I haven't worked with urban data, but I have found QGIS, an open source GIS, more than capable of meeting my needs. You can find out more about the project here: http://www.qgis.org/

It's great if you have a limited budget and offers much of the same functionality as ArcGIS. The science community should use open source software when it can so that the tools can develop side-by-side with the community's needs (and to make doing research more accessible!).

Here is a case study where QGIS was used for urban planning: http://www.qgis.org/en/community/qgis-case-studies/vicenza-italy.html

I like ESRI for generating new maps and topology, and ArcMap is more user friendly than AutoCAD ... why you think that ESRI is clumsy for generating new maps and topology? With regards

Esri's not as good for digitizing as AutoCAD... QGis is pretty good for many of the steps... and the price is right.

Of course, it all depends on which parts of the process you're working on.

I used Envi 4.7 for my Master degree. You generaly have to know how to recognise each category but I think it's always better if you direct the software instead of letting it decide for you the topology

I have to vectorize quickly all sorts of maps at different scale usually in raster format. I find that while digitizing with ESRI it is easy to make mistake, to draw sliver polygons for instance. It is asier with Autocad. The program I prefered was ARCCAD which came out in 1998. It was the time where Autodesk and ESRI collaborated to design a GIS software that had the advantage of the functionality of both product. Unfortunatly ARCCAD doesnt run on 64 bit machine. But it is the faster way to create a shape file or a topology from scratch and link it to a database!

Thanks! I am going to look at Envi QGis!

QGIS is not good.it has very limited analysis tools.........go for ESRI's ARCGIS,ENVI and Leica.............

Esris arcgis 10

I prefer arcgis and envi

@Alain "De gustibus non disputandum est" ... But, I still think that ArcGIS is very powerful tool for digitizing, you can set up streaming mode, for easy and smooth digitizing ... I used ArcGIS and Autocad for digitazing more than 20 sheets of Basic geological maps of Serbia (scale 1:100 000), and after first 4, we dropped AutoCAD and continued only on ArcGIS (now v. 10). For silver polygons, check this page http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgiSDEsktop/9.2/index.cfm?TopicName=Common_polygon_editing_tasks ... And, price ... yes ArcGis is much expensive than AutoCAD, buyt now with v.10 you have a lot of improvements, especially for analysis and cartography. ENVI have extension ofr ArcGIS, so you can use it from AG. With regards. QGIS is good open source GIS software, but for now, it have a lot of limitations. If you like open source, you should check SAGA GIS http://www.saga-gis.org/en/index.html it is very good, but here is no manual for it, so you should Google a lot for use ... I hope i helped you. With regards, Uros Djuric

Couple tips for digitizing polygons in ArcGIS to have perfect topology (or with minimum mistakes)

Tip 1: When you draw adjacent polygon always use trace tool for bordering portions

Tip 2: Draw one big polygon, than cut small portions of that polygon ...

;)

I think that the best GIS software for urban land analysis is ESRI (ArcGIS) because in this program can be use a lot of tools to create layers where can be separate, for example, by sort of land's use in a city.

may be u can try Arc GIS i heard that its good for landuse analysis

Erdas imagine is best software for image processing

Hello ,

EsriGIS is the better than others but it cost money. i would recommend QGIS it good one and open source.. www.qgis.org

It's ArcGIS. Regards!

Thanks for all these answers. I use both Autocad Map and ArcGis but not the latest version of the latter! I will try again to digitize with ArcGis. Thanks again for the passionate answers!

Editing tools in 10 are a substantial improvement over 9.3.1 (once you get used to them, and customize them as you like).

Using QGIS alongside Arc can be worthwhile. QGIS has helped me to process some large datasets much quicker than Arc... and often renders "basemaps" quicker as well.

in case you already have ArcGIS it is better.. but if you do not have enough budget .. you can use QGIS www.qgis.org..

or use saga-gis http://sourceforge.net/projects/saga-gis/files/ .. in these links you can get the software and also the documentation ...

in Germany ESRI is offering a "CampusLicense" for getting better conditions when buying ArcGIS. I think at the moment ArGIS is the best choice for working with GIS.

