What Is Mapping and How Does It Assist Town Planning?
Many South African communities are impacted by the effects caused by urbanisation. As a result, the need for prudent town planning has never been more prevalent, and mapping plays an integral role in this process.
Mapping acts as a community’s reference to the past and present use of land, the management of land resources and land distribution. With an educated understanding of an area’s history, town planners may use this information for future developments and spatial planning to accommodate anticipated growth and assist with managing urban migration.
Maps for predicted urban development are projected visual representations of an area based on anticipated growth. They are variable keys in which a sustained overview of the area may be maintained by taking certain factors into account. Spatial developers might make use of mapping to predict environmental impacts, pollution mitigation, transportation challenges, infrastructure expansion limitations and resource availability whilst assisting to limit overpopulation and uncontrolled urban sprawling.
Creating Land-use Maps for Effective Town Planning
Various municipal and government departments, for example, the department of environmental affairs, the department of public works and the department of communications make use of mapping. Consulting engineers, finance departments, public-private partnerships and private entities may equally require different information from maps of the same geographical location for the operation of their respective professions.
Map drawing and data necessary for the key or legend of a map may therefore be done as a collaboration to avoid duplication. However, maps are limited in the amount of information they can provide. To avoid confusion, multiple maps could be introduced for different applications. These are usually limited to the necessary information relating to their titles.
Using these compositions for future land use and various expansion probabilities assists in keeping the data concise, sustainable, and sound in a scaled format. Modern technology may also offer solutions in the form of electronic overlays of differing information, and project three-dimensional versions of the notated region.
Consideration of Site Locations
When researching zoning requirements for land suitability, spatial planners may utilise technology to overlay various content data acquired from several sources. Access to accurate and present-day information relevant to geographical, environmental, and socio-economical patterns, versus the projected growth statistics in these areas could allow relevant stakeholders to assimilate between the current and anticipated results of proposed site locations.
Urbanisation is growing rapidly in many communities. Spatial planners are being called upon more frequently to help with increasing population demands and to assist in future projections to accommodate predicted increases.
The Practice Group is one of South Africa’s leading town planning consultancies. We offer award-winning, expert advice on a full range of professional urban development services, including town planning and mapping. Consider consulting with our expert team for successful planning, exceptional service, and proactive development outcomes.
Contact Us About Mapping
Follow Us on Social Media
Facebook: @ThePractceGroup
LinkedIn: The Practice Group