How UrbanForm is different from GIS, and why the distinction matters

This is one of the most frequently asked questions we hear:

How is UrbanForm different from GIS?

It’s a good question, and an important one. GIS plays a foundational role in how cities, counties, and regions manage spatial information. Many of the professionals we work with rely on GIS every day, and UrbanForm would not exist without it.

But UrbanForm is not a GIS system.

GIS Is an Essential Source. But it’s Not the Whole Picture.

At its core, GIS is exceptionally good at answering geospatial questions. Where is something? What are it’s boundaries? What zone does it fall within? How does it relate to surrounding infrastructure or environmental constraints?

Those questions matter deeply. GIS is the authoritative home for that information.

But building and development decisions require more than geospatial answers alone.

They require understanding how zoning, overlays, development standards, use tables, special districts, easements, assessor values, floodplains, and adopted regulations intersect and interact. This requires searching across multiple documents, formats, and systems. Many of those rules live outside GIS entirely, or only partially within it.

Development Requires Multiple Sources and Multiple Modalities

A typical zoning question does not live in a single place.

It spans:

• Spatial data from GIS

• Text-based municipal code

• Ordinance tables, charts, and diagrams

• Regional and/or jurisdictional overlays and special districts

• Local interpretations and adopted amendments

GIS can surface where things apply. It does not, on its own, resolve what those things mean together.That cross-linking still requires time, local expertise, and careful interpretation.

Where UrbanForm Comes In

UrbanForm aggregates information from many sources. GIS is one of those critical sources, but it is not the only one.

UrbanForm’s role is to connect spatial data with regulatory text, development standards, and contextual rules, and then present that information in a way that answers the question people are actually asking:

What can be built here, and what do I need to know before I start?

This is where UrbanForm’s proprietary technology provides value that no single source can on its own. It does not replace GIS. It builds on it. It translates and cross-references information across systems so professionals can move from location to understanding without stitching everything together manually.

Built for How Work Actually Happens

In practice, this distinction matters.

Planners use GIS to manage data. Architects and developers need clarity to make decisions. Building officials need consistent, defensible answers. The public needs access to the same information staff rely on.

UrbanForm sits between these needs. It respects the authority of GIS and other primary sources while making their combined meaning easier to access and understand.

A Complement, Not a Replacement

One of the most important things to say clearly is this:

UrbanForm does not replace GIS.

It complements it.

GIS remains the backbone of spatial data management. UrbanForm leverages that investment and extends its usefulness by making zoning and development information accessible to people who are not GIS experts, but who still need accurate, authoritative answers.

If you’re interested in how GIS fits into this broader ecosystem, we recently explored that topic in more depth in a previous post, which you can read here:  https://www.urbanform.us/post/how-urbanform-and-municipal-gis-work-together

Why This Question Keeps Coming Up

We think this question comes up so often because it reflects a real tension in the built environment: the gap between where information lives and how it’s actually used.

UrbanForm exists to narrow that gap.

Not by replacing existing systems, but by helping them work together more effectively—so projects can start with clarity, staff time can be used more intentionally, and better decisions can be made earlier.