A Gis-Based Campus Information System: Izmir Institute of Technology

In the 21st century, GIS based Campus Information Systems (CIS) have been used by many universities for different aims and become an effective tool. CIS is a wholeness and integrity that is formed by hardware, software, data and users in order to collect spatial and non-spatial data about the university and its sub-units (both academic and administrative), transfer them to computer, store, query, analyze and present the result reports as graphics or non-graphics. In general, the goal of this study is to prepare a GIS-based Izmir Institute of Technology (IIT) CIS. Moreover, after preparing maps of campus area in desired formats, the objectives of the project are to store the maps to plan or update, to provide rapid and easy access to personal and sharable information about campus, to prepare the databases about each department, and to use them for administrative purposes. Therefore, it would have been achieved two main objectives in terms of planning and interactive access for students and staff. At first, by this system, it has been achieved more scientific spatial analyses about land use decisions depending on the natural capacities of the campus site. Then, some negative sides and impacts have been determined relating to the physical developments proposed by the existing campus plan. Thus, it has been achieved crucial results about these defects supporting our initial observations about campus. Secondly, to achieve all information about campus referring spatial or non-spatial by students, academic & administrative staff, and inter-active information access would be created. In order to create CIS for IIT, the spatial and non-spatial data about campus including maps, attribute data were collected; maps, databases, spatial analyses and queries were produced via ArcGIS. At the end of the study, site location of IIT, 1/50000 environmental plan, 1/5000 IIT Master Plan, existing map of campus area, proposed implementation plan of campus area, thematic maps & spatial analyses about topography, geology, soil capability and vegetation and other natural features and suitability analysis for campus site were produced as result productions.

Online urban information systems

Countless factors affect the inner workings of a city, so in an attempt to gain an understanding of place and making sound decisions, planners need to utilize decision support systems (DSS) or planning support systems (PSS). PSS were originally developed as DSS in academia for experimental purposes, but like many other technologies, they became one of the most innovative technologies in parallel to rapid developments in software engineering as well as developments and advances in networks and hardware. Particularly, in the last decade, the awareness of PSS have been dramatically heightened with the increasing demand for a better, more reliable and furthermore a transparent decision-making process (Klosterman, Siebert, Hoque, Kim, & Parveen, 2003). Urban planning as an act has quite different perspective from the PSS point of view. The unique nature of planning requires that spatial dimension must be considered within the context of PSS. Additionally, the rapid changes in socio-economic structure cannot be easily monitored or controlled without an effective PSS.\u

Online participatory decision support tools for knowledge-based urban development

Particularly in the last decade, there have been a number of efforts to develop and then integrate planning support systems into existing geographic information systems. This integration brought a new technology called WebGIS, which enables geographic information systems functionalities through the Internet for decision support. No doubt there is a growing demand as more and more individuals want to use online government services to express their views and most importantly to take part in decisionmaking processes interactively. At this point, WebGIS offers a challenging opportunity for online participatory planning since the public could easily access alternative plans and the existing information in geographic information systems databases. This technology enables individuals to be able to take part in plan-making processes and contribute. This chapter explores how these new technological advances could achieve truly transparent plan-making process based on online participatory planning support tools that knowledge-based urban development could benefit from

Online participatory planning support systems: supporting tools for knowledge based urban development

The key point made by the authors is that planning support systems can be powerful tools for urban development, urban planning, and policy making. Since the advent of modern urban and regional planning, planners have relied heavily on maps and various kinds of data to assist in the decision-making process. In the last three decades, a mechanism for prediction or modeling has been made available to collaborative processes through the use of computer-based analysis tools, and most recently planning support systems. The advances in computer technology have also made the practical integration of spatial (map-based) and non-spatial information. Linking maps to relevant data via these new planning support systems has become a relatively new tool of urban planners. In addition the authors argue that public participation has long been recognized as an important component of the planning process. Planning support systems offer an opportunity to enhance participatory planning activities. The use of online participatory planning support systems to support the planning process is becoming common in many communities all around the world. As a result, planning discipline and also practice is becoming more transparent and democratized. Web-based geographic information system applications are making all these things viable, and have become an important part of intelligent urban planning and policy