Arc gis and erdas imagine

ArcGIS 10 gives more facilities to analysis. Specially, Raster analysis is good for that application

Arc GIS and ERDAS imagine can be used for urban land use anaysis. For advanced application you can go for ERDAS Apollo IWS.

whats the difference between Arc GIS and ERDAS?????

Agree with all above

ENVI software is also excellent for image analysis. I agree that selection of software depends on analyst/operator's choice. Yes, easy support services and user friendly are also considerable. I prefer ENVI and ArcGIS for geo-spatial analysis.

If you are more comfortable editing in AutoCAD and analyzing in ArcGIS, you can use each of them for its strengths. I started working in both packages back in the 1980's for analysis of building space, because you could create the building footprint in AutoCAD using orthogonal tools and wall offsets, then bring it into Arc for the analysis and shading, then bring it back to AutoCAD for layout and plotting.

Since then, both packages have gotten better at doing all of those functions, and they've gotten better at working with each other and with other programs such as Excel and PowerPoint. I recommend using each package for its strengths.

I've not worked in ERDAS since ArcGIS developed a workable georeferencing capability, and I have not gone back since.

ArcGIS and autoCAD share some file extensions (.dxf, .shp, ecc.) so it is possible to use both the sw to work on the same file. The practice will teach you which sw is better for the specific work

I haven't worked with urban data, but I have found QGIS, an open source GIS, more than capable of meeting my needs. You can find out more about the project here: http://www.qgis.org/

It's great if you have a limited budget and offers much of the same functionality as ArcGIS. The science community should use open source software when it can so that the tools can develop side-by-side with the community's needs (and to make doing research more accessible!).

Here is a case study where QGIS was used for urban planning: http://www.qgis.org/en/community/qgis-case-studies/vicenza-italy.html

I second the suggestion for using QGIS. QGIS has a comprehensive set of Analysis functionality by its own, but it also integrates GRASS GIS (http://grass.osgeo.org/), which provides 140 open source scientific geo algorithms. By enabling the freely available SEXTANTE (http://www.sextantegis.com/) Plugin, it also integrates SAGA GIS (http://www.saga-gis.org/en/index.html) with currently 244 geoalgorithms. And there are many freely avialable Plug-Ins which are easily installable by just clicking in a GUI, for example for Integrationg R (statistics) or WebGIS functionality using QGIS Server, MapServer or GeoServer.

Furthermore through SEXTANTE you have a "model builder", where you can create your own geocomputations algorithims by combinig the tools of the integrated systems. And finaly QGIS 2.0 supports multi-core CPU architectures, so its uses more than one core for computations (which ArcGIS does mostly not).

And best of all, its free and open source. The fact, that its open source gives you real control over what's happen during computation, if results seem odd, you just can check the algorithm... and if you are able to programm Python, you can extend everything with your own funtionalities...

I am a beginner in the field of mapping using GIS applications, thanks to the discussion. makes enlightenment for me

thank you all

Best Software is ESRI Arc GIS

Idrisi Tiaga is also a very good software with many tools for urban land use analysis. I recently explored and found it easy to use. It is good for beginners who are not well exposed to open source software.

I have been using ESRI products for sometimes now and I found them very good in the area of analysis and data conversion especially with vector data structure and can easily build topology. It allows puggins from other software (Idrisi Land Change Modeler (LCM) and interoperable with other software like the AutoCAD 3D and AutoDesk Map.

Other software that are very good include Mapinfo, Idrisi Selva, etc depending on the data model and they are not open source. However, ESRI ArcGIS has a lot of functionalities which it better than them all.

