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Development of a web based Land Information System (LIS) using Integrated Remote Sensing and GIS Technology for Guwahati City, India
Biswajit Sarma
Department of Civil Engineering
Jorhat Engineering College, Jorhat
Jorhat - 785001, India
E-mail : iambiswajit@yahoo.com
Buragohain, S., Dhanunjaya Reddy, Y., Venkata Rao, B., Gohain,M.
Abhinava InfoSystems Pvt. Ltd., Guwahati, Assam. India
Abstract:
The definition of LIS (Land Information System) implies that the spatially referenced land data stored in the database should be related to its ground location. In the Indian context of information system for sustainable development, the obvious choice of geographical location is the land parcel available in cadastral records. It is both easily locatable on a map and described in legal records. Such a land information system generated from the cadastral surveys will provide the information base for village level or micro level planning. The LIS will comprise of graphic elements derived from cadastral maps and non-graphic attribute data obtained from cadastral records suitably supplemented with additional information useful for planning purposes. In India, rapid urbanization is resulted due to the unprecedented population growth coupled with unplanned developmental activities. The city of Guwahati in India provides a typical case of haphazard and unplanned urbanization. Due to the unplanned growth of the city both in horizontal and vertical directions, there is a need for proper planning for the careful handling of this alarming situation. In this study an integrated remote sensing and GIS based methodology is developed and successfully tested by generating an up to date digital database. Finally a Land Information System (LIS) is designed for the city development authorities in web supported format.
Introduction
The cities are like trees; both of them grow under natural limits. These limits affect in the formulation of a citys master plan (Mahrous, et al, 2002). In India, rapid urbanization is resulted due to the unprecedented population growth coupled with unplanned developmental activities. This urbanization, which lacks in infrastructure facilities, has posed serious implications on the resource base of the region. The urbanization takes place either in radial direction around a well-established city or linearly along the highways (Guwahati Path finder, 2000). The city of Guwahati in India provides a typical case of haphazard and unplanned urbanization.
Keeping these perspectives in view, attempt has been made to provide opportunities to realize a strategic assessment to determine the current status of land use, land suitability information, identification of the patterns of change during the past years, assessment of the impact of infrastructure development in terms of zoning regulations, transportation facilities, public utilities, drainage system, population, industry, tourism etc to meet the challenges in Planning and Management of Guwahati City using integrated remote sensing and GIS technology.
The data elements (Landuse/landcover, infrastructure, drainage etc.) which has both static and dynamic components pose a formidable challenge for proper maintenance and operations in different sectors concerns. Due to development of automation in technological processes applied to data gathering, integration and processing of topographic details and their customized presentation, analysis and interpretation the challenges can be met with the help Desktop GIS system. While Geographical Information System (GIS) involves in integration of spatially referenced data in a problem solving environment, GIS-based Land Information System (LIS) is an interactive computer-based systems that help decision makers utilize data and models to solve unstructured problems. Combining both the ideas, in the present times such powerful software technology has been developed that allows virtually unlimited amounts of information to be linked to a geographic location. Coupled with a digital map, GIS records, stores, and analyzes information about the features that make up the earth's surface, thus allowing a user to see regions, countries, neighborhoods, and the people who live in them with unprecedented clarity (Betty, et al, 1998).
In this study an integrated remote sensing and GIS based methodology is developed and successfully tested by generating an up to date digital database. Finally a Land information System (LIS) is designed for the city development authorities.
Objectives of the study :
The main objectives of this study area with respect to its problems are:
- To identify the urban sprawl by using remote sensing data
- To identify the available land for urban growth or satellite township
- To monitor the rate of land development and land use change
- To highlight areas which are close to reach saturation and require immediate attention from the concerned authorities
- To know the growth pressure with land use and zoning regulations into perspective from available data
- To identify areas which exhibit high rate of development and are faced with the problem of over densification and suffering from stagnation due to lack of adequate infrastructure.
- To assist the decision makers in laying the foundation for the growth of the Guwahati Metropolitan area
- To develop a Web based interactive Land Information System (LIS) for immediate and ready extraction of plotwise detailed information of the land.
The city of Guwahati, located at latitude 26°10'45" N & longitude 91° 45' 0" E in the district of Kamrup District is considered as the gateway to the seven northeastern states known as Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura of India. The city spreads about 10 km in north south direction and 27 km in east west direction. Naturally the city plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of the entire region. The first aspect of the city that strikes a visitor is the natural beauty of the place. It is ringed around on three sides by a chain of hills stretches to the horizon. The northern side is bounded by awesome Brahmaputra river. Major problem with the study area can be identifies as are (i) Rapid Growth of Population within the three decades till date and (ii) Unplanned growth of the city both horizontally in all direction and vertically so also.
There is a rapid growth of population in the city from 292029 to 1067400 within a period of 30 years from 1971 to 2001 (Census of India, 1991 and 2001). The rapid increase in population of the city coupled with its importance in terms of being the center of social, commercial, educational, political and industrial activities made the city to be the important center of the entire north eastern region of India. This has resulted in rapid expansion of constructed areas at a very fast pace almost beyond the control of the authorities entrusted with planning and development actions and regulation of the city works. Secondly, due to the unplanned growth of the city both in horizontal and vertical directions, there is a need for proper planning for the careful handling of this alarming situation.
