Study of the layout adjustment of basic farmland based on Geographic Information System: A case study on Gao´an city

China´s arable land resource is scarce. To protect the arable land, China carries out a basic farmland protection system. Arable lands with best natural qualities, location conditions and larger areas are protected as basic land. It´s specifically stipulated that the basic farmland should be determined in the general land use planning. A certain quality and quantity of basic farmland is not only a solid foundation for regional food security, but also an important guarantee for China´s national economy and sustainable social development. However, there are few methods of appropriate adjustment of the basic farmland layout which is based on the premise that the original layout of the basic farmland should remain stable in order to satisfy the needs of the socio-economic development and the requirements of improving the quality of the basic farmland. The aim of this study is to attempt to find out a method of using Geographic Information System to finish the work of adjustment of the basic farmland layout based on the concept of basic farmland and the requirement on basic farmland adjustment in the new round of land use planning. Using the functions of information processing and spatial analysis of GIS in the adjustment process can provide a scientific result, and can increase the work efficiency. This paper takes the Gao´an city as an example with the purpose of confirming the structural operability of this method, and thereby, to establish a GIS-based technology for basic farmland adjustment and provide a scientific reference for Gao´an´s new round of land use planning.