Urban areas face critical environmental problems, which are manifested at the time of crises. To avoid such occurrences the first requirement is quantification and "resource potentiality", its availability and consumption in the urban areas which requires a comprehensive urban information system (UIS) to be developed to cater to the developmental needs of the growing urban areas.

The analysis capabilities of a GIS package allow the planner to address what - if questions and work out a variety of action plans in a scientific manner. A number of problems can be solved by geographic analysis.

Typical examples are :

Town ship development
Relationships between agricultural parameters such as yield and salinity
Land capability analysis
Site locations for facilities
Environmental problems such as animal migration