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Web-GIS based urban planning and information system for municipal corporations - A distributed and real-time system for public utility and toen planning
Objectives
The NMC planned to develop an integrated web-GIS based system for which Tata Infotech was appointed. Currently the entire routine operations of 11 departments are done manually. However, some of the departments have stand-alone computers for their activities. The information retrieval is done through different registers and record books. The communication is through post and fax. The communication takes place through number of forms that are signed by the concerned official. The concerned persons prepare the report from the data in the register as required by the higher officials. The levels of computerisation are insignificant in these departments. The different reports, registers are generated manually. Functions in different departments are carried out manually. The current volume of manual processing at the different departments makes tracking and follow up difficult. Also the data is recorded at multiple places. Routine and periodic reports are to be compiled with accuracy and speed. Manual procedures are tedious, less productive and time consuming which directly leads to subjective decision-making. The objective of this study was to understand the working and state the requirements of the 11 departments of NMC. The objective of developing the web-GIS based application system is to improve the functioning of these departments by automation, enabling the prompt decision-making by analysis, easy information retrieval and timely, accurate, complete and updated information on corporation. The above system, which is proposed, will have a centralized database residing on the dedicated server for GIS containing all the data of the NMC accessible to all the users of the departments using maps and reports instantly. This will increase their productivity and result in the prompt decision-making. Overview of Solution Urban planning and information system was implemented over intranet backbone (Fig. 4) and using Windows NT server. The GIS based system has 3 modules consistently for all 11 departments. They are, Data Entry, Report Generation and GIS based query system. All the three modules can be accessed from remote machines using a browser. The only perquisites being that the terminal nodes are connected to the server via Internet or Intranet. Data Entry screens are used for entering data related to the various entities in the system. For example, data related to Town Planning department module can be entered using the TDR Properties Entry screen. The entered data is stored in an Oracle 8i RDBMS module. This data is used subsequently to link with the plot maps so as to link with the property location and related information. The screen shots in Figures 6, 7, 8 illustrate the outputs from the system. For all 11 departments under corporation namely Water Supply, Sewerage Operations, Electricity, Town Planning, Roads and Building Construction, Health and Sanitation, Estate and Land Acquisition, Administration/ Encroachment & Misc. Taxation, Fire, Garden and Accounts, the paper and survey maps were digitised and the related attributes were entered into database. Attribute data were stored in the RDBMS (Oracle 8i) and spatial data in MapInfo. The system provides the users of the NMC, tools to query, update & analyze individual department information for taking prompt decisions. The users have options to view the maps on screen and retrieve information required for decision-making. The system generates consolidated reports periodically as required by the user. The main screen of the system is linked to all the departments (Fig. 5) and to the user administration module. The user enters into different modules using secured login information given by the system administrator. The main part of the screen shows the NMC map along with map navigation utilities like Zoom In, Zoom Out, Pan and Layer control map navigation helps to navigate through the map in an easy way. By using Zoom in and Zoom out option the user will be able to see the map in different scales and will be able to browse to the detail macro to micro level features. The pan option is to move the map on the map screen. Under the Querying option, all the required queries will be listed which will be understandable to the user. The option for Reports enables the user to generate reports related to their individual department. The Data Entry option allows the user to navigate to the concerned screens for the data entry. All the data entry screens have facilities like add-, delete-, modify-, query record, record navigation (next-, previous-, last-, first record). In the layer customisation option the user is given the option to change the properties of map layers like scale, visibility, labeing etc for better viewing.  Fig. 8: Web-GIS based Thematic Display of Electricity Supply & Respective Poles Conclusions Map making and geographic analysis are not new, but a GIS performs these tasks faster and with more sophistication than traditional manual methods do. Without owning the individual software, the Internet GIS technology has opened new paths for disseminating, sharing, displaying, and processing spatial information on the Internet. Web-based solutions provide a low-cost, efficient way to deliver map products to users. The urban planning and information system is a step towards web-GIS based solution, which is certainly helping public in a big way. The utility departments of NMC are encouraged to view maps and data using a PC sitting comfortably in their ward offices thereby not visiting head offices as often they did earlier. Fire and Health department departments find it useful during emergency services since all information is brought around the hot spots with the click of a button. The most beneficial amongst all departments are the roads and building and town planning. The search for maps and documents seems to be over. Where hours are counted to locate maps, now that uncertainty is over. Overall the department officers find the system too much beneficial. The future of this system lies on sharing the information to the public and to other municipal corporations of India and world via www. References
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