban Planning-Remote sensing and GIS-Syntactics-
Semantics-Urban safety.
IV. THE NEED FOR NEW TOWNS
I. AIMS AND OBJECTIVE Cities are like living organisms. It has its own birth, growth
Planning and development is mutually supportive. Land, and decay various planning theories strongly advocates the
the most valuable commodity, is the gift from God. We need need for new town in some form or other be it the Garden City
this natural resource for all our personal needs and of Howard or radiant city of le Corbusier. The city in History,
development. But then it is a fixed and limited commodity Munford urges for a world not in which technology reigns, but
too. Owing to the increased urbanization and also due to the rather where it achieves a balance with nature. Their next

13-15 November, 2008 Volume - I

 Proceedings of International Conference on Emerging Scenarios in Space Technology and Applications (ESSTA2008),
Sathyabama University, Jeppiaar Nagar, Chennai, India.

strong argument is towards the regional planning than on the area was usually considered to be homogenous, assuming that
piecemeal development. The present case study proposes a all the attributes of the space are evenly distributed within
new town based on the regional planning approach which their respective areas. That is, the two dimensional modelling
takes the region as a whole with its town and its hinterland. In linked each component of the space with specific information,
his book especially with the emergence of computing technology. In
the 1960s, spatial urban modelling took advantage of
[Link] CHEYYUR advances in the computer sciences to develop coarse and
The town Cheyyur has an interesting and important empirical models from small scale to large scale. These
attribute of its locational advantage. It is located between the models introduced new approaches to urban modelling.
two strong magnets Chennai and Pondicherry. It is well The work of Von Thünen in 1826, Ravenstein between 1885-
connected through the National Highway and State Highways. 89, and later Weber, Christaller, and Ulman pioneered spatial
the sprawl of Chennai has extended much in the south eastern modelling in the social sciences. However, the earlier models
direction .This sprawl region has the IT Corridor of Chennai were severely criticized as "largely descriptive" (Wilson,
,which houses the maximum number of IT &ITES companies 2000, p.57), and treated the city as a centralized node with
.It is anticipated to grow further also Cheyyur is in closer little interaction (gravity model) within the components of the
proximity to this IT corridor. The rich and fertile soil, back zone or space. Also, traditional models were too coarse and
waters, excellent groundwater table, land availability, good lacked detailed data, their representation was 'primitive'
rail and road connectivity are some of the key attributes in (Wegener, 2000) and the elements of space were not
developing Cheyyur. interconnected
Stages in the urban planning models
Of course, urban models come in many flavours. These range VI. URBAN SIMULATION
in variety from basic to mathematical in character, with a Urban simulation aims to improve the understanding of
respective diversity of theoretical foundations, purposes, and urban evolution and to predict urban changes. To do so, urban
functionality of use. They may be classified into three main dynamics seek to represent evolutionary patterns of the city
groups: scale, analogue, and conceptual. over time and space. It is generally argued that although
 Scale models are amongst the most well known traditional large-scale urban simulation approaches of the
models. Broadly speaking, they are scaled-down 1960s were based on solid theories, they had significant
versions of reality, usually without any functional or weaknesses such as poor handling of space-time dynamics,
predictive capacity. they were impractical, their representation of data was too
 In analogue models, size is transformed, but so are coarse and their 'top-down' approach ultimately failed to
some of the properties of the thing that is actually reproduce realistic simulations of urban systems.
being modeled. The most familiar analogue model, Current urban simulation approaches are taking advantage of
in a geographic sense, is the map. Here size is progress in information technology, data availability and
reduced (as with the scale model), but so also are complex theories (such as cellular automata and artificial
some of the properties of the thing being modeled. intelligence) to address the criticisms raised by previous urban
 A conceptual model generally expresses how we dynamics modeling attempts.
think a system works. Usually, conceptual models To be useful and realistic, however, urban models require
are presented as arrows that illustrate links or 'real-world' data such as existing spatial and tangible urban
relationships, and boxes representing system patterns that can be integrated and mapped in a modelling
components. scenario. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have
In the early spatial models such as central place theory, emerged as a prime framework for the management of a range
attributes were treated separately and then aggregated. The of spatial real world data. Efforts to use GIS as a modelling

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 Proceedings of International Conference on Emerging Scenarios in Space Technology and Applications (ESSTA2008),
Sathyabama University, Jeppiaar Nagar, Chennai, India.

