GISdevelopment.net --> Application --> Urban Planning
Fig1: Map showing the East of NGEF layout, one of the layouts of the project area
Introduction
The urban environment of Bangalore has been progressively deteriorating. The major causes for this have been the adhoc approach being adopted in guiding its development and multiple agencies being responsible to manage the urban environment. The Integrated urban Environment Improvement Project (IUEIP) is an effort to look at an urban environment from an integrated view point and undertake sub projects which are implemented together along with the participation of the residents of the area to manage the urban environment.
Bangalore is one of the major metropolitan cities of the country. Bangalore is known for its salubrious climate, lakes and parks. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is one of the agencies for which this project is being implemented. It has an area of 1279 SqKm. The city of Bangalore has a population of 50 Lakhs as per the 1991 census and is growing at the decadal rate of 40%. The rapid growth of the city is because of industrial and commerce development, and a large number of government and research institutions being located in the State capital. Bangalore is also the software capital of the country.
The responsibility of planning, development and management of the city infrastructure rest with three institutions - The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) the municipal body, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Development Authority (BMRDA).
Study Area
The project is being implemented for an area of 18 Sq.Km located in the North Bangalore consisting of some developed area and developing area belonging to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA)
Need for a Spatial System
The way the city develops draws a number of environmental challenges. The major environmental issue that arises out of urbanization is due to the change in land use. Due to formation of residential, industrial and other layouts, the natural slopes and drainage gets affected. Number of tanks and their drainages have been breached to form the layouts. This also affects the land cover and natural vegetation gets disturbed. Another major environmental issue is the generation of wastes in large quantities. Solid waste management is one such issue that needs to be tackled. To tackle such issues one needs a good information system, to track changes that take place and to provide data support to academics and researches who are attempting to improve the quality of life in consonance with environmental imperatives. The information system for meeting such purpose can not just be a database of tables and charts but also include a spatial dimension and be capable of answering specific queries and helping in designing alternatives and evaluating them.
Methodology
Firstly a detailed action plan was devised to handle the project. Following were the activities involved in setting up the GIS and using GIS.
User Need Assessment
User Needs Assessment
Based on the interaction with the various users and the available data the GIS system was likely to be used and data shared at various locations. These include - the Departments of BDA, Site office of BDA, NGOs involved in the project, other user agencies like BCC, KPTCL, BWSSB, Telecom, Police etc.
A system study was conducted to understand the requirements of the department and find out their functions. A specification report was created which was later used for the design of the GIS database.
Implementation of GIS
A detailed topographic survey was undertaken to prepare the map data for the study area. The features that were captured during the survey were Parcels, Roads, Storm water drains, Water bodies, railway lines, culverts, bunds, manhole, revenue boundary with subdivision number, village boundary etc. Further using walkthrough survey methodology the relative position of the above ground features like Telecommunication infrastructure namely pillar box, telephone poles, Electrical infrastructure like electric lines, electric poles, Electrical transformers, dust bins, roadside trees, public water taps etc were captured and marked on the base maps. These were later converted as GIS layers
The hardware setup was decided based on the data requirement of BDA department and state of the art hardware equipment was recommended and later procured and installed. Networking was done for sharing of data and accessing the Server. The GIS database is stored on a powerful Server and the Clients will access the data over a network. Leading GIS softwares were evaluated based on a benchmark test as per the requirements of the BDA department and finally shortlisted for procurement. Intergraph GeoMedia suite of GIS software was procured and installed.
A specification document for the GIS database as well as the GIS applications was prepared as per the requirements of the department. Based on this document the GIS database was developed and the Applications were created. An attribute data capture form was created and circulated among each department of BDA namely the Town planning, Engineering, Secretary Section, and Finance Section. They filled these formats from the records and these were converted to digital form. These were later attached to the map.
A series of training programmes were conducted for the benefit of the users. Firstly a basic computer awareness programme was conducted. This basically introduced the users to the computer fundamentals, Operating system, Word processing, Spreadsheets, Database management and hands on experience in using the computer. Further the some of the participants were earlier trained on the basic computing were trained on GIS.
