ABSTRACT
The contribution of India’s GDP from the IT (Information and Technology) sector alone is approaching 8%, and the annual growth rate is hitting 12%. Reputed IT companies start to establish their firm in non-metropolitan cities. The state of Tamil Nadu has one of the most prominent IT corridors in its capital city, Chennai. Tirunelveli would be a promising city to have a similar IT corridor due to this decentraliszation process. The desired site is to be selected and developed for this corridor through proper planning and execution within the Tirunelveli district. A geographic information system (GIS) is a standard and propitious tool for site suitability analysis. Various criteria such as highway proximity, land use, terrain slope, corporation limit, waterbodies (lakes, ponds), and rivers are considered to meet this study’s objective. The restriction model will not give any preference or weightage to the criteria set as restricted and treated as an unsuitable zone for the required development process. With the help of various geoprocessing tools from the ArcGIS platform, the most suitable site for the development activities of the IT corridor has been determined. These analyses identified stretches between Tirunelveli–Valliyur 14 km, Tirunelveli–Kayathar about 10 km, and Tirunelveli–Kalakkad about 13 km, concluded as the suitable zone for the development of the IT corridor in Tirunelveli District. These results may assist the decision-makers and other authorised authorities to decide on the most suitable locations.
