The Use of Geographic Information Systems for Resource Evaluation: A New Zealand Example

Over the last decade, New Zealand has implemented innovative reforms in respect of natural resource and environmental management. These include the Resource ManagementAct 1991 (RMA), a notable feature of which is the adoption of 'sustainable management' as the key principle guiding resource allocation and use. This and other features of the new administrative context for resource management strongly suggest a prominent role for geographicinformation systems (GIS) and related spatial information technology. In this paper we present an outline of the Regional Resource Evaluation Project (RREP), a project that has been established to explore and demonstrate the capabilities of GIS and related spatial information technology in the context of resource analysis and decision making. To date, the RREP has achieved important outcomes in terms of database design and development. An extensive information base which incorporates data on the physical and natural environment, patterns of human activity, and on social and demographic characteristics has been assembled. We describe the information systems, as well as some of the technical issues that attend to database design and development.We also provide brief reviews of two applications of the GIS to resource evaluation. One relates to the evaluation of changes in regional land use, with a focus on natural habitats. The other is concerned with land suitability assessment for plantation forestry.     

基于RS与GIS的规划用地生态适宜性评价

利用遥感影像获取研究区土地利用类型,并运用GIS空间分析功能,分析了影响开发区规划用地生态适宜性的7个因子,并以此对生态适宜性进行综合评价,得到了定量化的评价结果,为区域规划奠定了基础。     

A Conceptual Model for Defining and Assessing Land Management Units Using a Fuzzy Modeling Approach in GIS Environment

Appropriate land management decisions are important for current and future use of the land to ensure its sustainability. This requires that land management units (LMUs) be specified to enable the identification of specific parameters employed in decision making processes. This paper presents the development of a conceptual model, within geographic information systems (GIS), for defining and assessing LMUs from available biophysical information. The model consists of two main components (sub-models): land quality-based suitability analysis and soil erosion estimation. Using a fuzzy set methodology, the first sub-model was constructed to derive a land suitability index (LSI) for a cropping land utilization type. The LSI thus highlights the suitability grades of every pixel in the study area on a continuous basis. A sub-model of soil erosion was established based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) utilising the same spatial data bases employed for structuring the LSI. Using a soil loss tolerance principle, a fuzzy membership function of average annual soil loss (called soil loss index, SLI) was established, leading to compatibility between LSI and SLI for data integration. LMUs were then derived from various combinations of LSI and SLI. The methodology developed shows the significance of the model for refining available land suitability evaluation systems, which take no account of expected land degradation (from erosion) due to a nominated land use. It also provides a valuable guideline for cost-effective GIS applications in the identification and assessment of homogeneous land units, using available spatial information sets, at a finer scale.     

Landscape Characterization Integrating Expert and Local Spatial Knowledge of Land and Forest Resources

In many developing countries, political documentation acknowledges the crucial elements of participation and spatiality for effective land use planning. However, operative approaches to spatial data inclusion and representation in participatory land management are often lacking. In this paper, we apply and develop an integrated landscape characterization approach to enhance spatial knowledge generation about the complex human–nature interactions in landscapes in the context of Zanzibar, Tanzania. We apply an integrated landscape conceptualization as a theoretical framework where the expert and local knowledge can meet in spatial context. The characterization is based on combining multiple data sources in GIS, and involves local communities and their local spatial knowledge since the beginning into the process. Focusing on the expected information needs for community forest management, our characterization integrates physical landscape features and retrospective landscape change data with place-specific community knowledge collected through participatory GIS techniques. The characterization is established in a map form consisting of four themes and their synthesis. The characterization maps are designed to support intuitive interpretation, express the inherently uncertain nature of the data, and accompanied by photographs to enhance communication. Visual interpretation of the characterization mediates information about the character of areas and places in the studied local landscape, depicting the role of forest resources as part of the landscape entity. We conclude that landscape characterization applied in GIS is a highly potential tool for participatory land and resource management, where spatial argumentation, stakeholder communication, and empowerment are critical issues.     

Towards an Integrated Approach to Natural Hazards Risk Assessment Using GIS: With Reference to Bushfires

This paper develops a GIS-based integrated approach to risk assessment in natural hazards, with reference to bushfires. The challenges for undertaking this approach have three components: data integration, risk assessment tasks, and risk decision-making. First, data integration in GIS is a fundamental step for subsequent risk assessment tasks and risk decision-making. A series of spatial data integration issues within GIS such as geographical scales and data models are addressed. Particularly, the integration of both physical environmental data and socioeconomic data is examined with an example linking remotely sensed data and areal census data in GIS. Second, specific risk assessment tasks, such as hazard behavior simulation and vulnerability assessment, should be undertaken in order to understand complex hazard risks and provide support for risk decision-making. For risk assessment tasks involving heterogeneous data sources, the selection of spatial analysis units is important. Third, risk decision-making concerns spatial preferences and/or patterns, and a multicriteria evaluation (MCE)-GIS typology for risk decision-making is presented that incorporates three perspectives: spatial data types, data models, and methods development. Both conventional MCE methods and artificial intelligence-based methods with GIS are identified to facilitate spatial risk decision-making in a rational and interpretable way. Finally, the paper concludes that the integrated approach can be used to assist risk management of natural hazards, in theory and in practice.     