GIS Database
The GIS database is having 47 different layers, like Parcels, Roads, Railway line, Water bodies, culvert, storm water drains, borewells, manholes, electrical poles, Telephone poles, Pillar boxes, Road sign boards dust bins, public water taps, Road side trees, public telephone booths etc to name a few. The GIS software that is being used to create, store and update the data is GeoMedia Professional version on the Server. The clients will be using the GeoMedia Client version software to access the data.
The map data input for creating the GIS database were received from the topographic survey group as CAD layers. The scale of the map is 1:1000. These were post- processed in the GIS software to build the topology and the appropriate spatial objects were created. To this map data the attribute data that were collected from each department using a data collection format were attached to form the GIS database.
The GIS data has been catgorised according to the each BDA department.
Engineering Department: This department handles the execution of site formation, laying and maintenance of roads and the infrastructures. They have parcel information storing the site status details, Roads information like width, segment length, type of road etc, CA-Sites (Civic Amenities sites) details, Culvert details, Land details showing the extent of land acquired and land formed, under litigation etc.
Secretary Section: This department handles the allotment of sites. The details that are stored in the GIS are about the allotment of the sites like the owner of the site, address, dimension, location, registration details etc.
Finance Section: This department handles the Finance related activities of BDA. The GIS data has information on the tax collection like the owner of the site, location, tax collected, tax arrears, balance etc.
Town planning section: This department handles the planning of the layout as per the guidelines. The data stored in the GIS gives the details about the sites planned, sites formed. The town planning department will also the Comprehensive Development Plan maps for layouts so that the landuse can be monitored.
Further the land acquisition department and the Legal department (which handles the litigation issues of BDA) will be using the GIS system for their day to day activities in future.
Under the IUEIP project one of the components is Solid Waste Management. The Resident Associations (NGOs) of the layouts will handle this Solid Waste Management activity. The GIS also has information about the houses participating in the door to door waste collection programme, information on the composting pits with photographs. Network module was used to find the optimum route for the waste collection and disposal. The GIS information will be used to monitor the solid waste management activity also.
The primary idea of the GIS created is to be shared between different departments of the Government like the municipal corporation, Water supply board, Telecom, Electricity board, Police, Transport Corporation etc.
Conclusion
An effort has been made into setting up the GIS for the Bangalore Development Authority. The usefulness of this has been demonstrated during the course of the implementation itself. Need for such system is very much required for a fasting growing city like Bangalore where monitoring, management and upkeep of the city have become a difficult task. It would help the decision-maker, if information system is capable of quickly retrieving information and provide with the relevant information at the right time.
Acknowledgments
I thank the Commissioner, BDA, Finance Member, Engineering Member, Secretary, Town Planning Member, Mr.Nair, IUEIP Project Coordinator, INEP Officials, EDP incharge, Staff at EDP, Chairman, TIDE, my colleagues at TIDE and many others who directly or indirectly supported for this project.
References
GIS for urban environment improvement and land management
Shankar.K.N
Project Manager
Technology Informatics Design Endeavour ( TIDE )
#19, 9th Cross, 6th Main, Malleswaram
Bangalore-560 003
Tel: 91-080-3315656, Fax: 91-080-3344555
tide@vsnl.com
Shankar.K.N
Project Manager
Technology Informatics Design Endeavour ( TIDE )
#19, 9th Cross, 6th Main, Malleswaram
Bangalore-560 003
Tel: 91-080-3315656, Fax: 91-080-3344555
tide@vsnl.com
Fig1: Map showing the East of NGEF layout, one of the layouts of the project area
Introduction
The urban environment of Bangalore has been progressively deteriorating. The major causes for this have been the adhoc approach being adopted in guiding its development and multiple agencies being responsible to manage the urban environment. The Integrated urban Environment Improvement Project (IUEIP) is an effort to look at an urban environment from an integrated view point and undertake sub projects which are implemented together along with the participation of the residents of the area to manage the urban environment.
