Development of GIS Based Spatial Data Infrastructure for Micro-level Planning
Anuj Bariar
Research Scholar
Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology,
Email: anuj@cici.in
Anuj Bariar
Research Scholar
MNNIT Allahabad
Email: anuj@cici.in
Geospatial technologies play a key role in generating timely and reliable information for planning and decision making at all the levels, i.e., from macro to micro. Even though it is widely recognized that Geographic Information System (GIS) has the capacity to analyse both spatial and non-spatial data including temporal aspects in a cost-effective and efficacious manner, its application at micro-level for utilities planning and resource management is limited. For planning at micro-level, a village is considered to be a viable micro-administrative unit. India has enormous unexploited potential of natural resources and knowledgeable human resources in rural and remote areas. Hence development of spatial database infrastructure at village level will help in inventorying these resources into micro-level database.
The present research work focuses on the development of spatial data infrastructure for Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh State at village level under GIS environment which can be subsequently used in the planning and development of rural infrastructure. The ArcGIS software has been used in the present work. The GIS based integrated geo-database at village level for Allahabad district will consists of various thematic maps (e.g., village boundary map, block/ tehsil boundaries maps, etc.), demographic data, socio-economic data and data related to infrastructural facilities (e.g., roads, educational facilities, health facilities, drinking water, power supply, etc.).
A GIS based spatial model has also been developed for identifying the spatial gaps for educational facilities and to propose new village locations for providing additional schools by implementing Planning Commission norms under GIS environment. In addition to this, various utilities available in the study area have also been represented spatially using GIS. A menu driven user friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) has also been developed incorporating the above aspects using Visual Basic 6.0 and ArcObjects of ArcGIS software for increasing its acceptability and utilization among planners and decision-makers. It is expected that user friendly GIS based spatial data infrastructure generated at micro-administrative unit will increase the efficacy of administration and resource mobilization as well as help in informed decision-making.