No matter the scale of urban planning, GIS is a useful tool for researching, developing, implementing, and monitoring the progress of planning efforts. GIS provides planners, surveyors, and engineers with the tools they need to design and map their neighborhoods and cities and to facilitate the decision-making process. The benefits of using GIS in local government include: increased efficiency, improved accuracy, automation of tasks, increased government access, improved collaboration among public agencies, better resource management, time and money savings, and enhanced public participation.