In many countries and regions, public administrations are revising their urban planning and land-use legislation with a shared goal: to simplify procedures, reduce administrative burdens, and adapt territorial management to an increasingly complex and dynamic reality.

The Valencian Community (Spain) is a recent example of this process, with the promotion of a new Land Law based on a widely shared diagnosis: excessively long procedures, documentary overload, duplication of information, and difficulties in coordinating data across departments and administrations. A situation that, to a greater or lesser extent, is repeated in many other territories.

Beyond this specific case, the reform highlights a key idea: regulatory modernisation requires solid digital infrastructures.

From paper-based planning to data-driven urban management

New regulatory approaches increasingly point towards:

• More agile procedures
• More flexible planning frameworks
• Greater emphasis on management and monitoring rather than static documents
• Improved coordination of sectoral reports

This represents a paradigm shift: planning is no longer just a collection of approved documents, but a living system, based on up-to-date, interoperable and reusable geographic information.

SDI as an essential public infrastructure

In this context, Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) evolve from being a purely technical solution to becoming an essential public infrastructure, comparable to other core corporate systems used by public administrations.

A municipal SDI enables:

• Centralisation of urban and territorial information
• Reduction of duplication and inconsistencies
• Interoperability between administrations
• Better decision-making through an integrated view of the territory

The gvSIG Suite as a practical response

The gvSIG Suite fits naturally into this scenario, offering a comprehensive solution based on open standards:

• gvSIG Online, as the core of the SDI, for managing, publishing and sharing urban and territorial information.
• gvSIG Mapps, to support field data capture, inventories, inspections and the monitoring of actions and interventions.
• gvSIG Desktop, as an advanced tool for data editing, analysis and quality control, when more demanding analytical or cartographic workflows are required.

Together, these tools cover the entire life cycle of geographic information, from data generation to its use in decision-making and communication with citizens.

A shared opportunity for local governments

Although each territory operates under its own legal framework, the message is widely applicable: simplifying urban management requires well-structured and well-organised information — and much of that information is inherently geographic.

Processes such as the one currently taking place in the Valencian Community can therefore be seen as examples that are transferable to other contexts, where SDIs and integrated geospatial platforms become a cornerstone for more efficient, transparent and service-oriented territorial management.

The gvSIG Suite — and in particular gvSIG Online as an integrated solution for territorial information management — is increasingly adopted by local administrations of all sizes, from small municipalities to large cities, provinces and inter-municipal organisations.
Now is the time to join.