House management for land use enforcement at a watershed using a self-developed and Web-based GIS

Every house at Taipei Water Resource District is subject to land use enforcement in order to protect a water resource district. More than 5300 houses have been investigated and their site maps and household attributes have been created in the database at Taipei Water Resource Management Commission (TWMC). According to the law, every house has its own zoning code and when it was built is the critical component for strict land use enforcement. A self-developed GIS was written in visual BASIC to provide basic GIS functions and special functions for house management. Inquiry about a given house can be performed according to several different conditions of the household attributes. A house site map can be extracted on a color monitor for instant review. The x and y coordinates given by a palm-size GPS device can be input into a personal computer. Then the GIS can extract all relevant maps where this particular point locates. Further examination of the house can be performed right away and what kind of land use categories can be issued as well. Database manipulation is performed by SQL and all map formats are stored as a text-based vector format, scalable vector graphics (SVG). House management at TWMC can be performed in web browsers. The GIS provides simplicity and interactivity such that some functions of the house management can be open in Internet for general public