K. Barut1, H. Sumen2, N. Musaoglu3, D.Z.
Seker3
1 Istanbul Technical University, Institute of Informatics
34469 Ayazaga/Istanbul TURKEY
E - mail: barutk@itu.edu.tr
2 Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Management
34357 Macka/Istanbul TURKEY
3
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Civil Engineering
Geodesy and Photogrammetry Division
34469 Ayazaga/Istanbul TURKEY
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is an advanced computer-based information system, which is used at the collection, verification, storage and analysis of the geographic data for a predetermined purpose. Urban GIS is an application of GIS, which includes itself variety of data related to governmental and municipal tasks. In this study, importance of an urban GIS for Istanbul, one of the most populated cities of Europe, is demonstrated. Problems that organisations faced in design and use of GIS was researched, the results were held and suggestions were brought up also. In order to define the problem arisen in implementation of Istanbul Urban GIS and find the solutions to these problems, Delphi Method was used in this study to gain information from GIS experts about the current situation of the implementation process. By this method, experts' opinions and suggestions about constitution of a successful GIS implementation were also studied and the best answers that cover this situation mostly were given in the results.
Geographic Information System (GIS) is a system of hardware and software used for storage, retrieval, mapping and analysis of geographic data, which also includes the operating personnel and the data that go into the system (http://www.nwgis.com). GIS is designed to make database transactions, form geographic data queries and make a projection of the geographic data and information. Besides compilation and storage of information wholly, GIS has a management aspect, which is through analysing the existing information and using this information in a decision-making process. GIS's methodology gives geographical studies a quantitative base that enables the use of this data with the other interest groups' researchers rather than geographers (Turoglu, 2000).
Geography is helping people make better decisions in many disciplines. Geographic data can be gathered and organized to support the generation of information products that are integrated in the business strategy of any organization. A GIS is not an end in itself. It is used to create useful information products that help organizations run better. It has saved hundreds of millions of dollars through increased productivity and efficiencies (ESRI, 2002). Thinking of a disaster management issue, GIS can be used as a decision support tool for determination of the potential flood areas, control of the illegal urbanization, determination of the temporary housing areas, main emergency roads and constitution of the destruction risk maps before a disaster situation.
GIS's most important feature is the sharing of the data through the institutions to constitute a flexible information flow and co-work between the governmental and municipal institutions. For a GIS implementation's being successful, key point has to be specification of the needs of the organization first, and specify what kind of data, in what ways will be produced and manipulated. GIS technology and a GIS facility can change the objectives that an organization can attain, but it is the organization that must define what those objectives should be. In the case of a public agency, those objectives are ultimately defined by the values of the society (Aronoff, 1991).
There is a casually quoted statistic that roughly half of all GIS implementations fail. Most failures are related to institutional issues, resistance to change, lack of political support, insufficient funding, and the fact that GIS innovation results in a radical change in information flow within an organization (Burke, 1995).
When a GIS is constituted, poor quality of the collected data, insufficient use of data processing methods, absence of up-to-date information and impropriety of data formats obstruct the effective use of it. With their inner investments, organisations try to constitute their own systems. Absence of coordination between the organisations leads to a repetitive collection of geographic data. As a result, inconsistency, different update period of information and useless repetition requires more time for human resource and an extra financial load to the organisations.
A well-designed municipal database can improve the effectiveness of the organization in maintaining the information base on which the municipality depends and in making the best use of its information investment (Aronoff, 1991). Municipalities may constitute an integrated GIS system for integration of applications like facilities management (sewer, electricity, water facilities etc), land use regulation, transportation planning, building permission, emergency response management, social welfare improvement, etc. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) has been working on constitution and integration of such systems under a unique system called Istanbul Urban GIS. There are some problems faced in implementation of this process and in order to define the problems arisen in implementation of GIS and find the solutions, Delphi Method was used in this study.
In this study Istanbul was chosen as a study area. Istanbul, which consists of 32 districts in its municipal area, is not only a metropolis but also most dense city of Turkey. The population density of Istanbul and its neighbour cities are seen at the Table1. According to "http://www.infoplease.com/"s statistics, Istanbul is the most populated city of Europe and the 8th most populous city of the world. Due to having many historical places, and being located at the intersection point of the two continents, Istanbul is also the most important historical and tourist place of Turkey. For Istanbul, there is a high need to constitute an urban GIS, because of its being exposed to a high risk of natural disasters such as earthquake, flood and forest fire; natural environment destruction and unplanned urbanization caused by dense population. The earthquake risk map of Istanbul can be seen in Figure 1. Especially, in a disaster situation, i.e. after a devastating earthquake, it's very important to know how to reach devastated area quickly and how to convey the main needs of people as soon as its possible. In a such condition, a well-designed and constituted GIS help disaster managers and decision-makers to reach appropriate and up-to-date information quickly, and find the most accurate and sufficient solution to these questions. The main point here is to constitute an essential information system for an effective disaster management planning.
