Abstract

Among all the means of transportation, road has been described as the most important, probably because of its flexibility and its low cost in terms of construction, maintenance and usage. However, in Nigeria, road is considered to be the most dangerous means of transportation because of their bad nature such as sharp bends, narrow bridges, steep slopes and other related problems which are associated with the terrain where these roads are constructed. Road transportation therefore needs proper planning and development through the use of geo-information technologies that would ease accessibility reduces human energy and yet brings reliable and accurate information on the terrain. In this paper, Ilwis 3.5 was used to create Digital Elevation Modelling (DEM), Shadowing, 3-Dimentional View, Slope maps and river direction maps of Biu plateau to analyze the use of GIS on road planning and development on the plateau. It was revealed that the technique has great capabilities of terrain analysis as features which are deemed humanly impossible to assess are viewed as if one is at the scene which may enhance quick analysis on road transportation. It was therefore, recommended that all the stake holders in road transportation should employ the use of this geo-information techniques in terrain analysis to ease transport planning and development in the area.

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