Abstract

Site Planning by GPS in Non-Populated Regions

Tihomir Knezicek
University of Tuzla,
Email: knezicek@bih.net.ba

Suha is a small village near Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina with high potentials for tourism development. The region is extremely rich with natural beauties, without intensive urban presence. A settlement built of 13 wooden cottages is the only infrastructure in the region. Cottages are not for permanent residing and are mainly used for weekends or family celebrations. Aside the wooden cottages and one a hundred years old mill, within the settlement, four water springs, one small artificial lake and a mountain river are the main subjects of interest. Owners of the cottages decided to utilize GPS for creating an urban plan for entire region in order to use the plan for further settlement development, arranging walk paths and building essential infrastructure – toilets, electricity lines and bridges. GPS Promark II was used for measuring precise surveying points, while GPS GARMIN V was used for tracking and recording points in hardly accessible sites. During the survey, special attention was paid to the satellite signal quality in the region rich by forests. Finally, GPSs records were transferred on the base map, enabling the start of urban plan development. During the data processing, it was noticed that quality of signal at the site was variable and not sufficiently reliable but can be used for urban planning in non-populated areas.