GIS, Information Technology and Spatial Planning

Geographic information systems have been introduced local and regional planning several stages. They have influenced the technique of planning but only to a lesser extent the procedures of planning and the methodology of plan-making. More recently, information technology has challenged the whole concept of planning as an expert-and-government interplay. However, legal frameworks have not reflected the substantial change in the potentials of the technology.Any effort to reflect the new technology will face not only institutional inertia but increasingly also the human capacity of users of planning (i.e., decision-makers, administrators, stakeholders), namely the limited extent of overall IT literacy, which restricts the possible benefits of the technology. The dimension of access to and empowerment in planning may reappear in the context of new technologies, with new professional requirements for planners, beyond the computer, GIS and information technology