Geographic Information Systems Applications in the Tourism Planning of Archaeological Sites in Fatimid Cairo

I Geographical Information Systems and Planning.- 1 Geographical information systems: the emerging requirements.- 2 The application of geographical information systems in urban and regional planning.- 3 Growth of geographical information system applications in developing countries.- II Data Management.- 4 Intelligent information systems for accessing planning databases: the San Francisco experience.- 5 Geographical information systems database design: experiences of the Dutch National Physical Planning Agency.- III Urban Planning Applications.- 6 Information management within the planning process.- 7 Fixed asset management and geographical information systems in the Netherlands.- 8 Geographic information system development in Tacoma.- IV Decision Support Systems for Land Use Plannng.- 9 Regional planning for new housing in Randstad Holland.- 10 Geographical information system applications in environmental impact assessment.- 11 A geographical information system based decision support system for environmental zoning.- 12 Multicriteria analysis and geographical information systems: an application to agricultural land use in the Netherlands.- V Spatial Analysis, Modelling and Decision Support.- 13 The application of geographical information systems in the spatial analysis of crime.- 14 Spatial analysis and geographical information systems: a review of progress and possibilities.- 15 Geographical information systems and model based analysis: towards effective decision support systems.- 16 Decision support and geographical information systems.- VI Education and Management.- 17 Education in geographical information systems.- 18 How to cope with geographical information systems in your organisation.- VII Developments in Hardware and Software.- 19 Geoprocessing and geographic information system hardware and software: looking toward the 1990s.- 20 Geographical information systems and visualization.- VIII Information Based Societies.- 21 Geographical information systems in perspective.- References.- Color plates.

The development of applying database management applications is currently underway within Geographical Information Systems (GIS) applications in the Sultanate of Oman.The establishment of a national database management system in Oman is considered as the backbone that is required within the Geographic Information System project in Oman. The principal of the GIS project in Oman was built upon unifying the used software packages over the sultanate which is ARC/INFO as GIS Package and ORACLE as database management software. These packages are used within the different participating Ministries in the GIS project in Oman.The participating ministries will handle information that are shared between them. The shared information among the different ministries is the attributed data which is defined as descriptive information extracted from geographic features that usually existed on the topographic maps and the ministries maps (utility maps). The map features can be classified into different layers according to the principles of ARC/INFO GIS Package. Accordingly, the main objectives of this research paper is to explain the technique proposed for establishing a national database management system that can handle and manage the shared information amongst the participating ministries in the project. The proposed database design will be made using the ORACLE database management system. Moreover, the paper will handle a proposed idea for linking the geographic map layers with the corresponding attributed database in order to create Geographic Information System applications. As a Conclusion, it is Proposed that all the government GIS departments in the Sultanate will share the same information within a unique national database management which can be considered one of the major benefits in applying database management in the field of Geographic Information Systems.

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to investigate the applications of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in public health.
 Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library.
 Findings: The findings revealed that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to the applications of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in public health. Preliminary empirical review revealed how GIS facilitates disease mapping and surveillance, improves healthcare access, addresses health disparities, assesses environmental health risks, and aids in understanding the effects of climate change on public health. The findings underscore GIS as a transformative tool, offering valuable insights and solutions for public health practitioners and policymakers striving to improve health outcomes and create more equitable communities in the face of evolving challenges.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DOI), Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Ecological Systems Theory may be used to anchor future studies on the application of Geographic Information System, (GIS) recommendations made include investing in GIS training for public health professionals, integrating GIS into policymaking, and conducting region-specific research to tailor GIS applications to local contexts. These measures aim to strengthen the capacity of public health agencies, enhance decision-making processes, and develop evidence-based guidelines for the effective use of GIS in public health, ultimately improving health outcomes and equity.

