The Potentials of Geodatabase in the development control Process of the Department of Development Control Abuja Metropolitan Management Council

Abstract

This research harps on integrating Geospatial data components into the existing relational database of the Department of Development Control, Abuja. As the Government department is vested with the responsibility of processing building permits, monitoring urban development and management, and the overall implementation of the Abuja master plan, the adoption of a purpose-built Geo database is indispensable. Any computer application that is aimed at aiding Urban planning and monitoring must have a robust GIS database that can support making meaningful analyses, predictions, forecasting, simulation, and informed decision-making. It is observed that the department generates a lot of data through reports from field site officers at all the district offices, these data do have geo-spatial attributes but are not being stored appropriately as the existing system is devoid of GIS database, this ends up in duplications of efforts as the reports are repetitive, also losing the opportunity to create, store, retrieve data and map relevant important trends. The future in Urban Planning and management is in exploiting the synergies between city planning and three techno-scientific domains including Big Data, Data Science and Geographic Information Systems, this will collectively constitute an emerging field known as Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) The department of Development Control currently does not have a Geospatial data base to correlate with maps obtained from the Abuja Geographic information system in order to make meaningful analyses and make informed decision. The integration of a Geodatabase into the Development Control Information System will lay the foundation for collecting credible data for Geo-Spatial Artificial Intelligence in Abuja, and primarily strengthen the Department in undertaking its responsibilities and enhance the efficiency of urban services and functions, contribute to the production of spatial data and serve as a decision-making support tool