Description

The goals of this textbook are to help students acquire the technical skills of using software and managing a database/ and develop research skills of collecting data/ analyzing information and presenting results. We emphasize that the need to investigate the potential and practicality of GIS technologies in a typical planning setting and evaluate its possible applications. GIS may not be necessary (or useful) for every planning application/ and we anticipate these readings to provide the necessary foundation for discerning its appropriate use. Therefore/ this textbook attempts to facilitate spatial thinking focusing more on open-ended planning questions/ which require judgment and exploration/ while developing the analytical capacity for understanding a variety of local and regional planning challenges. While this textbook provides the background for understanding the concepts in GIS as applicable to urban and regional planning/ it is best when accompanied by a hands-on tutorial/ which will enable readers to develop an in-depth understanding of the specific planning applications of GIS. In the end of each chapter/ we also provided several discussion questions/ together with contextual applications through some web links.