Environmental planning and management is meant to guide and control human use of resources and interaction with the environment, in order to be able to impose some certain restriction on the use of space and land resources, and to ensure that the environments intrinsic quality is not adversely affected. In other words, it is a conscious process of making decisions that are geared towards safeguarding resources from abuse or misuse by humans.

The overall goal is to ensure the sustainability of the use of the natural and human environments. In the same vein, the notion of sustainability implies that humans derive the maximum benefit from the environment, both economically and socially while at the same time maintaining its intrinsic quality. Thus, the concept of sustainable development simply implies that we must meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.
Moreover, Geographical Information Systems are computer information systems that store and analyze information about the features that make up the earth‘s surface. They give expression to spatial data and hence represent mechanisms for handling spatial digital data. Thus, GIS are designed to store, process and harmonize data from numerous sources such as tables, maps, soil survey, satellite imagery, computer-aided-design (CAD), other engineering drawings, ortho photo and remotely sensed data.

These different sets of data are usually in dissimilar formats and scales; they have to be combined to be useable. Therefore, the totality of these datasets must be put together somewhere for GIS use, and that place is the database, a program that stores and manages data. GIS provides such an important role in the understanding of those things that surround us, it especially offer solutions to crucial societal problems that have spatial manifestations.

Currently, GIS have become major tools of investigation and analysis whose continued growth and relevance is driven by developments in information technology as well as inventions such as document imaging, text processing, multimedia technology, networking communications, electronic data interchange, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) methods. The source of these technologies is varied but the focal point here is on data collection, storage, management, retrieval and analysis.  

Furthermore, GIS is a form of management information systems or rather an aspect of information technology that stores and analyze data. This indicates that GIS is related to many other features of the information technology such as Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Cartography, Database Management and Remote Sensing System. Besides, modern information technology of GIS emphasized the need for greater levels of accuracy and precision in data processing and analysis, thus, studies in environmental planning and management becomes much more relevant and beneficial to the society especially when it is introduced within the framework that emphasizes integrated approach. GIS converts all spatial data into a digital code which it arranges in a database.

Practitioners and experts can then program the GIS to process the information and produce the images that they required for decision making and management. By using GIS, scientists can research changes in the environment, engineers can design road systems, energy producing outfits can manage their complex networks of power lines, oil producers can manage their pipelines, government can track the use of land, fire and security departments can also plan emergency routes and many more.

Generally, GIS have been consistently applied by different scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines and for a variety of purposes in inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary studies and analysis. Its applications are quite numerous; it is applicable to areas such as forestry, agriculture, land parcel management, transport planning, public health, urban planning, resource management, education planning and many others. GIS applications can offer the basis for the development of decision support systems and solutions in many areas of development including:

• Monitoring changes in the natural and human environments for example, vegetation covers, water bodies, topography, infrastructure etc.
• Transport Network Management such as provision and maintenance of highways.
• Forecasting changes as in the area of housing requirements, travel patterns, school enrolments and many other developmental areas.
• Resource management as in the area of resource inventory and management especially for forestry, agriculture, water resource management, land use planning, and wildlife management.
• Service planning for social services such as provision of water, landfills, schools, electricity, telephone, healthcare as well as forecasting changes in pattern of needs for these services.
• Public protection and Security systems such as location of police station, fire hydrants and planning for other emergencies.
• Urban Planning and Development as in the area of spatial organization and development control.
• Hazard and Disaster Management as in the modeling of community vulnerability to all forms of hazards and disasters, and also
• Planning for population and housing census purposes.    

On the whole, beyond question, the need for proper management of the urban environments is very pertinent and urgent at this particular point in time when the environment is obviously endangered. No doubt, one of the most relevant approaches to adopt for this management is through GIS. The field of Geographic Information Systems brings together an array of interests, perspectives and concepts each of which are based on digital technology and have thus revolutionized the way maps and spatial analyses are produced and carried out.

To this extent, Geographical Information Systems is very essential for achieving some greater level of success in socio-economic planning and sustainable development. 

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