Unveiling soil degradation and desertification risk in the Mediterranean basin: a data mining analysis of the relationships between biophysical and socioeconomic factors in agro-forest landscapes

Soil degradation and desertification processes in the Mediterranean basin reflect the interplay between environmental and socioeconomic drivers. An approach to evaluate comparatively the multiple relationships between biophysical variables and socioeconomic factors is illustrated in the present study using the data collected from 586 field sites located in five Mediterranean areas (Spain, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco). A total of 47 variables were chosen to illustrate land-use, farm characteristics, population pressure, tourism development, rainfall regime, water availability, soil properties and vegetation cover, among others. A data mining approach incorporating non-parametric inference, principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering was developed to identify candidate syndromes of soil degradation and desertification risk. While field sites in the same study area showed a substantial similarity, the multivariate relationship among variables diverged among study areas. Data mining techniques proved to be a practical tool to identify spatial determinants of soil degradation and desertification risk. Our findings identify the contrasting spatial patterns for biophysical and socioeconomic variables, in turn associated with different responses to land degradation.     

Constructing Interpretable Environments from Multidimensional Data: GIS Suitability Overlays and Principal Component Analysis

In landscape planning applications, practitioners and governmental agencies are often faced with a broad array of clientele and constituents having particular land use requirements and needs, ranging from biological conservation to urban development, generating complex multidimensional regional planning goals and objectives. Under this often complex situation, investigators are searching for methods to intelligently simplify complicated spatial environments and render them into interpretable and practical settings. While numerous investigators have studied the generation of a single suitability map, we were interested in addressing the problem of coping with a set of many suitability maps. We applied a data reduction method, principal component analysis, across 15 suitability overlays representing diverse landscape requirements to search for simplified explanations indicating the latent structure of the landscape. The study area was located in a moraine landscape of southern Michigan. We discovered that the 15 suitability overlays could be reduced to seven dimensions, containing 65% of the original data structure and that the seven dimensions reflect a structure where a variety of land uses each have their own optimal spatial locations, indicating low to moderate competition between potentially conflicting land uses and rendering a more easily understood environment. This approach did not render a simple elegant solution but it did reduce the complexity associated with combining many suitability maps.     

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN WATERSHED MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING1

ABSTRACT: Watershed management decision making is a complex process. Cooperation and communication among federal, state, and local stakeholders is required while balancing biophysical and socioeconomic concerns. The public is taking part in environmental decisions, and the need for technology transfer from public agencies to stakeholders is increasing. Information technology has had a profound influence on watershed management over the past decade. Advances in data acquisition through remote sensing, data utilization through geographic information systems (GIS), and data sharing through the Internet have provided watershed managers access to more information for management decisions. In the future, applications incorporating hydrologic simulation models, GIS, and decision support systems will be deployed through the Internet. In addition to challenges in making complex modeling technology available to diverse audiences, new information technology issues, such as interoperability, Internet access, and security, are introduced when GIS, simulation models, and decision support systems are integrated in an Internet environment. This paper presents a review of current use of information technology in watershed management decision making and a discussion of issues created when developing Internet based, integrated watershed management decision support systems. A prototype spatial decision support system (SDSS) for rangeland watershed management was developed using web services, which are components that communicate using text based messages, thus eliminating proprietary protocols. This new framework provides an extensible, accessible, and interoperable approach for SDSS.     

A GIS-based approach for assessing the regional conservation status of genetic diversity: an example from the southern Appalachians

Conserving genetic diversity requires an assessment of the distribution of genetic variants in relation to patterns of land use and environmental variation at a regional scale. This assessment requires a novel approach to integrating and analyzing the genetic and environmental data across spatial scales. To explore the integration of genetic data with other geospatial data sets, we developed a GIS-based approach for examining patterns of genetic diversity for several species of salamanders in southern Appalachians. The genetic data, from allozyme surveys in the genetics literature, were integrated into a GIS database along with related attributes including population identifications and spatial locations. Using existing geospatial data, we classified sample locations as being either protected from anthropogenic disturbance (e.g., National Parks, Wilderness Areas) or as unprotected (e.g., private lands, multiple-use lands in National Forests). We used multidimensional scaling of allelic frequencies and contributions of populations to interpopulation differences in allelic richness to determine which populations had genetic characteristics most different from other populations in the sample. Measures of genetic differentiation were integrated into the GIS database to facilitate spatial analysis and visualization of the indices in relation to land use. This approach was useful for both identification of populations with components of genetic variation that were not well represented at protected sites and for identifying areas of species distributions where more genetic sampling would be necessary to make informed management decisions. Our approach could be readily adapted for use by managers and geneticists working with other species and types of genetic markers.     

