SITE SUITABILITY ANALYSIS FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT USING GIS

Abstract

Urban development and migration of population from rural to urban areas are global phenomena. Many small and isolated population centers are rapidly changing into large metropolitan cities, and hence the conversion of natural land to urban use is quite obvious. The expansion of urban areas is a great problem for many countries, especially in the developing countries, where the rate of urban growth is much higher than in developed countries. Urbanisation is a dynamic phenomenon that requires a lot of data to support the decision, and which should be carried out to satisfy the human needs. For proper urban planning, accurate and timely data is required. In order to extract and utilize information related to urban processes and forms, one can evaluate GIS in a variety of ways GIS has opened a great avenue for analyzing the data generated from different sources. GIS provide a broad range of tools for urban area mapping, monitoring and management. The present study has been carried out for Roorkee town which is the Gateway of Uttaranchal state, and where fast urbanization & development are taking place. Thus it is important to plan and monitor the urbanization process in a systematic manner, and carry out suitability analysis for urbanization. In this study urban growth and trend of Roorkee town has been analyzed using the maps and images of different years. Also a method has been generated by using Geo Media professional and Grid, to find out suitable sites for further urban development and thus suitability map has been prepared showing different suitability classes for further urban development.