The integration of case-based systems and GIS in development control

Case-based systems (CBS) are a type of knowledge-based system (KBS) based on case-based reasoning (CBR), in which the underlying philosophy is to use previous cases to interpret or solve a new problem. There are many advantages of CBR over rule-based reasoning, which is the method adopted by most current KBS for development control. The knowledge representation scheme of CBS is better than rule-based reasoning in terms of recording and representing knowledge that is difficult to express with explicit rules or is too case specific. The results derived directly from real cases in CBR are more convincing and acceptable to planners. Development control is used to examine the applicability of CBR in urban planning. It was selected because, amongst all the functions of urban planning, it is relatively easy to deal with the problems of building a CBS for development control, such as how to define a case, how to index cases, how to retrieve and adapt a case, and how to obtain the outcome of a decision. A system that integrates a CBR shell (ESTEEM) and GIS package (ArcView) was developed to demonstrate the process of building a CBS to assist planners in the Planning Department of Hong Kong to handle planning applications in development control.