Advanced Information Technology

Coursework by Andrew Keay

Introduction

This is my second year advanced IT project. I have chosen a type 3 project, that is investigating a potential application. I shall look at how Geographical Information Systems, or GIS, could be used in a real estate setting. I have in mind the Governments proposal to provide key worker housing in the south-east of England.

Objective

I had a brief encounter with GIS (MapInfo) in my first year SIS module. I have no practical knowledge of Arc View, which I will look at in producing the report. I hope to achieve a practical working knowledge of the software, and demonstrate how the application can perform functions. Also how the two applications measure up to each other in terms of utility.

Context and Client

I believe that GIS has vast potential in land management. Organisations at all levels can benefit from the type of organisation that could be interested in such an application would be a Government agency involved in housing provision. Their stated aims are, within a tight time scale, to construct four million new homes for key workers. This will require efficient acquisition of land with regard to the planning framework, in relevant locations.

The simulated scenario is that my client has MapInfo and wishes to know what this can be used for, how well it can do the job and the potential benefits of using the more advanced and expensive Arc View software.

Methods

I will experiment with the software using online learning resources. Some of those I have already looked at can be found at www.gislounge.com, www.mapinfo.com, www.sli.unimelb.edu.au. Once I have mastered a software function I will post screenshots on the web page, as well as demonstrating my learning process with the software. I will produce a description of how what I am doing might work with 'real' data in a 'real world' scenario. I will discuss the limitations of MapInfo when compared to Arc View, the most widely used GIS package of the moment.

Data Requirements

I will be using simulated data to represent a simplified situation. This will largely be input by me, with a map scanned in. Details have yet to be confirmed. I will focus on Leicester city, as I am on the ground here and the job of creating data sets will be easier than if I used a broader area.

The tabular data entered will fall in fields, such as address, postcode, number of employees/residents, type of use etc.

When using Arc View, I shall use the dataset provided by Bartholomew's for the UK. This has a great level of detail contained within.

Hardware and Software Requirements

I will be using MapInfo, a desktop mapping package. This requires a reasonably modern PC - the one I am using is a Pentium 4 system. Memory and storage are likely to be more critical than outright processing power, as is the norm these days.

Anticipated Output

This will be a strategic overview of the potential application of GIS for a Government agency involved in housing provision. It will include sample data sets with examples of how software functions can assist in data manipulation, and demonstrating some of the tasks a GIS package can perform. As I have limited prior knowledge of the software and its functions I will focus on showing what the software is capable of, rather than attempting to produce a complete application.

I will produce a summary of the suitability of MapInfo for the task, and potential utility of using ESRI's Arc View package.

In order to show my progress step by step I shall take screenshots of what I consider to be important points along the way. For instance if I manage to perform a new operation then I will capture this and put it on to the web site.

I shall produce a descriptive report for the final assessment, giving my conclusions on the project.

Plan of Work

Initially I intend to concentrate on getting to grips with the software. Therefore I intend to work through the tutorials, and use online learning resources. Weeks four onwards are described separately below.