tool have, however, been received with scepticism, especially makers with required information about the current state of
because GIS is rigid, has limited modelling functionalities, development and the nature of changes that have occurred.
and poorly handles the temporal dynamic dimension. Cellular Remote sensing and Geographical Information system (GIS)
Automata (CA) that were developed in the 1940s to explore provides vital tools which can be applied in the analysis at the
complex behaviour and systems, are now progressively being district and as well as at the city level.
adopted and adjusted to address some modelling weaknesses TABLE 1

reported in current GIS technologies. Urban dynamics Geology Map WEIGHTAGE – 9

modelling is, therefore, widely adopting a CA approach as a [Link] Type RANK RANK
means of enhancement, especially when this approach is WEIGHT
integrated with GIS (Torrens, 2002). There are instances were 1 Buried 6 54
GIS and CA in combination have been used to explore, study, Pediment Deep
understand or inform urban dynamics, with variable results. 2 Buried 5 45
Pediment
[Link] OF GIS IN URBAN PLANNING Shallow
GIS finds a vital role in the field of Urban Planning. 3 Pediment 4 36
The features of GIS which makes it important in the Urban 4 Pediment 3 27
Planning are, Insulberg
a) Multi-source data can be entered and integrated; 5 Residual Hill 2 18
b) Data consistency can be maintained; 6 Structural Hill 1 9
c) Data updating can be easily undertaken; and
d) Flexible data storage and retrieval can be 8.0 OVERLAYING AND CLASSIFICATION OF ZONES:
achieved. The thematic maps of each theme are overlaid two at a
GIS integrates spatial and other kinds of information within time to generate a composite map. Thus each layer
a single system. It offers a consistent framework for analyzing representing a particular theme is overlaid on other theme to
geographical data. By putting maps and other kinds of spatial find the intersecting polygons. By this method a new map,
information into digital forms, GIS allows us to manipulate showing. The integrated features of two thematic maps is
and display geographical knowledge in new and more obtained over this composite map is overlaid a third map and
objective ways. so on., so that a final composite map is obtained. Each
GIS and Remote Sensing are gradually becoming an polygons in the final composite map is associated with a
integrated technology that is being widely used in various particular set of parameter considered in the study Geology,
applications. These two technologies are complementary, as Groundwater Recharge Zone, Landuse Landcover Map, Slope
they are simply variants of the digital spatial data. They have and Soil . The Evaluation of each polygon as a potential zone
become inextricably linked in many application fields. The for is based on the added values of scores of various themes.
spatial display techniques for GIS and Remote Sensing In the final composite map there are nearly 200 polygons are
information has greatly advanced within the past two decades. range into 5 classes each representing a zone namely, Priority
Planning is a field greatly associated with the spatial 1 to 5. The final thematic map showing the land suitable zones
information’s and hence the combination of Remote Sensing for priority basis. It can be seen that the area nearer to the
and GIS has an important role to play in the field of urban coastal area and inland coastal area are priority 5 zone.
planning. The paper aims at a urban simulation model – A GGLSS
Management and planning of urban space requires spatially Model that defines ranges , ratings for the attributes associated
with each of the above thematic maps and weights for the each
accurate and timely information on land use and changing
thematic maps These attributes decide upon the suitability for
pattern. Monitoring provides the planners and decision- development and were given weightages on a nine point scale

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 Proceedings of International Conference on Emerging Scenarios in Space Technology and Applications (ESSTA2008),
Sathyabama University, Jeppiaar Nagar, Chennai, India.

that varies from 1-9. The relative importance of each of the TABLE 3
above thematic maps on vulnerability is reflected in terms of
weights .these ratings and weights are used in arriving the
Land Use Land cover Map WEIGHTAGE – 10
LAND SUITABILITY INDEX, which is calculated using the
following formula RANK
[Link] Type RANK WEIG
HT
Land Suitability Index = GEOL (WxR) + GRWA (WxR) Agricultural
+ LUSE (WxR) +SOIL (WxR) 1 Land/Croplands/Degraded 1 10
+SLOP (WxR) Forest/Build up lands/ Water bodies
Fallow / Harvested land/hills/barren
Rankings were given to attribute and its relative weightage is 2
rock/ stony waste/ Sheet rock
4 40
arrived. (Refer Tables 1-5)
3 Salt pan/salt affected lands 3 30
The final score for the five zones are arrived and using the
AHP model the, best suitable zone is finalized and the suitable 4 Sand inland / coastal 2 20
land use is assigned.
Rank, Weight and scores for attributes for various 5 Upland with or without Scrub 5 50
Themes with respect to Soil condition:

