Geographical information technology as a planning tool

Despite the worldwide Gee-IT boom since the early 1990s, the function of the geographical information technology (Gee-IT) as an instrument to support policy in the field of physical planning in general and in the preparation of large scale spatial interventions in particular is limited. Up till now the use which have been made of these instruments have been largely restricted to so-called 'lower-order' planning activities: primarily the management and cartographic visualisation of spatial data. The so-called 'higher-order' planning activities in the framework of strategic spatial policy (e.g., physical design and research) predominantly lacks the broad scale application of this technology. However, the need of the highly complex physical planning activities for support is substantial. In this article we look closer to the contribution of the Gee-IT to the mentioned 'higher-order' planning activities, to the obstacles which block the way to a fuller performance of the function of the Gee-IT in this framework, to recent Gee-IT developments which are surmounting some of these obstacles, and to some methodological proposals that could contribute to the policy-support function of the Gee-IT in the framework of strategic spatial policy ('higher-order' planning activities).