Abstract
In light of rapid urban developments in the cities of Saudi Arabia, the municipalities of the Kingdom strives to take advantage of the rapid advances in information technology, particularly geographic information systems, in planning and development and providing spatial integrated databases to improve the performance of daily activities. Thus, this study aims to measure and assess the use of geographic information systems and their applications in the government agencies concerned with urban planning in Riyadh region, and to identify the most important elements and obstacles they face in the urban planning. The problem of the study focuses on identifying the effectiveness of the use of GIS applications in urban planning in government agencies that have introduced these technologies within their system of work in Riyadh, which represent (8.4%) of all government agencies in the region, because some municipal agencies do not adopt modern technologies in urban planning and for lack of information on the ways and methods of using these applications. The study depends on the use of the descriptive survey approach, achieved by questioning the members of the research community, through identifying the current situation of the use of these systems in urban planning agencies, conducting interviews with officials and users of the system and determining the importance and feasibility of providing integrated geographic information systems to increase the efficiency of planning and development in the region. The study concludes a number of elements, which can contribute to the success of the available systems, and identifies some of the obstacles that limit their use and continuity and the problems faced by users. The study recommends to develop the geographic information systems, qualify the existing staff and to activate online sharing of urban data and information and communication between different planning and development agencies.