What a minute, I feel like I am talking like machine, not like a authentic human being, who celebrates human intelligence. Yes, GIS is very powerful; however, it is not without its limitations.
In the program of my team, the purpose of placemaking is to create vibrant neighborhoods (mostly single families), to maximize the usage of current community values as well as to create new values in a rural environment. Our team benefits immensely from the extensive GIS analysis we conduct in the office. On my daily basis, I deal with over 34,000 parcels and hundreds of columns of data in the attribute tables. We are thankful for the vision that GIS analysis has helped us to develop. Here are the deeper-level strengths that I, as the GIS Analyst, am amazed by Esri's ArcMap:
Analyzing standardized data. These are basically geographic and real estate data from the national (e.g. USGS, FEMA), state (e.g. topo coutours), county levels (e.g. parcel and real estate info from the accessory's office) and internal data (e.g. property owners info and project boundaries). I use Spatial Analyst, Network Analyst, Spatial Statistics and so on to fully work with the nature of attribute table (basically spreadsheets) based standardized data, which is quantitative data in most cases.
Communication online and offline. ArcMap has decent ability to create visually pleasing maps, and with the help of Adobe Software, the visualization versatility can be improved a great deal. My colleagues and I enjoy sharing thoughts over a piece of physical map. The online service is a complementary function when we need to brainstorm on the flight: whenever and wherever, as long as there is internet service on the smart phone. I am also well aware that this kind of communication can be carried out with potentially unknown audience through APIs. ArcGIS products definitely do a great job in enabling efficient communication.
Automation. With the help of ModelBuilder and Python, it brings the machine to work at it's full-speed, once the analytic operation has become mature and repetitive.
Image 1: GIS analysis on the housing density at Hot Springs Village
1. It does not work well with non-standardized data. It overlooks the nuances. For example, in my real estate rating analysis, a piece of property is rated mediocre by the machine and turns out to be very desirable when I paid a visit in person. Why? Because the standardized data records what is parallel with others and underestimate individual qualities.
2. It relies heavily on the second-hand data. It is not data analysts' job emphasis to go out into the real world to conduct survey, to collect original data and to be inspired by the one-off incidences. While I mentioned in the previous point, it does not document feelings, human five senses or the quality of life/place, which are usually qualitative data. To urban planners, this kind of data crucial.
3. It "blocks off" creative design. Not only ArcMap does not collect new data for you, it prevents you from reflecting how you could possibly be blindsided with its variations of analysis. To an urban planner, design is art; it is not computation. It is to work with limited resources and materials using your unlimited and boundless creativity. For example, a piece of land that has severe topographic conditions, may turn into a piece of land worth treasuring.
Image 2 to 4: The conceptual design stemed from GIS analysis to the final completion of the Grove Park Placemaking Project at Hot Springs Village
To bring it together, placemaking is a human-centric urban planning practice. While GIS can help us exclude the obvious "no-no" conditions, it is the human touch and creative thinking that enable us to work with the geographic elements of our communities and work for our fellow residents of humanity.
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If you are urban planning professionals, I'd like to invite you to share thoughts on placemaking in rural environment through two open-ended questions:
Transect in rural communities. My observation is that housing density is the highest at are premium locations in our community: golf front, lake front and great mountain views. How to take advantage of the momentum of housing density and create transect around these locations? Or is "transect" is even a proper thing to aspire to in a rural community?
Values and real estate marketing strategy. I suppose people choose to live in a rural community for a different reason from choosing an urban community. Then what are the differences exactly, and how does that impact marketing and promoting a rural community?
Thanks in advance!
Image 5: A bird-eye view of lake and golf frontage real estate at Hot Springs Village
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