ESRI’s ArcIMS, the foundation for distributing Geographic Information System (GIS) data and applications on the Internet, is powering a new application at the Planning Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government.
Planning Department has launched a new Internet service to give the general public first hand, up-to-date information about statutory plans. Working with ESRI China (HK) business partner, PCCW, the Department has developed the e-Statutory Plans Internet Service (www.ozp.tpb.gov.hk). The system is an excellent example of the way in which Government can harness the advanced mapping technology of ArcIMS to achieve its e-Government initiatives, and the ability of ArcIMS to promote new and exciting ways of communicating, analysing and transferring geographic data across the WWW.
The Outline Zoning Plans and Development Permission Area Plans are statutory plans prepared by the Town Planning Board under the Town Planning Ordinance. At present, there are 107 statutory plans. These plans show the land use zonings and major road systems of individual planning scheme areas. Very often, the public would make reference to the plans for information concerning the proposed land uses adjoining their properties. The plans used to be only available in hard copies for sale, or for inspection at the Planning Enquiry Counter in the Planning Department during office hours. To improve the service to the public and to encourage greater public involvement in the town planning process, the Town Planning Board launched the e-Statutory Plans Service in May 2002 to allow the public to access such planning information 24 hours a day and seven days a week online through the Internet.
The new system provides an intuitive bilingual (Chinese/English) interface that can readily be used by professionals and general public alike. It allows users to browse and view plans at a variety of scales, to search for a particular location, street or building and, at the click of a mouse key, receive additional, detailed statutory town planning information.
ESRI China (HK), the local distributor of ESRI, supports ArcIMS the Internet mapping engine at the heart of the system in Hong Kong.
