GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS)
TRAINING FOR URBAN PLANNING AND
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
United Nations Habitat for Humanity, Haiti
The development of UTAP's first computer applications workshop was conceptualized as a beginning step towards in-service training for planning professionals to make use of the basic tools offered by desktops GIS packages. Assuming most participants would have limited exposure to advanced computer applications, the workshop's goals centered on providing planners access to GIS-facilitated analysis and data management. The immediate objective workshops conducted thus far was to provide basic skills and a working knowledge of GIS.
Participants in UTAP's GIS training sessions have included professionals working in various planning capacities in Haiti. Participants have included architects and engineers working for Haiti's Habitat -- a United Nations sponsored, Port-au-Prince-based development project -- and a technical staff member of President Preval's Office of Planning and Infrastructure. The workshops were organized around a series of intensive daily training sessions in a leading desktop GIS package. Each session focused on several GIS and mapping concepts which were discussed in depth, then demonstrated by the instructor. Course participants learned to apply mapping concepts through practical exercises. Discussions and exercises reflected UTAP's experiences using GIS as part of physical and social assessments for planning projects as well as the need to consider the unique urbanization processes which shape settlement and land use patterns in and around Haiti's major cities.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) combine the storage and organizational
features of database packages and the analytical features of statistical
programs with display features that can present results of spatial queries
as maps or other visual output models. The visual display of information
can provide insight into data and facilitate its interpretation for all
levels of users. The use of GIS enhances UTAP's projects with community
development and neighborhood planning in at least three ways:
(1) it provides an efficient and flexible mapping system for presentation
and document preparation; (2) assists geographic interpretation of planning
issues by providing a visual means for assessing and articulating spatial
phenomena; and (3) provides opportunities for gaining knowledge from spatially-referenced
data, which otherwise would be difficult or not possible.