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GIS as tools for monitoring the urban development in metropolitan region:
A case of Llang Valley Region, Peninsular Malaysia
Ahris Yaakup, Susilawati Sulaiman
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
81300 Skudai, Johor
Email: b-haris@mel.utm.my
Nuha Musa, Mohamed Jamil Ahmad, Mohd. Zakaria Ibrahim
Federal Territory Development and Klang Valley Planning Division
Prime Minister Department
Email: Nuha@bkwp.jpm.my
Abstract
The monitoring of urban land use change forms an integral part of the regional planning
process whereby policies and strategic plans are reviewed and updated. This task typically
involves the identification of emerging land use patterns which are normally linked with
other planning statistics such as employment, housing and population before the full
significance of land use change are apparent. This requires planning programme to be
adapted during their implementation as and when incoming information requires such
change. Among the myriad of urbanisation issues faced by the local authorities in Klang
Valley region includes traffic congestion, provision of housing and amenities and declining
environmental situation. With a rational planning approach, the quality of planning and
decision making process can be substantially improved with valid data appropriately and
efficiently handled. Against this background, this paper will discuss and demonstrates the
design and development of a GIS database as well as the customised applications for
planning and monitoring the development of the region. The database was designed and
developed to support ten application modules namely built up area, green and recreational
areas, traffic and urban transport, squatter and low-cost housing, environment, utilities and
community services, industrial and commercial development, population and socio-economic,
tourism facilities and geohazard. This required as many as more than 100 map
layers including base map, administrative boundary, physical characteristics, environmental
quality, traffic and urban transport, green and recreational areas, public facilities and utilities.
Above all the application and analysis, a user interface and modelling was developed to
facilitate an easy and friendly use of the system. Lastly, a web-based GIS for Klang Valley
was also developed to integrate the data set and to encourage data sharing between various
agencies involve in shaping the urban environment in Klang Valley region.
1.0 Introduction
Much of regional planning activities have to do with the use of land and how the different types of
land use relate to one another. At the same time, the monitoring of urban land use change forms an
integral part of the regional planning process whereby policies and strategic plans are reviewed and
updated. This task typically involves the identification of emerging land use patterns which are
normally linked with other planning statistics such as employment, housing and population before the
full significance of land use changes can be apparent. As such, spatially referenced data including
parcel boundaries, buildings on site, ownership of land and so forth are a fundamental part of an
information-based approach to regional planning. This information combined with socio-economic
data such as the population consensus and environmental data, provides more meaningful information
for planners and decision makers. This approach also brings increasing rationality to the decision
making process.
The land use planning system is also considered a positive and innovative method. The preparation of
development programmes adopted a continuous, cyclical system approach based on certain stages
such as identification of needs and goals, the formulation and evaluation of alternative courses of
actions and monitoring of adopted programmes. In contrary, planning programmes also provide
opportunities for public participation. The Appeal Board is also established to avoid the abuse of
power by the responsible planning authority.
The activity of planning should be seen as a process (McLoughlin, 1973: Chadwick, 1971) and not be
carried out just once and for all. Thus, the plan making procedures may have to move in a direction
that would substantially improve its ability to use information systems. This philosophy is based on
the concept of feedback of information to evaluate plans and the plan making process (Geddes, 1949).
In the plan making process, Calkins (1972) suggested that, ‘better planning will be achieved through
better information, and better information will necessarily flow from an information system’.
Given the dynamic nature of planning and management, it is particularly important to have a well
conceived information system, which can serve as the eyes and ears to a regional development
planning and monitoring process. It provides for the monitoring and surveillance of compliance with
planning regulations and it serves as an early warning system with regard to sources of friction,
imbalances, shortfalls and failures in the process of planning and management (Yaakup, Johar and
Dahlan, 1997). Up-to-date, reliable information is therefore needed at the management level to
facilitate administrative procedures, policy planning and implementation as well as development
strategy. It is a necessity for forecasting, modelling and evaluation of current situation and changes
that are in progress. Information is utilised to perform two sets of task. Firstly, information has a role
in the process of deciding what action to take, including both operational and strategic decision
making and secondly, how activities are organized in terms of managerial control.
The major functions of information system in planning should include as follows:
- The descriptive function – information should help to describe situation;
- The cognitive function – information system also contribute to improved understanding
of regional problems by providing the key factors and variables that can be analysed
using regional modeling and other statistical techniques;
- The normative function – the information system can also contribute to improved action
by reducing the cost of actions with known consequences of actions already taken or
about to be taken.
The advent of Geographical System (GIS) has created a large field of opportunity for development of
new approaches to computer processing of geographically referenced data, which add a new
dimension to the management, analysis and presentation of large volumes of information required in
decision-making process. The use of GIS has enhance the rationality of the decision making process
by improving data accuracy and accessibility and as a consequence leads to better decision. GIS
provide the facilities to deal with the data requirement for the functions mentioned above. One
important GIS capability is in handling both digital cartographic data and the associated databases of
attribute information for map features (Healey, 1988). GIS systems can store the map coordinates of
point locations, linear and areal features. These features have attributes that must be stored in the
database. Once all the data are stored, both the digital map and the database can be manipulated
simultaneously. This is particularly important in many land use planning applications, which require
data on a wide variety of physical and environmental attributes.
This paper will discuss and demonstrate the design and development of a GIS database as well as the
customized applications for planning and monitoring the development of Klang Valley region. This
paper will also review the effectiveness of the GIS application (AGISwlk) developed in supporting
the role of the Federal Territory Development and Klang Valley Planning Division in monitoring the
region. The potential integration of a tailor-made planning support system package with ‘AGISwlk’ is
explored to help enhance its capability in performing the ‘planning’ task.
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