International Journal of Arts & Sciences, CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 :: 4(16):65–73 (2011) Copyright c  2011 by InternationalJournal.org DEVELOPING NEW EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IN CITIES OR LARGE MUNICIPALITIES USING GIS: A CASE STUDY IN THESSALONIKI, GREECE Ioannis A. Pissourios Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece This study presents the modeling of the system of educational facilities included in a large city or a municipality, to facilitate a decision regarding the optimum location of a new educational facility. As will be shown, the allocation of a new school is a multidimensional one and for this reason, a particularly complex decision will have to be made, based on examining a large number of variables, relating both to the deficiencies in areas shown per each educational level, as well as the available land for erecting schools located within the urban area of study. The complexity of this decision necessarily leads to the modeling of the educational system and its management, using GIS. Specifically, the analysis data, which needs to be integrated into the GIS, is presented along with the process of analysis, interpretation and the conclusion drawing relating to the problems of the existing situation in conjunction with the methodology of finding those critical spatial entities, where the construction of a new, and of a particular level, educational installation, is more urgent. For the application of the methodology, the educational system of Thessaloniki, Greece, will be used as a case study. Keywords: Planning, Education facilities, GIS, Model. INTRODUCTION: EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES PLANNING AND THE USE OF GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS Urban planning has a complex relationship with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The process of urban intervention has mainly two phases: a) the analysis phase, in which the existing urban space is recorded and interpreted and b) the proposal phase, in which the future features of the urban space are planned and designed. During the analysis phase, GIS are used by planners as a tool for mapping and analysis of urban space. During the proposal phase, GIS retain their role as a tool (e.g., for cartographic production), while they enhance it as decision support systems. In this case, the modeling of spatial information in GIS, namely the organization of thematic layers, the organization of attribute data that accompanies each thematic level and their cartographic presentation are not only issues related to the technique of GIS, but also results of a given urban planning logic. Moreover, the design of thematic layers and their cartographic presentation can guide, or even manipulate, political decisions. This paper focuses on the planning of educational facilities, using as a case study the educational facilities in the municipality of Thessaloniki in Greece. Specifically, the interest 65