Harbour-side land parcel land-use changes: significance in re-development planning permit appraisal in Melbourne, Australia

Results are presented of spatial query at the land parcel level of a (digital) spatial database, referring to the twentieth century Harbour-side zone of the Port of Melbourne. They refer mainly to land-use histories of individual land parcels. Such histories can be now deployed routinely in decision support during assessment of heritage potential in aid of re-development/excavation permit appraisal.Such query has long been possible in a general way: the innovation brought forward in this presentation refers to the new level of detail that is achieved by adopting digital spatial database query. The prerequisite for such query is the kind of digital spatial database that we have built from imposing spatial compatibility on archival maps and air photos.It is argued that much interest will attach to implementing the spatial database building process exemplified in this paper for decision-making in planning permit appraisal. For instance, contaminated ground might be better identified. Modern data handling tools make this feasible in a routine way if the necessary data and information flow paths and data sharing can be arranged.