Bangalore is one of the major metropolitan cities of the country. Bangalore is known for its salubrious climate, lakes and parks. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is one of the agencies for which this project is being implemented. It has an area of 1279 SqKm. The city of Bangalore has a population of 50 Lakhs as per the 1991 census and is growing at the decadal rate of 40%. The rapid growth of the city is because of industrial and commerce development, and a large number of government and research institutions being located in the State capital. Bangalore is also the software capital of the country.
The responsibility of planning, development and management of the city infrastructure rest with three institutions - The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) the municipal body, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Development Authority (BMRDA).
Study Area
The project is being implemented for an area of 18 Sq.Km located in the North Bangalore consisting of some developed area and developing area belonging to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA)
Need for a Spatial System
The way the city develops draws a number of environmental challenges. The major environmental issue that arises out of urbanization is due to the change in land use. Due to formation of residential, industrial and other layouts, the natural slopes and drainage gets affected. Number of tanks and their drainages have been breached to form the layouts. This also affects the land cover and natural vegetation gets disturbed. Another major environmental issue is the generation of wastes in large quantities. Solid waste management is one such issue that needs to be tackled. To tackle such issues one needs a good information system, to track changes that take place and to provide data support to academics and researches who are attempting to improve the quality of life in consonance with environmental imperatives. The information system for meeting such purpose can not just be a database of tables and charts but also include a spatial dimension and be capable of answering specific queries and helping in designing alternatives and evaluating them.
Methodology
Firstly a detailed action plan was devised to handle the project. Following were the activities involved in setting up the GIS and using GIS.
User Need Assessment
- To Identify major users
- Understanding their requirements
- Description of the functions with emphasis on decision making
- Data that is used and its processing in the functions
- Identifying available data, its source, date, quality
- Identifying data gaps and developing methods to generate data
- Developing the specifications for the hardware
- Developing the specifications for the GIS software
- Developing the specifications for the GIS database
- Identification of applications to be available in the GIS
- Procurement and installation of Hardware
- Procurement and installation of Software
- Developing the applications, debugging and installing them in the system
- Commissioning survey for obtaining primary data
- Converting Survey output to GIS formats
- Converting attribute data / non-map data to digital format
- Creating GIS layers and integrating map and non map data
- Test running the system
- Development of user and technical manuals
- Development of training materials
- Designing and conducting training programmes
- Setting up of protocols for data backup and updating of data
- Development of maintenance procedures
User Needs Assessment
Based on the interaction with the various users and the available data the GIS system was likely to be used and data shared at various locations. These include - the Departments of BDA, Site office of BDA, NGOs involved in the project, other user agencies like BCC, KPTCL, BWSSB, Telecom, Police etc.
A system study was conducted to understand the requirements of the department and find out their functions. A specification report was created which was later used for the design of the GIS database.
Implementation of GIS
A detailed topographic survey was undertaken to prepare the map data for the study area. The features that were captured during the survey were Parcels, Roads, Storm water drains, Water bodies, railway lines, culverts, bunds, manhole, revenue boundary with subdivision number, village boundary etc. Further using walkthrough survey methodology the relative position of the above ground features like Telecommunication infrastructure namely pillar box, telephone poles, Electrical infrastructure like electric lines, electric poles, Electrical transformers, dust bins, roadside trees, public water taps etc were captured and marked on the base maps. These were later converted as GIS layers
The hardware setup was decided based on the data requirement of BDA department and state of the art hardware equipment was recommended and later procured and installed. Networking was done for sharing of data and accessing the Server. The GIS database is stored on a powerful Server and the Clients will access the data over a network. Leading GIS softwares were evaluated based on a benchmark test as per the requirements of the BDA department and finally shortlisted for procurement. Intergraph GeoMedia suite of GIS software was procured and installed.