FIG.3
FIG.1
TABLE 4
TABLE 2
Soil Map WEIGHTAGE – 7

Ground Water Recharge Map WEIGHTAGE – 8 RAN RANK

[Link] Type ( Clay and Red sandy )
K WEIGHT
[Link] Type RANK RANKWEIGHT
1 Ecsv ( Entic Chroustech) 1 7
Highly favorable for
1 Recharge
5 40
2 Thaf/Thuft ( Typic
2 14
Rhodustalfi)
Less favorable for
2 Recharge
3 24
3 Uhsf/Ursf( Utic Ustochropets) 3 21
Moderate favorable
3 for Recharge
4 32 4 Vshsf ( Vertic Haplustafi) 5 35
Poor favorable for 5 Fvop ( Fluventic Ustochropet) 4 28
4 Recharge
2 16

5 Out Crop 1 8

6 Water Bodies 6 48

FIG.4
FIG.2

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 Proceedings of International Conference on Emerging Scenarios in Space Technology and Applications (ESSTA2008),
Sathyabama University, Jeppiaar Nagar, Chennai, India.

TABLE 5 With these values the model is checked for its consistency
using the AHP Model . Relative ranking is given on the same
Slope WEIGHTAGE – 6
order of the range i.e. 0-66 is given the highest priority- the
[Link] Type RANK RANKWEIGHT value – extreme importance in the nine point scale
1 <10M 1 6
Intensity of
2 50 – 150 M 5 30 [Link] RANGE Definition
importance
Extreme
1 0-66 9
importance
Very strong
2 67- 101 7
importance
Strong
3 102-133 5
Importance
Moderate
4 134-163 3
importance
Equal
5 164-209 1
importance

FIG.5
Thus the zones were analyzed using this AHP and the
Note: As the terrain is not undulating only two variables are
appropriate land use is [Link] model holds good for
taken, other wise based on the terrain the number of attributes
any urban simulation as the relative ranking is done – one
can be increased .The suitable land zone is selected based on
attribute is not just checked with other but with all the other
the range of the related weightage. The range 0-66 is
attributes.
considered as the least priority zone where as the range 164-
Conclusion
209 has the Best priority.
IX. SUITABLE LAND ZONE
X. CONCLUSION
TABLE 6 Urban planning is a very intense exercise that involves lot
[Link] RANGE SCORE of related fields. First generation of the planners had a
1 0-66 Priority – 5 zone common platform with sociologists, economists and related
2 67- 101 Priority – 4 zone designers. The second generation became a step advanced
3 102-133 Priority – 3 zone with the advent of GIS – which has proven itself as a very
4 134-163 Priority – 2 zone strong tool. The present third generation urban planning trend
5 164-209 Priority – 1 zone takes the utmost benefits of the information technology,
decision making systems, and simulation models and applies
it with the GIS models. Thus GIS is now not only a tool for
capturing and analyzing data, but much ahead of it in taking
exclusive land related decisions too .The GGLSS Model of
urban design for Cheyyur Taluk, Kancheepuram Dt using GIS
has been successfully conducted.
1. The data is well created such that upgrading is easier.
2. User can quickly identify Natural and Environmental
features by simple querying.
FIG.6

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 Proceedings of International Conference on Emerging Scenarios in Space Technology and Applications (ESSTA2008),
Sathyabama University, Jeppiaar Nagar, Chennai, India.

3. Created with database can be used for Land Value data redundancy and simplifying the
cost related Tax Collection, Billing, and other model/management process.
related purpose.
4. Using a GIS you can enter new data or modify REFERENCES
existing data. This example shows a GIS interface
[1] Lynch, Kevin, Image of the city, MIT Press.
that allows easy editing of geographic data and the
[2] Urban Development Plan Formulation and Implementation guidelines
display of related documents. [3] GIS [Link]
5. This product provides GIS users with an interface [4] [Link]
tool for analysis for Urban Planning. Key concepts [5] [Link]

in GGLSS modeling interface include minimizing

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