Enhancing segregation studies using GIS

Urban geography and urban studies employ a very rich set of analytical tools to analyze a variety of urban issues and problems. At the same time, GIS possess very powerful spatial tools and provide a very flexible environment for spatial analysis. In this paper, we demonstrate that urban segregation studies can benefit tremendously from GIS technology. Several analytical tools for segregation are incorporated into GIS. Exploratory methods for segregation studies in GIS are introduced. The approach to integrate urban analysis tools with GIS introduced here can also be adopted to address other types of urban issues and problems.