The application of Geographic Information System (GIS) in agriculture is a new and important research field in agricultural science. This paper first introduces the evolution of GIS technology. As the third generation language of geography, GIS is a comprehensive application system developed in the last 50 years. Internationally, GIS began to be used in agriculture in the 1970s. It has been applied in land resource survey, land resource evaluation, and management analysis of agricultural resource information. After the 1990s, the application of GIS in the field of agriculture has been deepened and popularized. It is mainly used in the followings, such as the regional agricultural sustainable development research, land crop suitability evaluation, agricultural production information management, farmland soil erosion and protection research, land agricultural productive potential research, agricultural system imitation and simulation research, integrated of modern high-tech “precision agriculture” research and application, agro-ecosystem monitoring and quantitative research, investigation, planning and management of farmland and agricultural input-output benefits and environmental protection research, forest pest control, etc. In China, in the mid-1980s, GIS began to be applied to the agricultural field including land and resources decision management, agricultural resource information, regional agricultural planning, grain distribution management and food production assisted decision-making, agricultural production potential research, crop yield estimation research, regional agricultural sustainable development research, agricultural land suitability evaluation, agro-ecological environment monitoring, and research on precision agricultural information processing systems based on GPS and GIS, which have made great achievements. Some research results have been directly applied to agricultural production and great economic benefits have been obtained. This paper focuses on the specific application research of GIS technology on agricultural resource information management, agroclimatic zoning, agricultural disaster prevention, agro-ecological environment management, precision agriculture, crop yield estimation and monitoring, soil erosion, ecological sensitivity and non-point source pollution, etc. The research believes that the application of “3S” integration technology, the integration of integrated agricultural expert system (ES) combined with GIS, and the application of portable mobile GIS are the main trend of modern agriculture development of GIS technology under the background of today’s informatization and networking.

Floods are one of the most widely distributed hazards around the world and their management is an important issue of concern among all the stakeholders. The aim of this review is to synthesize the state of art literature in the application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques in all the flood management stages (pre-flood, during flood and post-flood stages). Flood types and common concepts in flood management are precisely explained. Case studies of flood management using GIS and RS are summarized. Current challenges in using GIS and RS techniques for flood management are also given. One lesson we learn from this review is that flood management is very diverse and it requires multidisciplinary involvement. It can also be deduced that RS techniques offer cheaper and faster options of accessing spatial data about the flood event even in the physically inaccessible areas. GIS techniques on the other hand facilitate hydrological models in data collection, analysis, querying and presentation of information in a more simplified format. The present review is expected to contribute to an improved understanding of the potential applications of RS and GIS techniques in flood management, especially among scientists in the developing countries where the use of these techniques particularly in flood management has generally been limited.

Unqualified forests in the west region of Ibradi (Antalya, Turkey) were evaluated for the first time, performing Inclination Analysis Modeling, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications to determine their use. Via GIS applications, many components can be compared with satellite maps in a multidisciplinary approach to evaluate vector and raster data through gathering the information from several interdisciplinary areas of topography, geology, forestry, and meteorology. In this study, it was revealed for the first time that Terra Rossa (TR) was formed in graben, flat and karstic pits, and inclinations of slope below 45%. TR formations and transition zones (TZ) are widespread on Ibradi Group, and also massive zones (MZ) are observed on Seyrandagi limestones. A total of 53 ha of new Terra Rossa (TRN) formations that have never been used in a study area have been identified for the first time. A total of 35 geochemical specimens were taken from the three distinctive zones. In these samples, major oxides and the trace elements were analyzed and evaluated geostatistically. Similarities as to majority and trace element contents between TRN and cultivation Terra Rossa (TRC) have been determined. The usable unqualified forest was classified into three groups according to their geological and geochemical characteristics; TR formations, TZ, and MZ. GIS applications and geochemical analyses have shown that TR formation areas can be used as potential viticulture, cultivation and grassland, transition zones as potential grassland, zoning areas, and massive zones as potential zoning areas. On the other hand, if all these zones are nested, they can be evaluated together.

