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Sustainable Communities: Practical Guide for Neighbourhood Level Data

The UK Department of Communities and Local Government has released the ‘Practical Guides for Using Neighbourhood-Level Data.‘   This is an interesting guide to read for people interested in spatial data, government services and the growing rise of neogeography. Not only does the document look at neighbourhood indicators and explain how they operate. It includes information about [...]

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• Bela Markus of the University of West Hungary provides a presentation (download here) entitled 'Training needs of the Hungarian Land Administration'. The presentation is particularly focused on surveyors and includes several capabilities a 21st Century surveyor needs to demonstrate. Reference is made to a 3D Urban Modeling Summer School event in late August. #
• The UNEP GRID Arendal is a website that points out the need for mobilising environmental information - not just collecting it and archiving it. The difference between developing nations and non-developing nations when it comes to sustainable land use and management is related to 'action' with the information. Website Policy development and planning for sustainable development and coherent environmental management demands information, national data and knowledge of the state of the environment. As assessments and analyses become multi-sectoral, the degree of complexity generates the need for integrated information. These products in turn require organizational infrastructures for the acquisition, integration, analysis and dissemination of data and information. -- GRID Arendal #
• Land use planning often lies at the heart of any regional plan. Several countries, provinces, states and cities have developing or are in the process of developing land use plans. GIS and CAD based tools are integral components of most land use planning today and these tools can be found within departments and the administration of most organisations. They are used to integrate land related information together, making the information available to both the organisation and the public. The City of Calgary, Canada is developing a regional land use plan.In the UK, the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) handles land use planning and recently DEFRA has embarked upon a plan to integrate that country's location strategy further into land use planning and the wider INSPIRE intiative in Europe. At the same time, the integration of so many sources of spatial information is demanding that organisations consider quality factors. Nevertheless, urban sprawl in Europe remains a problem and must be managed more closely - and is dependent upon high quality, accurate and up-to-date spatial information. The tools for managing land and human interaction with the landscape involve spatial information. They are used to design buildings and infrastructure, but are equally important for analysing where, when and how these interactions occur. #