Ph.D., University of Roskilde.

Over the past decade, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has experienced rapid growth in its urban industrial areas. The municipal government has responded by creating a Geographic Information Systems (GIS Centre), but its usefulness in urban planning is unclear. This research will address this question by: 1) examining The different ways GIS can be; 2) assessing existing industrial land use conditions as well as critical issues that the city presently faces in planning; 3) analyzing current GIS applications being used by Riyadh Municipality and the GIS Centre; and 4) recommending improvements to urban land-use planning through enhanced GIS applications. This research concludes that a step-by-step approach that can be embedded into ArcMap Software that is currently being used by the Task Force Centre would be the optimal solution. Advantages and disadvantages of the approach are critically examined, including a discussion of future goals for this project.

Over the past decade, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has experienced rapid growth in its urban industrial areas. The municipal government has responded by creating a Geographic Information Systems (GIS Centre), but its usefulness in urban planning is unclear. This research will address this question by: 1) examining The different ways GIS can be; 2) assessing existing industrial land use conditions as well as critical issues that the city presently faces in planning; 3) analyzing current GIS applications being used by Riyadh Municipality and the GIS Centre; and 4) recommending improvements to urban land-use planning through enhanced GIS applications. This research concludes that a step-by-step approach that can be embedded into ArcMap Software that is currently being used by the Task Force Centre would be the optimal solution. Advantages and disadvantages of the approach are critically examined, including a discussion of future goals for this project.

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Information is perceived to be a vital resource by most organisations. In the case of local authority planning departments the majority of the information utilised has a geographical component. Technological advances in the last ten years have made it practical for most planning authorities in Britain to store and process a substantial proportion of their data needs using computers. However, despite the removal of many of the technical barriers which inhibited the development of computer based systems the experiences of planning authorities have been mixed. With these considerations in mind the research examines three areas which are regarded as likely to influence the effective utilisation of geographical information by planning authorities. These are firstly, factors affecting the development of automated systems, secondly, the role of information in the process of formulating planning policies and thirdly, factors directly influencing the utilisation of information including automated data. The investigation explores through empirical studies the validity of a range of theoretical perspectives which have sought to describe and explain the use of information in organisations. The conceptual framework underlying the research draws on the findings of a series of major studies based in local government in the United States undertaken by the Public Policy Research Organisation of the University of California at Irvine. The framework suggests technology and more particularly the utilisation of information is embedded within the social and political processes of organisations. Three groups of organisational factors are identified as significantly influencing the experiences of local authorities. These are: (i) the organisational context; (ii) people; and (iii) change and instability. The empirical investigations are based on the findings of two in depth case studies undertaken in Hertfordshire County Council and Glasgow District Council. A two stage case study approach was adopted. The methods utilised include exploratory and semi-structured interviews, an analysis of existing documentation, attendance at meetings and observation of the activities of the department. The research findings support the arguments underlying the conceptual framework that organisational factors have a significant impact on the development of computer based systems and the utilisation of geographical information in planning authorities. The link between information and policy making was found to be complex with information often performing tactical, background and even political roles rather than the substantive function often assumed by systems designers. These findings also have important implications for planning practice. Given the significance of human, institutional and organisational considerations to the effective utilisation of geographical information a user centred strategy is proposed. This approach provides a framework which enables the social and political as well as technical nature of computer based systems to be incorporated into the development process. With these considerations in mind there is a need for further work which explores the impact of organisational factors if the current technological opportunities are to be realised in practice.

Some glacial and aeolian geomorphological features express themselves as parallel lineaments on satellite images. These landforms represent readily available evidence for reconstructing Quaternary environments, and are believed to have preserved in their morphometry, evidence of their formation. Drumlins, megatlutes, tlutes and mega-lineaments are typical examples of glacial lineaments, while linear sand dunes are examples of aeolian lineaments. The main aim of this thesis was to develop an objective method of characterising the spacing between parallel glacial and aeolian lineaments and to attempt to answer some geomorphological questions about them. The method of spectral analysis based on fourier transformation was used. Spectral analysis on radiometric transects taken perpendicular to the trend of parallel lineaments on satellite images permits the spacing between these lineaments to be assessed and thus the dominant spatial frequency to be determined. This provides a quick and efficient method of morphometric analysis. A methodology for doing this has been established and applied to examples of large scale ice moulded landforms in Canada and aeolian linear sand dunes from the Kalahari desert. Analysis of the spacings obtained showed that for the case of aeolian lineaments in the study area, there was no significant trend in spacing up or downwind indicating equilibrium in spacing in the overall dunefield. The analysis of the spatial frequency of glacial lineaments established that a significant relationship existed between lineament spatial frequencies and inferred velocities and that the behaviour of the spacing is systematic up/down ice. An important result obtained from analysing these lineaments was that the spatial distribution showed a concentration of spacing at a particular range of frequencies (150 to 750 metres) proving that the distribution of the landforms is not multimodal as has been previously hypothesised but is scale continuous.

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No description available.

No description available.