Data-poor environments, or where data are not routinely collected and/or poorly archived, or where public records are not easily accessible understandably create a major obstacle to research and the reaping of the benefits of research for urban policy and urban management. However, in such rather unwelcoming research environments GIS seems to provide enhanced opportunities for maximizing the benefits of whatever data are available, as scarce as they may be. This research condition may not be unique to the case study presented here but presumably may apply to most countries in the developing world. The authors' use of GIS for the analysis of the case of an old neighborhood of Amman outlines a procedure for zooming in on areas of construction activity and understanding the relation between physical and social change, social change being here represented by change in landownership.