This article is sponsored by Esri Canada.

Many planners hear the word “GIS” and groan. They may remember back to a course in school that taught them about attributes and data tables. Or think about the team of GIS analysts who are being pulled in multiple directions by multiple departments and are always talking about workflows. Or, think that GIS is just another word for “fancy maps”.

But by thinking of GIS as “fancy maps”, you may be leaving out one of the most important tools at your disposal: spatial insights.

GIS, or Geographic Information Systems, are all about integrating location data with descriptive information. Once we understand where things are, and what things are like there, we can do so much more than make maps. We can understand context, analyze policies, and make decisions based on spatial data.

Spatial insights are critical in urban and community planning. And that’s because urban and community planning are inherently spatial. When we talk about zoning and policy, for example, it’s a way of describing what can go where. We would never be able to describe that without a spatial context.

So why is it that so many municipal planners don’t take advantage of spatial insights via GIS? I believe it’s because they just don’t know what’s possible: planners are so busy with day-to-day tasks that there’s no time to think about how to integrate new tools into their workflows.

Taking advantage of spatial insights via GIS doesn’t need to be complicated or time consuming. It can be as simple as having a conversation with a GIS colleague about how you can help each other.

So where do you start? There are a few easy things you and your GIS colleagues can do to benefit you both:

1. Make sure everyone on the team has access to good, current, usable geospatial data.

I frequently speak with municipal planners who don’t have access to the data they need to do their job properly. I even heard from one municipality that had to cancel a housing project they’d been working on for months when they found out there was another team working on an infrastructure project that would be in the way. That easily could have been prevented by everyone having access to the right geospatial data at the right time.

Neither team wants to spend their valuable time going back and forth with the other team just figuring out where a new development is going, or where the residential zone actually ends and the commercial zone begins, or where the new water line is going to go. Having this information on a map which is easily accessed by the broader team (but still secure and private) will save everyone time.

2. Make sure your planning and housing spatial data and processes are easily accessed by developers

If developers and private industry builders don’t know where they can build or what’s allowed, the development applications received by a municipality are going to be awful. Everyone’s going to spend extra time emailing back and forth about different policies and processes. Timelines will be extended, budgets will be blown out of the water, and everyone will be frustrated.

Everyone, from municipal planners to private developers, and others involved in the building of homes, needs to have access to authoritative and usable data. That means easily accessed, in a format that everyone can understand, and preferably with analysis tools on top of it. There’s no reason to be wasting time on something as simple as getting access to data.

3. Automate repeatable processes like reporting on metrics

A request for housing metrics like development application statistics or building permit issuances shouldn’t result in a late night for anyone. Building a simple dashboard that’s easily readable by everyone will save staff from rebuilding reports every time information is requested. And if you can show where those development applications are within your region or can isolate how many building permits were requested in a specific neighbourhood, even better.

4. Tie your visualizations and metrics together

Visualizing new policies or density measure or future planning scenarios will always be better than simply explaining it. By creating easily understood visuals, you can communicate more clearly to interested parties and eliminate room for misinterpretation. By doing this within GIS tools, you can also measure the impact of proposed changes.

For example, if you want to see what the impact of a proposed zoning by-law is, just plug it into your GIS platform and see if it will allow you to reach your density or housing unit targets, as well as what it could look like. Having metrics and visualizations within the same system means you won’t have to manually update a drawing or an excel spreadsheet each time something changes.

5. Share a problem with your GIS colleague and see if they have a solution

The GIS community is pretty awesome. They’ll love telling you all about this awesome map they made, or a workflow they improved, or a visualization that they think you’ll love. And they’ll appreciate hearing about a project you want to take on together. Oftentimes they have the spatial data, they just don’t know what you need to make your job easier. Tell them a little about your day-to-day and where you think spatial data and analysis tools could help you. And bring them a coffee because they’ve probably just been battling an attribute table.

But you don’t have to take it from me. We have lots of stories about how planners are using spatial insights to make their jobs easier.

If you’re not using GIS in your planning practice, you’re not getting the full picture. It doesn’t have to be complicated, and it doesn’t need to be big. You can start small and benefit big just by incorporating some GIS into your day-to-day efforts.

Katharine Stanbridge, Industry Manager, Planning and Housing, Esri Canada

Katharine Stanbridge is the Industry Manager for Esri Canada’s Planning and Housing Program. She strives to connect municipalities and housing builders with the tools they need to grow their communities. Katharine has a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Bishop’s University.