Integrating GIS and Urban Informatics for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Infrastructure Planning

Urban Air Mobility (UAM), enabled by electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, is an emerging transport mode considerable for multimodal urban transport systems. Integrating UAM infrastructure and vertiports spatial allocation in the urban space, requires systematic spatial analysis of urban morphology, multimodal transport accessibility, legal and regulatory constraints, and population dynamics. This paper presents a three-stage methodological framework combining Geographic Information Systems and urban informatics to identify and evaluate spatial data correlations necessary for UAM planning in dense metropolitan areas. Stage 1 addresses multi-source spatial data acquisition encompassing three-dimensional building models, cadastral records, transport network topologies, and population density surfaces. Stage 2 a GIS-based processing through three-dimensional Boolean safety filtering and multi-objective Pareto optimization of candidate vertiport sites is carried out. In Stage 3 exogenous validation is performed, with use of Monte Carlo flight trajectory simulations and stated-preference and activity – travels questionnaires surveys to ensure predictive independence from the suitability model’s own inputs. Accessibility to transportation, population density and point-of-interest concentration, are important parameters as they directly determine passenger demand potential and UAM’s integration to existing mobility networks. Building height and ambient noise levels are also important, as they define the three-dimensional operational envelope and the regulatory compliance boundaries that govern safe eVTOL deployment. The proposed framework contributes to the ongoing discussion on UAM spatial planning and integration to urban planning by bridging urban informatics with advanced air mobility, offering urban planners and policymakers a novel approach on UAM’s integration to the overall urban and spatial planning.