Email: atiq@ait.ac.th

atiqpsgis@hotmail.com

The increasing magnitude of operation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and its applications to urban, regional and natural resource planning and management for effective use is of utmost significance for planners and decision makers. In case of Pakistan, GIS is not well practiced in the field of urban planning and resource management and the degrees of its usage is at different stages of development. The GIS applications to planning and management are at the very infant stage in government sector ranging from national to local level of planning agencies.

After establishment of Pakistan society of GIS, there arises the demand form the planners both in public and private sector to formulate some strategies for the future development of GIS. Following this demand, some strategies are proposed in this paper which may be considered to include in the common agenda of the final recommendations of the forthcoming GIS workshop on resource management and environmental planning to be held in Islamabad.

GIS is a most important tool in many kinds of development planning for two principal reasons. First it is oriented to the spatial component of development. This comprises the use of the land for human settlements, the use of land resources as in agriculture and forestry, and the management and protection of the natural environment. Second, GIS is oriented not solely to the purely geographic aspects of planning, but to its informational contents. As a tool, GIS cannot itself can do planning or solve problems in development. In many cases it can provide major help in identifying trouble spots and in suggesting possible actions.

In Pakistan, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in not fully developed and practiced for planning and decision making both at national to local level of Planning, in context of urban and regional planning, environmental planning and resource management. The major dominion which can be the focus of GIS operation for planning and research include engineering universities, housing and physical planning departments, environmental protection department, development authorities, local government and rural development offices especially district councils, municipal corporations/ committees, semi-government agencies and private sector. Although some government departments like soil survey of Pakistan and the forest department has started some project on GIS but their area of application are quite isolated and are limited to their own specific objective which are usually not share by other planning departments. In this situation there is a need to set up some guidelines of common interest for the national, provincial and local government agencies involved in planning and decision making regarding the augmentation of GIS applications. In order to develop an agenda of common action the following guidelines may be considered for debate and discussion.

There is an urgent need for a national policy toward the development of GIS in Pakistan. A special national action program should be formulated. Pakistan society of GIS should be consulted while formulating these strategies.

This is rather more important issue. To have data is of no use, if it is not relevant to some specific purpose. More financial resources should be spent to improve the quality of data collected for GIS and to keep the data up-to-date. The census data should be collected by keeping in view of its use and application. This data should be enough for GIS analysis for planning purposes.

The national GIS policy should also focus on the standardization of data entered in to the system. This will ensure good sharing and compatibility of data among various planning departments. There should be a standardized scale of maps digitized at the national, regional, district, and urban level and standards on accuracy and classification systems for data. All interested planners, decision-makers and agencies should be involved in deciding on the standards of GIS. Standard base maps at different scales should be used by different agencies to add their data to GIS. This can be a key towards data sharing and may overlay analysis. The base maps will be used as the major integrator and coordinator of GIS.

To use GIS technology effectively and scientifically, existence of academic education in different levels to fulfil required educated personnel as well as to teach users are necessary. The existing department of urban and regional planning, geography, and environmental planning and management at the national universities should be consulted to introduce the graduate studies in Geographic Information Systems or at least some specialization in this field. PSGIS may provide technical support as and when required.

The departments and organizations involved in planning and decision-making should organize the training programs. Major groups of users like policy makers, planners, technicians and educators should be invited for these training. Different courses should be organized to fulfill the needs of different users. Agencies like, Capital Development Authority (CDA), Lahore development Authority (LDA), Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and other local government agencies should be involved to organize these training workshops. Pakistan Society of GIS may provide technical support to organize these training workshops.

The departments like development authorities, local government agencies and technical educational institutions should cooperate and establish a task force or steering committee which should meet regularly for optimizing the interagency cooperation for GIS development and application. This group should formulate a common agenda for these departments for this purpose. The most of the feedback should come from the educational sector. The practicability of the suggestions of academicians should also be taken into consideration.

The departments and institutions of planning should be encouraged to carry out more studies related with the use and application of GIS. More Planning application programs should be developed for GIS both in undergraduate and graduate studies level and for the urban planning and transportation studies carried out by the development authorities, local government and housing ministries.

The government agencies should be convinced to be involved in urban and regional planning studies and projects using GIS. The government agencies should be more committed in the use of GIS in urban and regional planning, this way GIS will play a role for planning practices rather than a tool for data base creating and maintaining only.

Holding GIS workshops and conferences in the country will provide a platform for exchange of ideas and sharing knowledge about applications of GIS in various fields. This is a very useful and progressive way of development of GIS for resource management, environmental management and urban and regional planning. Such conferences and workshops should be held not only at national level but also at the district level and even in the institutions and departments involved in urban and rural planning. PSGIS should continue organizing annual conferences and workshops on different issues of national significance.

A pilot research project should be initiated with an objective to involve various planning agencies and development authorities to know the applicability of GIS to handle various planning and decision making process. This pilot project may also increase the level of awareness about the use and application of GIS. Software vendors of GIS may be invited to sponsor such project. This kind of pilot project will also provide a market generation activity of software vendors in Pakistan. Such projects may also be started in the relevant departments at the later stage.

International agencies like United Nations Development Program (UNDP), The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the International Environmental Technology Center (IETC) of UNEP, United Nations Center for Regional Development (UNCRD), Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other international donors to undertake joint programs with the universities and planning agencies for transfer and training on GIS technology for planning purposes. The area of interest may include the land development and management, population growth and urbanization, which usually have spatial and environmental dimensions. Pakistan Society of GIS can also provide its platform for developing such links between international and national agencies.

This is the most important thing to be done at the initial stage. Not only the National Center of GIS Applications, regional centers and local centers of GIS training should also be established. In the first stage a center of research and development on GIS use in planning should be established as an independent center. Keeping in view the financial situation in the government agencies, non-government sector should be involved for this purpose. This center may also work as the national center of GIS applications. In the same way each national university should establish such training centers in the related academic departments like urban planning, geography, computer science etc. These centers may work independently under their departments and can also seek feedback from the national center of GIS applications. Such training centers should also be established in the computer centers of each development authority in the country. Planners should be involved in such training activities organized by these centers. The national resource persons in PSGIS may also provide feedback and technical support to these training centers.

The research center shall work to conducting research into processes of urban and regional growth and decline and effects of governing policies on the patterns and processes of development.

The research center shall be supported by federal and provincial government agencies and by private foundations. The Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Environment, Local government and Rural Development at the federal level and Education Foundation, housing and Physical Planning, and Local Government department at the provincial level shall support such research projects carried out by the center.

The center will not be a part of the government but will support government on planning issues. This may be established as a joint venture of PSGIS and Anjuman Ikhwan e Islam. The selection of Anjuman Ikhwan e Islam as a partner of PSGIS for this center may be considered keeping in view the bestowal of this NGO for education and research at the national level.

The center may support the government in the following research areas:

• Regulation of urban growth and land use,
• Sustainable development
• Information technology
• Education and Health improvement in rural areas
• The social and economic impacts of changes in urban life
• Gender Development Studies
• Evolving patterns of suburbanization and central city reconstruction
• Simulation of urban growth patterns using Geographic Information Systems
• Social policy and urban poverty
• Transportation alternatives including high-speed rail and transit-based land development
• Improvements in methods of analysis, evaluation, and planning

The center will publish working papers describing current research projects and other topics of interest to faculty and research associates, visiting scholars, and professionals in the government planning departments and private sector. Information on current research and publications shall also be made available on its web site.