Annals of GIS

The management of urban areas is challenging because the complexities of the built environment are increasing day by day. The increased population of the urban areas triggers an augment in the number of multi-layered buildings and facilities to meet the needs of the societies in terms of various contexts such as habitability and accessibility. Climate change, pollution and a renewed attention to the life quality bring new additional challenges for urban management and sustainable growth. Since efficient sustainability of urban areas includes temporal examination, planning, and administration, there is a strong need for a data and analysis driven basis that provides solutions regarding sustainable management and development of these areas.

The use of geoinformation is fundamental for overarching management of urban areas. Recent developments in digital technologies increase the volume of obtainable geoinformation. However, advanced methodologies that enable the amending, storing, and distribution of derived data to be used in different applications regarding urban areas are required. The sharing of data through distributed ecosystems, such as data spaces and new available findability, accessibility, interoperability and re-usability (FAIR)-supporting solutions, allowing enhanced and more scalable applications is of significance. Further, urban areas need to be managed through an interdisciplinary approach since the decisions should be made by considering several aspects from different disciplines such as Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) and spatial planning. Due to the complexities of the built environment, applications need to be developed such that they cover and benefit from vertical dimension namely three-dimensional (3D) geoinformation. In relation to this, managing data for recent application areas such as digital twins and smart cities encompasses the integration of 3D geoinformation with Building Information Models.

This article collection therefore aims to collect articles that demonstrate recent developments and techniques regarding the sustainable development and management of urban areas in the context of efficient use and re-use of geoinformation. The content of the articles can be related to;

• sustainable development,
• urban planning, disaster management,
• 3D land administration,
• 3D spatial planning,
• GeoBIM,
• asset management,
• real estate valuation,
• renewable energy,
• big data and smart city applications and,
• how geospatial data enables urban digital twins.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article