LandScape Information System: A GIS approach to managing urban development

Seoul, the capital of South Korea, has been known for its original landscape, which has been molded for centuries within and around the surrounding natural topography. As a result of rapid urbanization and growth beginning in the 1960s, however, there has been significant deterioration. New and re-development in the downtown area, which have been characterized as high-rise and massive in particular, have been and are continuing to be detrimental to the landscape. In recent years, a number of attempts towards urban landscape management have emerged in the form of legislation and policies. But relevant tools to support the implementation of such attempts have unfortunately been insufficient, resulting in inefficient, unsystematic, and inaccurate urban landscape management efforts. Subsequently, this study developed the LandScape Information System (LSIS) for the purpose of managing urban landscape information and analyzing visual impacts of proposed development projects. Employing Geographic Information System (GIS) and computer graphics simulation techniques, LSIS performs such functions as, input and management of graphic and attribute data, query analysis of attributes related to urban landscape elements, and visual impact (view obstruction) analysis of development proposals. The database for LSIS was prepared in consideration to the urban information systems (UIS) database framework of Seoul in order to ensure the maximum data transferability between them. Through the application of LSIS to a sample visual impact analysis of urban redevelopment projects, it was found that valuable landscape resources could be damaged by the proposed projects. Moreover, by using LSIS, subsequent mitigation measures fur such impacts could be effectively tested and developed. Therefore, it is believed that in general, LSIS can be used as the basis for decision-making in resolving urban landscape problems experienced by local governments. In addition, with the trend toward promoting more information-based societies, LSIS can be instrumental in sharing substantial amounts of data with those for UIS, developed by central and local governments. This in turn can foster maximum effectiveness and value of computer-based urban landscape management. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.