Optimizing Bengaluru’s road network: A GIS-driven urban infrastructure analysis

The state of a region’s transportation system has a significant influence on its overall development. To address challenges such as traffic congestion, delays, pollution, increasing vehicle operating costs, and road accidents, modern urban environments require efficient and well-connected road networks. Conducting a comprehensive analysis of a city’s road infrastructure using digital tools can provide practical solutions to these challenges. Geographic Information System (GIS) software, such as QGIS, offers an effective platform for mapping, analyzing, and visualizing road networks to support informed decision-making. This study develops a detailed road network map of Bengaluru, India, by digitizing and analyzing the existing transportation infrastructure to identify efficient routes between key locations. Using the QGIS Network Analyst extension, the city’s interconnected road network was analyzed to determine shortest routes between selected origin-destination pairs. Route optimization was performed using road distance as the primary network impedance factor, and the resulting network dataset was evaluated to support urban mobility planning and transportation infrastructure assessment. The digitized road network was further analyzed to examine road-network connectivity, route efficiency, and ward-level infrastructure distribution, providing insights for future transportation planning and urban development.