Considerations for designing and developing urban cartographic databases using Arc/Info

Abstract

Designing and developing a database for an urban geographic information system (GIS) is no small task, whatever the size of the system conceived. Many factors must be taken into account which are very specific to the urban environment. Data availability assessments must be made, initial logistics determined and construction time frames drawn up. To give support during this planning stage, and later during the actual creation and integration of the database, a strong set of GIS tools are required. Such a set of tools can be found within the ARC/Info GIS. These tools will aid in planning and allow the utilization of spatial and aspatial data in different formats and medias, enabling the systems designers to integrate all of these data sources by tapping the power and functionality of Arc/Info. Here, some of these considerations are examined, along with an overview of the concepts and functions available in ARC/Info which can be used for database planning, creation and integration.