This paper presents an overview and analysis of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in Hong Kong, through last 15 years of development in the territory. GIS in Hong Kong will be summarized in the following aspects: fundamental GIS data for Hong Kong, GIS applications in Hong Kong governmental departments, GIS applications in private sectors, GIS research and education in Hong Kong, Hong Kong GIS Association, issues for the future GIS development in Hong Kong. GIS was first adopted by Hong Kong governmental departments such as, the Lands Department and others. Today, some 15 different local governmental departments have applied GIS to support their daily works. The fundamental GIS data have been captured and managed by Lands Department. In private sectors, GIS was firstly introduced in the area of automated mapping and facility management (AM/FM) by local utility companies, and this has been further extended to telecommunication, real estate, intelligent transport system and others. Since several universities in Hong Kong play the major role for GIS research development and education, this group of people are even very active in the international communities related to GIS. Hong Kong GIS Association plays a key role in promoting GIS in Hong Kong. Although GIS development and applications in Hong Kong are getting mature, there are still a number of issues that affects its further development of GIS, e.g., developing an urban-levelled spatial data infrastructure for Hong Kong, towards a professional GIS institute for GIS industry in Hong Kong, the recognition of GIS profession in the local community and others.

The application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the work of government bodies, economic subjects and units of regional and local self-government presents the real situation today in every European country, as well as in its regions. The organisation of collecting, storing, distribution and usage of spatial data, in accordance with the principals of spatial data infrastructure (SDI) presents the next (higher) level in the application of spatial data and GIS. Rapid development of GIS application in the last decade highlights two problems in the efficient usage of GIS technologies, entailing the usage of spatial data in general. The first problem is the lack of the concept in organising the spatial data that has been solved basically through the development of IPP concept. The other problem lies in the fact that the subjects and the users do not have enough knowledge of GIS and IPP. Therefore, special attention has been paid within the frame of INSPIRE project to the development of education concept for the subjects and users of IPP, in order to provide the possibility for them to use the advantages offered by the concept of enhanced technologies and IPP itself. The paper presents the current situation in the education referring to GIS and IPP, and describes the activities carried out for the purpose of creating the environment that would provide quicker and more efficient implementation of National SDI (NSDI) based on better information given to the subjects and users.

The generation and use of spatial information has significantly increased in recent years. Its importance has been magnified by the INSPIRE Directive, which has subsequently led to specific requirements within several legislative frameworks, such as the Water Framework and Noise Directives, for generating spatial data and spatially-specific outputs, as well as encouraging the creation of spatial data infrastructures at European level. The increased availability of spatial datasets resulting from these initiatives facilitates and promotes the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in planning and environmental assessment, among other sectoral applications. Arguably, the inclusion of geographic information through GIS supports and enhances environmental planning processes, enabling a rapid and objective analysis of environmental issues, and presenting information in a spatial and graphical manner. However, there are a number of considerations for the successful application of spatial data and GIS, and a number of issues remain affecting consistency and validity of results. This paper provides a critical review of current issues affecting spatial dataset management and use (such as format, scale, completeness, timeliness and metadata), and discusses common GIS methods and existing constraints to their application in Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). It concludes outlining existing opportunities to optimise the contribution of spatial data to environmental planning, and establishing future research and practice needs to enhance GIS use in SEA and EIA practice.

This study examines the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in tourism planning and sustainable destination management, using Gelnica, Slovakia, as a case study. The research highlights a key challenge—the absence of systematic visitor data collection—which hinders tourism market analysis, demand assessment, and strategic decision-making. The study integrates alternative data sources, including the Google Places API, to address this gap to analyse Points of Interest (POIs) based on user-generated reviews, ratings, and spatial attributes. The methodological framework combines data acquisition, spatial analysis, and GIS-based visualisation, employing thematic and heat maps to assess tourism resources and visitor behaviour. The findings reveal critical spatial patterns and tourism dynamics, identifying high-demand zones and underutilised locations. Results underscore the potential of GIS to optimise tourism infrastructure, enhance visitor management, and inform evidence-based decision-making. This study advocates for systematically integrating GIS technologies with visitor monitoring and digital tools to improve destination competitiveness and sustainability. The proposed GIS-driven approach offers a scalable and transferable model for data-informed tourism planning in similar historic and environmentally sensitive regions.

