Applied GIS for Urban Planning

Land-Use Mapping and Site Suitability

• Map zoning, land-use categories, and environmental constraints.
• Compare alternative development options across candidate sites.
• Use suitability tools to assess opportunities and conflicts.
• Prepare mapping outputs to support planning applications and reports.

Transport and Infrastructure Analysis

• Map road, rail, public transport, and active travel networks.
• Assess service coverage, catchments, and access to facilities.
• Analyse congestion, bottlenecks, and connectivity patterns.
• Produce GIS outputs that feed into transport and mobility plans.

Core GIS Concepts

• Understand coordinates, projections, and how they affect mapping.
• Compare raster and vector data for planning applications.
• Recognise typical data sources in urban and regional planning.
• Apply concepts to development control and spatial policy issues.

Data Management and Spatial Analysis

• Clean and structure datasets from planning and transport teams.
• Use buffers, overlays, and queries for planning-related analysis.
• Manage geodatabases for multi-project planning environments.
• Prepare data packages that can be shared across departments.

Applied Mapping Techniques

• Design maps to support planning committee papers and reports.
• Apply symbology to show zoning, density, and network hierarchies.
• Use layouts suitable for public exhibitions and consultations.
• Export maps in formats suitable for print, web, and presentations.