Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and planning in Scotland: The RLUIS project and advances in GIS

Abstract

Developments in information systems for land use and other geographical data have attracted increased attention from planners during the last decade. In Scotland an example of this interest was the project for a Rural Land Use Information System (RLUIS). The problems experienced by this scheme are reviewed in this paper in the light of more recent technical improvements that have led to advances in Geographical Information Systems (GIS), such as the incorporation of data derived from remote sensing. Illustrations are given of planning applications of GIS in Scotland which show some of the technical developments and flexibility lacking in the RLUIS project, but which also reveal a series of problems that need to be considered in order for planners to maximise benefits accruing from the use of GIS.

Key Words:

• GIS
• Planning
• Remote sensing
• Scotland