Improving maternal health is a global health priority and requires accurate evaluation of factors affecting maternal health. Geographic information systems have been used to explore maternal health problems. The aim of this study was to identify studies that used geographic information systems in the field of maternal health care and to determine maternal health and mortality variables visualized on these systems. This was a scoping review in which we systematically searched PubMed and Science Direct for studies that used geographic information systems to evaluate maternal health care. We included all relevant cross-sectional studies published in English between December 1995 and December 2017. We extracted the following information from each study included: study year, region, objectives, type of geographic information system used, variables visualized by the geographic information system, and all other variables examined that related to maternal health. Of 5240 articles initially retrieved, 40 were included for detailed review. Most of the studies (n = 32) were done in developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Most of the studies (n = 33) visualized mothers' distance to health facilities and travel time to health care centres on geographic information systems. Other factors examined included antenatal care capacity (n = 4) and capacity of maternal health services (n = 3). Comprehensive research on the application of geographic information systems in maternal care is lacking. Most studies applied simple descriptive mapping of spatial distribution patterns with a few relevant variables.

The article presents the results of the application of geographic information systems for environmental auditing, which allows you to monitor the ecological situation on the objects, food and chemical industries and to ensure environmental safety of natural and industrial areas. The authors propose a mathematical model that performs monitoring of environmental objects. The computational experiment is performed in Matlab for classifying the soil measurement conditions. The results of the analysis and the electronic cartograms constructed on their basis are used to predict the location of the points exceeding the parasitological indices in the soil. The assessment of the condition of the soil in different districts of the Voronezh city is made with the help of the created neural networks. The results are compared with the same indicators, measured in 2017. Data is taken from the information Bulletin «Evaluation of the influence of environmental factors on the health of the population of the Voronezh region on indicators of socio-hygienic monitoring». Information was prepared by the Office of Rospotrebnadzor in the Voronezh region. A study cited in the article was conducted at the Department of information and control systems of the Voronezh state University of engineering technologies. Geographic information system was built with the help of MapInfo software product. It can be used to simulate the environmental situation and to inform about its current state with the help of cartography. Thus, the geoinformation research method reviewed in this article allows predicting the emission of harmful substances into the environment and it can be used by regulatory agencies of the state authorities to control the environmental state of the territory.

Discusses a geographic information system (GIS) application, known as EMAPS, in public housing management in Singapore’s town councils. EMAPS is a recent addition to town council information systems, contributing to the management and analysis of spatial information. The development and implementation of EMAPS highlight a number of challenges that are faced by facility management professionals in their efforts to build up a competitive edge for their businesses in this dynamic high‐tech age.

As a result of planning and resource development initiatives and the settlement of Native land claims in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, the need for Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was identified by numerous government and First Nation organizations. This paper will examine the pattern of GIS acquisition in the Canadian North and will identify and critically comment on recent GIS applications. It also focuses attention on the sources and types of information used by various groups. Detailed interviews were conducted in July and August 1993 with all First Nation and government GIS users. Three themes were focused on: the process of GIS acquisition, GIS applications to land management, and the extent to which First Nations' perspectives on land and environment were integrated into GIS applications. Despite the widespread adoption of GIS technology, its potential is far from being realized. None of the systems are being used in major decision-support roles to facilitate scenario-building or the evaluation of alternative land-use scenarios. Barriers to effective use include the absence of skilled operators and training programs, particularly for First Nations peoples, and a failure by many organizations to develop clear and appropriate goals for GIS applications. Another factor limiting the use of GIS relates to the availability and compatibility of data sets. Despite these shortcomings, GIS can play a major role in northern planning and resource management processes.

This study examines the spatial relationship between tourism and recreation planning and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) while evaluating academic competence across different countries. Using a systematic literature review, original research papers published after 2010 with at least three citations were analyzed. The data were organized based on the countries of publication and authorship, creating a spatial database that enabled the analysis of the most cited publications on the tourism planning and GIS relationship. The data were then transferred into a GIS environment to produce maps to visualize the geographical distribution of GIS applications in tourism and recreation planning. The study's findings highlight that GIS is most effectively used as a strategic tool in tourism planning in certain countries, revealing a concentration of expertise in these regions. The results emphasize the significance of GIS technology in the field and offer strategic recommendations for its broader use. This research not only provides a valuable foundation for future studies on integrating GIS in tourism and recreation planning but also highlights its potential to enhance planning processes in the future.