Planning sustainable development projects requires comprehensive and reliable information to serve as the base for making timely and reasonable decisions. A Geographical Information System (GIS) can be used to obtain such information in a comparatively quick and easy way using specialized maps and numeric data. In this study, a GIS approach is established to enhance the development of a useful energy scenario for the selection of irrigation technologies in Bangladesh, based on the irrigated cropped area. The irrigation technologies considered were shallow tubewell, force mode tubewell, low lift pump, manual operated pump units, and traditional systems as power sources. The objective of this approach was to develop the energy scenario of irrigation technology during two cropping seasons in Bangladesh. The model estimated the amounts of energy used, the amounts needed, and shortages for the selected irrigation technologies. Mapping algebra in avenue request, and spatial analysis was done for multi-layered model development. The spatial distribution of the uses, needs, and shortages of energy was analyzed for 64 districts of Bangladesh. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.