Methodology and Examples for Developing Urban
GIS’s Spatial Analysis Models
Jun Chen
LIESMARS, WTUSM, 430070, Wuhan, P.R.China
Abstract
The adequate urban spatial analysis and modelling capabilities are missing or
are hardly not available in standard commercial GIS software. The consequence
is that an urban GIS projectmay not deliver their originally anticipated
benefits in a reasonable time frame or within the predefined time schdule.
The main purposeof this paper is to examine the basic issues for developing
synthesized as selecting for designing) a suitable model, mapping the model
into a GIS’s spatial analysis model and choosing a coupling environment. The
section 3 gives four examples of urban GIS’s spatial analysis models developed
by the author. In the end of this paper, some problems in developing urban
GIS’s spatial analysis models are briefly discussed.
1. Introduction
As an increasing number of urban planning agencies or organizations are
becoming proficient in the use of GIS tools for routine types of spatial data
storage and retrieval, interests are moving now towards more specified and
purposeful applications[Chen, 1992]. However, the adequate urban spatial
analysis and modelling capabilities are missing or are hardly not available in
standard commercial GIS software. One of the consequences is that an urban GIS
project may not deliver their originally anticipated benefits in a reasonable
time frame or within the predefined time schdule.
The unsophisticated spatial analysis and modelling capabilities of GIS are
resulted from the historial emphasis on cartographic aspects and automation of
existing manual map-based operations in the development of GIS. This is
reflected in the common representation of GIS data models as a series of
thematic overlays register to a common spatial frame of reference [Granger, 1990]
and the generic map-based spatial analysis(such as between-layer two-dimentions
overlay, with-layer topological operations, i.e, nearest neighbourhood analysis
or network analysis and spatial analysis capbilities emphasize the content and
structure of a spatial reality (or spatial phenomena). Urban spatial modelling
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International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B4. Vienna 1996