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Urban GIS development for planning and management in Bhutan
3.2 GIS Technology
The urban GIS
Unit uses ESRI technology comprising of NT ARC/INFO 7.1.1, ArcView 3.0a and
ArcPress 2.0 along with E/A0 size HP DesignJet plotters and Summagraphics
digitizers. For detailed planing and design activities, a Cadastral Survey Unit
has been formed which generates parcel level data from the field using Leica and
Nikon Total Station equipment. The accuracy of this database is sub-centimeter,
which is required for the purposes of infrastructure/ utility design and
construction, municipal record maintenance, and other urban monitoring and
construction activities. To develop citywide data, an aerial survey was
conducted in early 1997 with support from Asian Development Bank for Thimphu and
Phuentsholing cities. The panchromatic aerial photographs developed from this
are currently being converted into ortho-photographs to create raster and vector
database at 1:1000 and 1:5000 scales. This database will be used as the base
database to support all urban planning and management activities in future.
Using locally available resources including manual digitizing from un-rectified
mosaics of aerial photographs, other paper map sources and Cadastral Surveys, a
number of base maps have been prepared for various user groups in Thimphu City.
ArcPress software is being used to plot large sizes of these maps. Some of
geo-information being generated is briefly described below:
3.2.1.1 Base Map of Thimphu City A base map for the City
has been created with following thematic layers: Existing landuse, Zones of
prioritized list of planning problems, Zones of projected land needs
(1997–2027), Existing population density, Proposed city limits, Zones of
opportunity and constraints, Infill and urban expansion areas, ADB housing
proposals (Phase I), Government and private land ownership, Health and
educational facilities, Conversion of forest lands, Road network (classification
by width and by function), New road proposals, Footpaths, sidewalks and parking
areas, Existing drainage, Sewerage, Water supply, Solid waste disposal,
Electricity network, Telecommunication network, Zones of infrastructure
availability. See figure 1.
3.2.1.2 Support to Local Area Planning Local area
planning is currently being done to introduce new roads and other
infrastructural facilities (sewer lines, water supply, and electrical network)
in certain areas of the City. Cadastral level data is used to produce base maps
for these areas. Value-added information is provided to planners and designers
using ARC/INFO and ArcView based analyses and processes. For example, alignments
of proposed new roads are overlaid with existing land parcels for which City
Corporation has recorded information like ownership, recorded area, etc. Using
geographic operations, land take areas for each intersecting land parcel are
calculated and provided to planners and designers who use these to decide land
settlement and compensation for each land parcel owner who has to forgo a part
of his/her land. See figure 2.
3.2.1.3 Disaster Prone Areas All hydrocarbon fuels in
Thimphu City are supplied by and kept at the three Bhutan Oil Distributor (BOD)
agencies. These hydrocarbon fuels include petrol, diesel, LPG for home
consumption, etc. A one kilometer buffer area was generated to find out areas
which are in the effective disaster range, should some accident occur at these
BODs. See figure 3.
4. Future Plans
As the GIS inputs to the project are only
8 to 9 months old, a lot of work needs to be done in near future. Efforts are on
the way to establish a Local Area Network at the project site to better organize
the GIS activities. The GIS User Groups and the Working Group need to get
organized in near future to coordinate and establish a nation-wide GIS facility.
Over longer terms, a Wide Area Network linking all GIS agencies is planned using
state-of-the art technology. Efforts are also on way to integrate the municipal
records and databases with the GIS system for the two cities of Thimphu and
Phuentsholing. There is clearly a good scope for urban GIS development in Bhutan
and a lot will depend on how Royal Government of Bhutan and funding agencies are
able to come up in near future.
5. Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this paper are
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of RMSI, UNDP/ UNCHS
(Habitat) or Royal Government of Bhutan.