Data used
There are three different datasets are used in this study. They are (i) Satellite data in digital format, (ii) Analog data in the form of maps and (iii) field data collected from various sources. The data sets used in the present study with their specific purposes are listed in table 1.
To support image classification and thematic information collection, several field trips have been realized to the study area. Information on land cover and land use has been collected by using a video recorder and Konica LandMaster GPS camera. The GPS camera with a built-in GPS chip provides information such as date and time, geographical co-ordinates and bearing captured on the film media together with image. This information combination represents an excellent tool for accurate data registration and enhances the efficiency of the in-house work.
Table 1 : List of data used in the present study.
| Name of Map | Data Base | Year | Scale |
| Proposed Land Use | DRG: TPO/GMP/83 84/ 01 dated 20/05/83 | 1983 | 1:30000 |
| Master Plan for Guwahati | DRG/: GUO/TP/GMP/R/01 dated 10/05/79 Revised on07/05/79 | 1992 | 1:20000 |
| Land Use | SPOT 1 HRV 2PLA MLAPATH D 238, ROW 298;
78 N/16 SE 78 N/12 NW, 78 N/16 SW |
1990 | 1:50000 |
| Population | Ward map GMC, Census 1991 Survey of India, 78 N/12, 78 N/16 |
1991 | 1:50000 |
| Drainage and Flood Prone | SPOT MLA P-238, P-298; Acquisition date:18/10/90 Landsat TM P-137, P-042 Acquisition date:10/06/88; Survey of India, 78 N/12, 78 N/16 |
1990 | 1:50000 |
| Urban Sprawl | SPOT MLA P-238, P-298; Acquisition date:18/10/90 Landsat TM P-137, P-042 Acquisition date:10/06/88; Survey of India, 78 N/12, 78 N/16 |
1990 | 1:50000 |
| Land Suitability | SPOT MLA P-238, P-298 Landsat TM P-137, P-042 Survey of India,78 N/12, 78 N/16 |
1991 | 1:50000 |
Methodology
The methodology adopted in the study can be described in the following steps.
- The map of Guwahati City and its surrounding areas is digitized. The Cadastral data comprises of the characteristics of the drainage network, road and railway network and infrastructure facilities in the city.
- The satellite data were processed and classified using supervised classification method to prepare the land use/land cover map. The spatial and temporal changes in growth pattern are recognized from the digital data.
- Plot-wise urban land use map is prepared and attributes were assigned for every plot with full ownership and built-up information.
- A Decision Support System has been created to acquire information regarding every plot with its all attributes.
- The entire database is converted into a web supported format and is customized to provide query facilities for immediate and ready extraction of information through Web
Results and Discussion
The entire database has been created using ArcView 3.2 GIS Software. The SPOT I Satellite data and LANDSAT TM Digital Data are utilized for land use and land cover mapping. The different land use classes identified from these images.
It is evident from the urban sprawl map that the city of Guwahati is rapidly increasing in the recent years and the growth is found mainly in south, south east direction of the original city (Figure 1). The infrastructure facilities are also growing in the city with its gradual expansion. Figure 2 shows the road network and the available infrastructure facilities found in the city. Figure 3 shows the land suitability map prepared using satellite data, which can provide a clear guidance to the city planners for proper planning of the city in terms proposed construction.
IRS-1D-LISS-III data merged with IRS-1D-PAN data are used to generate plot wise urban landuse map (Figure 4) of the Guwahati city and attributes regarding ownership as well as built up information were provided. This is very helpful for the controlling authorities to extract all the relevant information immediately (Figure 5).
Figure 1: Urban Sprwal map of Guwahati City.
Figure 2: Road network and infrastructure facility map of Guwahati City.
Figure 3: Land suitability map of Guwahati City.
Figure 4: Plotwise land information map of Guwahati City.
Figure 5: GIS based plotwise Land Information System (LIS) for Guwahati City.
The entire database has been converted to a web-supported format, which makes it more accessible, and faster information system for a large number of users. Moreover it is customized to offer multiple query facilities which enables any individual to extract any information regarding any area, plot or individual plot owner (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Web based plotwise Land Information System (LIS) for Guwahati City.
Conclusions
The following conclusions can be made from the above study:
- The Integrated remote sensing and GIS methodology is found to be very useful in monitoring the urban growth of a thickly populated and rapidly increasing city like Guwahati in India.
- The GIS based Land Information System (LIS) provides important tools for the developers and planners to extract information of the infrastructure facilities.
- The web based plot wise information system provides the facility for ready and immediate extraction of information regarding land ownership and built up history.
- The multi query facility provided in the Web based Land Information System (LIS) allows any individual to gather information regarding land holding.
- This Land Information System (LIS) can be utilized in much larger cities anywhere in the world with the addition of more information and desired modifications.
- Guwahati Path Finder, 2000, Published by Society for Research and Communication, Guwahati, Assam.
- Statistical Hand Book, Assam, 2001, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Assam, Guwahati.
- M S Mahrous, Prof Eng M Kyselka, Dr P Spiea, 2002, "Application of GIS to describe historical Urban Development of Kharga City, Egypt", GIS @ Development, June 2002, Vol. 6, Issue 6, pp 18-21.
- Michael Batty, Martin Dodge, Bin Jiang, and Andy Smith, 1998, GIS and Urban Design. Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, London.
- Census of India 1991, Part III-B Series, Economic Tables (B-4(S), Directorate of Census, Assam