How We’re Using Geospatial Tech to Modernize City Planning

For city officials who handle urban development with countless projects, it is too complex. Keeping tabs on it all can feel like an impossible task. Tracking progress without visiting each site adds to the challenge. We, Absolute App Labs, can help with the urban planning technology solution that combines the power of drone imagery for urban planning with an intuitive, GIS-based portal. With our expertise, we can help the officials with an Eagle’s vision of every project, ensuring progress is always in sight.

For those of you asking, “I’m looking for a solution to manage my village development data," you’re not alone. The demand for a single, visual system to manage village development data is growing, and we heard you. With our expertise, we can design a solution to tackle this exact challenge, giving officials the unified, visual system they need to make smarter decisions faster.

We saw a critical need to simplify city development monitoring. We’ll begin our solution with a vision to bring all fragmented project data together into one platform, a GIS-enabled web portal. We can also design a custom dashboard that gives officials a unified hub for all their project information.

Our platform can be built on a scalable architecture that includes a MERN stack foundation for the main application. The dynamic, user-facing dashboard is a Single-Page Application built with React.js, and our backend is powered by Node.js and the Express.js framework. This setup ensures a fast and fluid experience.

For our geospatial capabilities, we’ll use QGIS Desktop and QGIS Server. QGIS Desktop handles map production and data visualization, while QGIS Server publishes our high-resolution maps to the web. The massive drone imagery files are stored securely on a dedicated file system server and are smoothly integrated into the portal.
We plan to design the portal to address key pain points with a dedicated focus on integration and control:

• High-Resolution Drone Imagery: The challenge of working with massive .ecw files was our top priority. The files are stored securely on an on-premise file server. To connect this data to the portal, we can build an API to access the files through a standardized folder structure. Then, develop and host a lightweight, web-based ECW viewer integration directly within the portal itself. This viewer consumes the images directly through our backend API, allowing officials to pan and zoom with a high-performance viewing experience, all from their browsers.
• Accessibility and Control: With a role-based access system, we can make sure that officials only view the data and images of the villages and departments they are responsible for, solving the challenge of managing diverse user groups while maintaining data security.

To ensure the platform is stable and always up to date, we design our development and deployment workflow with efficiency in mind. We would containerize the application using Docker and automate the delivery process with a CI/CD pipeline. This approach allows us to release fast updates without interrupting the workflow.

We believe in setting a new standard for urban oversight. By leveraging powerful tools like QGIS to build GIS maps, combining them with high-resolution drone imagery, and a robust data platform, we can create a solution that delivers a complete picture. The result could be an unparalleled view of every project, which allows the officials to make faster decisions, use resources more efficiently, and solve problems proactively. For us, this project is a testament to our commitment to building innovative solutions that empower smarter, more connected cities.