A specification document for the GIS database as well as the GIS applications was prepared as per the requirements of the department. Based on this document the GIS database was developed and the Applications were created. An attribute data capture form was created and circulated among each department of BDA namely the Town planning, Engineering, Secretary Section, and Finance Section. They filled these formats from the records and these were converted to digital form. These were later attached to the map.
A series of training programmes were conducted for the benefit of the users. Firstly a basic computer awareness programme was conducted. This basically introduced the users to the computer fundamentals, Operating system, Word processing, Spreadsheets, Database management and hands on experience in using the computer. Further the some of the participants were earlier trained on the basic computing were trained on GIS.
GIS Database
The GIS database is having 47 different layers, like Parcels, Roads, Railway line, Water bodies, culvert, storm water drains, borewells, manholes, electrical poles, Telephone poles, Pillar boxes, Road sign boards dust bins, public water taps, Road side trees, public telephone booths etc to name a few. The GIS software that is being used to create, store and update the data is GeoMedia Professional version on the Server. The clients will be using the GeoMedia Client version software to access the data.
The map data input for creating the GIS database were received from the topographic survey group as CAD layers. The scale of the map is 1:1000. These were post- processed in the GIS software to build the topology and the appropriate spatial objects were created. To this map data the attribute data that were collected from each department using a data collection format were attached to form the GIS database.
The GIS data has been catgorised according to the each BDA department.
Engineering Department: This department handles the execution of site formation, laying and maintenance of roads and the infrastructures. They have parcel information storing the site status details, Roads information like width, segment length, type of road etc, CA-Sites (Civic Amenities sites) details, Culvert details, Land details showing the extent of land acquired and land formed, under litigation etc.
Secretary Section: This department handles the allotment of sites. The details that are stored in the GIS are about the allotment of the sites like the owner of the site, address, dimension, location, registration details etc.
Finance Section: This department handles the Finance related activities of BDA. The GIS data has information on the tax collection like the owner of the site, location, tax collected, tax arrears, balance etc.
Town planning section: This department handles the planning of the layout as per the guidelines. The data stored in the GIS gives the details about the sites planned, sites formed. The town planning department will also the Comprehensive Development Plan maps for layouts so that the landuse can be monitored.
Further the land acquisition department and the Legal department (which handles the litigation issues of BDA) will be using the GIS system for their day to day activities in future.
Under the IUEIP project one of the components is Solid Waste Management. The Resident Associations (NGOs) of the layouts will handle this Solid Waste Management activity. The GIS also has information about the houses participating in the door to door waste collection programme, information on the composting pits with photographs. Network module was used to find the optimum route for the waste collection and disposal. The GIS information will be used to monitor the solid waste management activity also.
The primary idea of the GIS created is to be shared between different departments of the Government like the municipal corporation, Water supply board, Telecom, Electricity board, Police, Transport Corporation etc.
Conclusion
An effort has been made into setting up the GIS for the Bangalore Development Authority. The usefulness of this has been demonstrated during the course of the implementation itself. Need for such system is very much required for a fasting growing city like Bangalore where monitoring, management and upkeep of the city have become a difficult task. It would help the decision-maker, if information system is capable of quickly retrieving information and provide with the relevant information at the right time.
Acknowledgments
I thank the Commissioner, BDA, Finance Member, Engineering Member, Secretary, Town Planning Member, Mr.Nair, IUEIP Project Coordinator, INEP Officials, EDP incharge, Staff at EDP, Chairman, TIDE, my colleagues at TIDE and many others who directly or indirectly supported for this project.
References
- Integrated Urban Environment Improvement Project for the Bangalore City, Detail Project Report submitted to NORAD, March, 1998, Prepared by Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE).
- Local Government GIS Development Guides, Managers Overview, Needs Assessment, Conceptual Design of the GIS, Prepared by Erie County Water Authority, National Centre for Geographic Information and Analysis, SUNY at Buffalo, GIS Resource Group Inc, June 1996.