Abstract
Geographical Information System (GIS) remains a unique tool use for school mapping for a clear understanding of the nature, planning, and distribution of educational facilities. The study carried out a GIS analysis for male primary and secondary schools' distribution in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia, to show the significance of using GIS tools to assist the educational planning authorities. To understand, re-plan and address the location, distribution and availability challenges of the schools in Jeddah city. A Geodatabase for the study area was created, which incorporates education and population data collected from authorities. Spatial and network analyses are utilised to understand the location distribution, students' density, and the accessibility of the schools in the study region. The analyses results identified the services and students'; density, directional growth of the schools, drive-time service areas and served and un-served populace for the authorities in Saudi Arabia to make better planning decisions, address present and future challenges in the provision of primary schools to residents and most importantly to improve educational services. The findings revealed that shorter travel distances found in the denser ( central) part of the city and some regions that need more schools.