GIS or Geographic Information System has been designed to store, manipulate, analyze and manage data. As this system provides spatial data it is easy to read information from a map, hence, it makes it a great tool for urban planners.
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| Example of GIS map showing roads and buildings. |
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| Example of GIS map showing population density. |
The urban planning department of the cities normally have this information stored in big data bases. This eventually allows the city to make educated decisions on how a city should grow by retrieving, for example, the following data:
-Amount of schools
-Buildings with 2, 3, 4 or more floors
-Highways, main roads, secondary roads
-Means of transportation
-Green areas, wetlands, lakes
And a lot of more information concerning the nature, the city and its inhabitants.
Since 60% of the population in Mwanza lives in "informal settlements" it is difficult for the city to keep track of everything and this gives space to an uncontrolled growth of the city.
During thursday and friday the Tampere team, along with a group of volunteers from the urban department team in Mwanza, has been recollecting data from the city center. It is an exhaustive task that would bring good knowledge on the current status of the city center. Eventually this data will be used to provide a creative and realistic urban design to Mwanza's city center.
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| Gewa and Mu from the urban planning team |
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| Maduhu and Natalia reviewing some information |
By: Natalia Rincon
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