Application of GIS for Land Use Planning- A Case Study Of Nashik City (India)

Abstract

Application of GIS for Land Use Planning- A Case Study Of Nashik City (India)

Dr. N. R. Kapadnis
Registrar,
Y.C.M.Open University,
Nashik 422 222 M.S. (INDIA)

Abstract
The land use study is of fundamental significance, as the land resources play a strategic role in the determination of man's economic, social and cultural progress. In fact the land use of a region is always characterised by the spatial variations and is profoundly influenced by physio-socio-economic factors.

The last two centuries have witnessed the scientific and technological developments which have brought about tremendous change in Land-use. The study of changes in land-use is important in the field of geography.

Rapid urban development and increasing land-use changes due to increasing population and economic growth in selected landscapes is being witnessed of late in India. Now a days rapid growth in urbanization and industrialization, there is increasing pressure on land, water and environment in big cities. Urban sprawl may be found everywhere in major cities. There are many problems related with fragmented conversion of agricultural land in to urban use. Every city is expanding in all directions resulting in large-scale changes in urban land use.

The paper attempts to study the land use changes in Nashik City. The study reveals that a number of changes in land use have taken place during the period under review. During the last four decades there has been considerable change in land use in Nashik City. The causes of these changes are varied and many but the important ones are the industrial development and growing pressure of population on land.

Nashik city is a district place and industrial city, located in a well-drained, fertile tract of Godavari river. In 1962 the Government of Maharashtra decided to develop The Industrial Co-operative Estate and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation in Nashik City. Satpur and Ambad are important industrial zones developed in Nashik City.

This paper studies the process of transformation of the natural physical landscape into the planned urban landscape over a period of four decades from the pre-development stage to the post development stage. A complete transformation in the land use faction is seen over the four decades. It brings into focus the transformation of this rural area in to a modern urban complex and also points to the dichotomy in the development that reveals some starling observations that need a definite explanation. The study of the land use faction of this nature can be conducted successfully with the help of GIS. Viz commercial, Industrial, Residential Sensitive and Mixed Zones is also attempted. The land use planning will be presented through a series of graphs and maps. Simple GIS techniques such as GEOMEDIA is used for the study the land use of Nashik City.