Geographic Information System on Landscape Architecture

GIS

is the one of the landscape technologies that has been rapidly developing  and expanding its application recently.  It is not only used in various industry for its efficiency, but also it has has dynamically changed individual perception of the world, allowing one to virtually travel all over the world at a desk of your room.  As I sometimes notice the rapid improvement of resolution when I google earth the same area from just few month ago, its possibility seems like almost unlimited.... 

Landscape Architecture is one of the industries that should take ownership of  GIS for sustainability.  Following three points are major developments brought by new design process with GIS.

1: GIS drawings are precisely fixed on the earth.

2:GIS maps are linked to databases that is vast repositories of information.  

3:GIS  operator allow the userS to act upon the attributes on separate or interacting data themes.  

Interactive System Between Database and Users.

This system that each can both get input and output to database support bottom up system; however it requires the people who manages the database.

   Mcharg's overlay method was strongly sophisticated with GIS, and possibly applied in various scale. Selecting and extracting appropriate layers from the database that is endlessly expanding for each specific design project allows to input more NEEDS from scientific to individual voices.  Thus, designers are able to respond more to what is necessary rather than thier own aesthetics (that is often egoistic and irrelevant from the needs of local people).  It means that GIS contributes on bottom up design system such as public participating design process. For example local people might access and output to the database that designer manage them to add those collective data as a different layers.  Other than that, its possibility are largely expected in site planning of emergency facility such as hospital and even distribution of ambulances by real time GIS.

Limitation 

Having said that GIS is very useful tool, there are limitations as any other technology has.

1. GIS does not provide design, but data.   It only can create framework for design.

2. Many of the GIS data that One can actually implement are not publicly accessed.

3. GIS provides coded data, so that one should not totally trust one tiny data.  One should have more relative perspective into the data.

Barrier

is concerned to issues that who own this data, or economics and politics.

Cost to have GIS software and data is currently so expensive in Australia.  As a matter of it is almost not used at all in landscape architecture industry except public domain like council, though it is obvious that GIS should be involved most of the project as it is used in the US.

Private firm cannot afford to get GIS data for all the project, unless the project is very large with high budget.  

Ownership

Landscape architect has to contribute on the improvement of environmental issue not only by designing but also by implementing the various format of GIS data and spread into public, which is possible under the current limited circumstance that general public cannot access the data and cannot understand those data.

Visualization of the data such as graph, map, and 3d modeling does not only help design process but also it enhance public concern to the project when it is accessible to all.  The recent sudden concern for global warming, for example, are brought because various media express the data in different way.  People who was suspicious about the invisible change became concerned due to the visualization. 

I believe this process enhance the bottom up design system, by getting more public voice in interaction among people from many different status through databases.

These are recent project using GIS technology:

"Mobile landscape Graz in real time harnesses the potential of mobile phones as an affodable, ready-made and ubiquitous medium that allows the city to be sensed and desplayed in real-time as a complex, pulsating entity"( M-City exhibition).  

Plan view of cell phone activity:

The real-time city map will register and visually render the volume and geographic source of cell phone usage on city Graz, thus showing a diferent layer in the use and experience of the city.

Handovers:

The map shows origin and destinations of cell-phone calls passing through the cit of Graz.The trace, represented as orange lines, start and end in the corresponding geographic areas of he cell phones were used to make and receive calls.

Traces: cell phone tracking

The-Real-Time city map registers and visually renders the volume and geographic source of cell phone usage in Graz. The record of this movement has been collected, processed and finally displayed as set of dynamic traces showing thier path through city. 

This is a visualization using GIS technology, which will change perception of city, environment in people.   

Also, the difficulty of using software may be overcome by using tangible media, removing boundaries between real and virtual life. 

Tangible Disaster Simulation System:

"Build on the Sensetable platform, Tnagible-DSS allows multiple users to directly input parameters such as the scale of disasters and the capacity of a shelter the disaster and the evacuation of people to shelter, under any conditions inputted by users" (Tangible Media Group).

In this way, GIS should be commonly used in Landscape Architecture in Australia.