Currently, Istanbul doesn't have a complete large scale (1/1000 - 1/5000 scaled) urban GIS. However, in Istanbul, many organisations are still trying to constitute their own GISes for various reasons and IBB is one of these institutions. The urban GIS, of which constitution works have been started in 1987 by IBB, will be the most comprehensive information system implemented in Turkey which will include information about the topography, inclination, geology, geophysics, buildings, population distribution, infrastructure, expressways and other highways, bridges, railways, official institution buildings, emergency state institution buildings, schools, hospitals, open areas, disaster management institution buildings, police stations, etc. By this time, data entry process has been completed nearly by 90% (www.ibb.gov.tr). After its constitution, Istanbul Urban GIS will include in itself: applications of planning, infrastructure-transportation, construction permissions/controls, and conservation of environmental and historical places (Ulger and Pazarci, 1997). Istanbul Urban Mass Transportation Information System, which is one of IBB's urban GIS modules, has been constituted by this year and now it is available to public use on Internet. With the use of this system, people can be able to reach information about any transportation stations place, arrival and departure time of the transports crossing from those stations, available alternative ways to reach a predefined destination, etc. by just clicking on map. An example view of this system is shown in Figure 2.
Population Density (person/km2) | |||||
Cities | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1997 |
Istanbul | 684 | 830 | 1023 | 1280 | 1747 |
Balikesir | 55 | 60 | 64 | 68 | 72 |
Bilecik | 32 | 34 | 37 | 41 | 44 |
Bursa | 87 | 104 | 120 | 145 | 186 |
Canakkale | 38 | 40 | 43 | 44 | 45 |
Edirne | 54 | 58 | 62 | 64 | 66 |
Kirklareli | 41 | 43 | 45 | 47 | 51 |
Kocaeli | 132 | 165 | 205 | 258 | 322 |
Sakarya | 103 | 114 | 127 | 142 | 151 |
Tekirdag | 51 | 58 | 65 | 75 | 89 |
Turkey | 52 | 58 | 65 | 73 | 81 |
Source: Republic of Turkey, State Institute of Statistics (DIE) |
Table 1. Population densities of the cities in Marmara region according to years
According to Ulger and Pazarci (1997), the purpose of the GIS projects meant for Istanbul is determined as follows: "to prevent the unnecessary repetitions of information and studies, as well as the conflicting activities, and to form a common environment for the activities of the organizations so that the productivity of the projects of the municipality units and organizations that are involved in urban services is increased".
The Delphi method is an exercise in-group communication among a panel of geographically dispersed experts. The technique allows experts to deal systematically with a complex problem or task. The essence of the technique is fairly straightforward. It comprises a series of questionnaires sent either by mail or via computerized systems, to a pre-selected group of experts. These questionnaires are designed to elicit and develop individual responses to the problems posed and to enable the experts to refine their views as the group's work progresses in accordance with the assigned task. It is believed that the group will converge toward the "best" response through this consensus process. The median score statistically categorizes the midpoint of responses. In each succeeding round of questionnaires, the range of responses by the panellists will presumably decrease and the median will move toward what is deemed to be the "correct" answer. The main point behind the Delphi method is to overcome the disadvantages of conventional committee action (http://www.iit.edu/~it/delphi.html).
Figure 1. Continuous monitoring of seismicity of Istanbul (www.ibb.gov.tr)
In the beginning of the study, thinking of a system approach, the study was divided into four phases: literature research, preparation of the questionnaire, implementation of the survey and assessment of the answers came from the experts.
During the first phase of the study, a literature research was made to form an opinion about GIS implementations and assessment of these implementations in Turkey and in the world also. After this research, a face-to-face interview with GIS experts (academicians, GIS software developers, project managers) was organized and their opinions about Istanbul urban GIS implementation's current situation and barriers faced through the implementation of the system are noted. The opinions were collected in a pool and after a classification process; the key questions that would be used at evaluation of Istanbul urban GIS were formed. Some of these questions chosen from the questionnaire were as follows:
Figure 2. An example query result taken from IETT GIS web site: (http://www.iett.gov.tr/en/)
After formation of the questionnaire, it was applied to more GIS experts than before to constitute a whole map of the current situation and also set the solutions on a formal base. For this reason, the questionnaire was sent to 20 experts, and after evaluation of experts' opinions, the results were obtained written below.
The results of the survey show that the main problems are arisen due to insufficiency planning of the system before starting to implementation process. The results show that to maximize the benefits of the Istanbul urban GIS, and prevent more financial losses of public budget; the top-level GIS project managers of all counties have to come together and realize a standardization process that will be useful while integrating the distinct projects together. Besides this, it's seen that there are some gaps in existing laws about GIS implementations and GIS implementers' authority and responsibilities. To overcome this issue and enable the system's sustainability, some extensive legitimate arrangements have to be enacted in both implementation and management issues. Information flow between the departments has to be encouraged constituting periodical meetings between the GIS implementers, and at these meetings, personnel's opinions about existing urban GIS system have to be taken and considered to improve effectiveness of the system. Use of quality standards and control tools at the implementation process may also prevent possible failures in such a labor-intensive system.
We'd like to thank Arda Serim-Project Manager of Sayisal Grafik and Prof. Dr. Handan Turkoglu for their contributions in formation of the questionnaire, and also we'd like to thank all GIS experts who contribute to this study replying the questionnaire.