MOBILE GIS APPLICATION IN URBAN AREAS AND FOREST BOUNDARIES: A CASE STUDY

Data is one of the most important components for GIS. It is accepted as a principle element of GIS by specialists. Both data collecting and updating are highly significant and difficult for GIS. Global Positioning System (GPS) is one of the most efficient data collection methods for GIS. It is possible to obtain high-accuracy location data through GPS. As a result of development in location determination areas and wireless communication systems, GIS users can access the map or information via internet and also simultaneously share the collected data in the field. Mobile GIS is a mobile system which is integrated GIS and GPS on a portable computer. Trimble GeoXT was used as a mobile GIS device for this study. It contains mobile sub-meter GPS receiver and a handheld computer. Population of Turkey is about seventy millions and 25 percent of this population has been living in Istanbul. In addition, Istanbul has large forest areas. It is inevitable to set up new settlements due to the fact that population of Istanbul has been continuously increasing. As a result of this, the forest areas have seriously been threatened. Therefore, it is very important to determine the forest areas, the build areas and to observe them with GIS. Cekmekoy city was selected as the study area due to the fact that it is one of the little open areas for built in Istanbul and has large forest areas. Web-based GIS was designed and applied utilizing from satellite image and 1/1000 scaled vector data of previous years. Afterwards, data relevant forest and built-up areas is updated and determined by the Mobile GIS device which is integrated with Web-based GIS