It seems to me that Alain feels comfortable in vector environment. Also I agree with other comments that open source seems to be promising, mostly considering the high cost of current standard GIS packs. Unfortunatelly, I am disapointed of QGIS, I was very optimistic... but, still has strong bugs, mainly in the visual interphase, which is extremelly slow for dealing with heavy files. Currently I am interested and about to jump into 2 other open source options:

http://www.gvsig.org/web/

https://geodacenter.asu.edu/software

Please have a look at them and try share your experience!

Regards

Back to the orginal question: urban land use analysis is relatively simply task. The sent answers solve the question of urban or spatial planning analysis much more generally. To be precise we have to know more about the data inputs (not only format, but attribute complexity), and about the hypothesis, desired targets.

To contribute I´d like to appoint a specialised SW: UrbanPlanner 2.0 Following the condition of disposable standardized data inputs from different administrative units (neighbour cities, communities) this SW provides semi-automatic SWOT analyses, it allows to control and set up indicators, at the output it provides complex evaluation based on 10E2 criterions. UrbanPlanner is ArcGIS extension, copyrighted to Stanislav Stastny, based at Univ. Olomouc and employed in SME planning company.

Besides the universal GIS SW we can also mention and discuss next specialised tools, methods, or applications from research and professional practice: LUCIS (Land use Conflict Identification Strategy), MUSE (Method of Urban Safety Analysis and Environmental Design), LADSS (Land Allocation Decision Support System), SUDSS (Spatial Understanding DSS), UrbanSIM (simulation)...

To come in deeper discussion I recommend annual workshop UP-GIS; in 2014 we will celebrate its 20th anniversary and welcome any expert or user active in spatial planning!

I use Mapinfo as it is more intuitive than esri products. it has the capacity for digitising, and has a more efficient approach to dealing with various outputs. It is designed for those who are not engineers unlike esri. There is a demo version available. I have used QGIS and have found some limits in its usability, but it a lot more friendlier than the esri version.

ArcGIS with it's Extensions. Not the cheapest, but just good!

Dear Mr. Alain, Best thing is to conceptualize the problem. After the suitable software capabilities can be explored. Best software is where one is comfortable.

I think it is not a specific question of the SW. Brian said that he prefers MapInfo, I for myself prefer ArcGIS. It is imho more a question of the usable tools within the SW.

ERDAS IMAGINE is a remote sensing application with raster graphics. if you used Landsat Mass,TM ,AVHRR,SPOT ect .Remote sensing data that time erdas imagine 2011 is one of the best software for urban land use planing.

I agree with Brian. Mapinfo is sufficient for generating new maps and topologies

ArcGIS is the ultimate software for urban and Landuse/Landcover analysis

HI...

For vector based analysis QGISis best and more user friendly for Raset i feel GRASS is the best

for more info

http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass/welcome.html

http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/foss

UrbanPlanner extension of ArcGIS. ArcGIS 3D Analyst also allows to navigate through buildings, and change their locations.

I agree with Alain Bertaud

With only small information about what are you doing is really difficult to answer your question. I think we have to know what kind of data do you use and what kind of analysis do you pretend to do for urban planification.

In generally, we use the GIS data which are coming from ArxMap or ArxGis...

For ease of use and flexibility, I would strongly suggest Maptitude.  This is a fully functional and robust GIS software package, which includes many built in features that one has to pay extra for in ArcGIS extensions, for only $695.  Don’t let the price fool you.    Maptitude can easily take in and export shape files.  I have used it for land use /zoning map creation, as well as other municipal government mapping activities.  http://www.caliper.com/Maptitude/solutions/maps-arcgis-mapping-software.htm

I use MapInfo as my gis, It is simple to use, and will read ersi file formats

A relatively new product, TdhGIS.com is free and runs on Linux ans MS Windows. See the tutorials in the TdhGIS Library for instructions on digitizing maps and performing specific analyses.

I recommend using the open source QGIS software.

https://www.qgis.org/

I recommend QGIS software ..

QGIS is free software , Compatible with windows, Linux, android, mac OS, multiple languages...

I recommend using the open source QGIS software.