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7. Service Centre
The primary survey of service centre was undertaken and as a result of the survey the study catalogued more than 110 services centers of six different types.


8. Rationale for using GIS in Municipal Planning
One of the major challenges in municipal level planning is balancing the spatial equity of facility or service provision with that of economic viability. Naturally, most residents would prefer high level of access to service facilities such as schools, health services, banks and other services. Planners need to consider whether or not it is feasible to provide such facilities given the available resources. Hence important decisions have to be made on what are the best locations for facilities given variations of local need or demand. More than 80% of municipal information contains some sort of spatial component. Spatial interaction modeling provides a comprehensive and appropriate framework for comparative analysis of new service centers and a means for assessing their impact on the surrounding areas. Similarly, providing adequate transport facility, developing a new residential land use and other physical infrastructure must be balanced against the environmental impacts. GIS plays important role to support such decisions which can be of a great value in municipal planning process.

There is an increasing demand for better information within the municipality and in the relevant organizations to guide more rational planning process. GIS technology is seen as integrating tool for divergent sources of data and information and the obvious way to achieve these objectives is through the use of GIS technology. To do so, municipal authorities have to improve the data handling capabilities, set-up appropriate technical infrastructure and interface with a wide variety of other agencies, such as government departments, local authorities, NGO’s and many others. The proliferation of GIS have offered new era for spatial modeling in municipal level planning and encourages interactions and co-operations among line agencies.


Municipal Level GIS Database Structure
Conclusion
The GIS database/map was prepared in a time period of Four months. The findings of the project have been comprehensively compiled in the form of GIS maps and report The study attempted to build a comprehensive GIS database of Byass Municipality, the lack of which has so far constrained the planning process for the development of the municipality. It is hoped that this project will bring awareness among all on the importance of GIS database and maps. The maps presented in the report would be used for achievement of different objectives through the use of GIS. The study is expected to be highly useful to different stakeholders involved in the developmental activities of the Municipality.

The GIS database and maps would be useful to many sectors including the local government and NGOs, educational institutions etc.

Deliverables
The following deliverables were provided at the completion of the project.

1. Resource map of the municipality as per the requirement
2. Digital copy of completed coverage installed in the municipality computer in Urban Information Centre.

It has been hoped that this exercise will provide important feedback on various issues relating to Resource map preparation in conformity with Local Government Act and Regulation and also will be a test bed for applying GIS technologies in municipal work settings.

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