GIS-based urban sustainability assessment: The case of Dammam city, Saudi Arabia

This paper applies an integrated approach to assessing urban sustainability in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. The approach, based on geographic information systems (GIS), involves the evaluation of the planning process, the master plan and the land use activities resulting from planning. It concludes that some aspects of sustainability are not addressed by the planning process and the plan document. The planning process and the plan document addressed economic sustainability issues more than social and environmental issues. The result of the GIS-based sustainability assessment of the study area produces similar findings. The paper develops a sustainable planning guidance and makes some recommendations based on the findings.     

人海和谐视角下沿海城市国土空间开发建设适宜性评价研究——以江苏省沿海地区为例

国土空间开发适宜性评价对合理开发国土空间、优化国土空间利用格局具有重要的科学指导价值。遵循陆海统筹原则,采用短板原理、线性加权求和法、空间叠加分析法,从自然环境适宜性、资源环境承载力两个方面构建适宜性评价指标体系,通过对经济社会统计数据、空间数据的处理叠加,对江苏省沿海城市南通、盐城、连云港国土空间开发适宜性进行评价与分析。研究结果表明,国土空间开发适宜性空间分异明显,江苏沿海地区不适宜、基本不适宜、基本适宜、适宜区域面积分别为14 710.37 km²、3376.18 km²、6776.30 km²、5695.64km²,分别占陆域国土总面积的46.76%、10.73%、21.54%、18.10%,各地级市外围区域保护与发展之间的矛盾较为突出。     

GIS and the Analytic Hierarchy Process for Regional Landfill Site Selection in Transitional Countries: A Case Study From Serbia

The Serbian National Waste Management Strategy for the Period 2010–2019, harmonized with the European Union Directives, mandates new and very strict requirements for landfill sites. To enable analysis of a number of required qualitative and quantitative factors for landfill site selection, the traditional method of site selection must be replaced with a new approach. The combination of GIS and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was selected to solve this complex problem. The Srem region in northern Serbia, being one of the most environmentally sensitive areas, was chosen as a case study. Seventeen factors selected as criteria/sub-criteria were recognized as most important, divided into geo-natural, environmental, social and techno-economic factors, and were evaluated by experts from different fields using an AHP extension in Arc GIS. Weighted spatial layers were combined into a landfill suitability map which was then overlapped with four restriction maps, resulting in a final suitability map. According to the results, 82.65% of the territory of Srem is unsuitable for regional landfill siting. The most suitable areas cover 9.14%, suitable areas 5.24%, while areas with low and very low suitability cover 2.21 and 0.76% of the territory, respectively. Based on these findings, five sites close to two large urban agglomerations were suggested as possible locations for a regional landfill site in Srem. However, the final decision will require further field investigation, a public acceptance survey, and consideration of ownership status and price of the land.     

Modeling the Suitability of Potential Wetland Mitigation Sites with a Geographic Information System

Wetland mitigation is frequently required to compensate for unavoidable impacts to wetlands. Site conditions and landscape context are critical factors influencing the functions that created wetlands perform. We developed a spatial model and used a geographic information system (GIS) to identify suitable locations for wetland mitigation sites. The model used six variables to characterize site conditions: hydrology, soils, historic condition, vegetation cover, adjacent vegetation, and land use. For each variable, a set of suitability scores was developed that indicated the wetland establishment potential for different variable states. Composite suitability scores for individual points on the landscape were determined from the weighted geometric mean of suitability scores for each variable at each point. These composite scores were grouped into five classes and mapped as a wetland mitigation suitability surface with a GIS. Sites with high suitability scores were further evaluated using information on the feasibility of site modification and project cost. This modeling approach could be adapted by planners for use in identifying the suitability of locations as wetland mitigation sites at any site or region.     

A mathematical structure for analyzing maps

The growing use of computers in environmental management is profoundly changing data collection procedures, analytic processes, and even the decision-making environment itself. The emerging technology of geographic information systems (GIS) is expanding this revolution to integrate spatial information fully into research, planning, and management of land. In one sense, this technology is similar to conventional map processing involving traditional maps and drafting aids, such as pens, rub-on shading, rulers, planimeters, dot grids, and acetate sheets for light-table overlays. In another sense, these systems provide advanced analytic capabilities, enabling managers to address complex issues in entirely new ways. This report discusses a fundamental approach to computer-assisted map analysis that treats entire maps as variables. The set of analytic procedures for processing mapped data forms a mathematical structure analogous to traditional statistics and algebra. All of the procedures discussed are available for personal computer environments.     

INTEGRATING DEMOGRAPHIC AND LANDSAT (TM) DATA AT A WATERSHED SCALE1

ABSTRACT: Recurrent calls for integrated resource management urge that an understanding of human activities and populations be incorporated into natural resource research, management, and protection efforts. In this paper, we hypothesize that watersheds can be a valuable geography for organizing an inquiry into the relationship between humans and the environment, and we present a framework for conducting such efforts. The framework is grounded in the emerging field of landscape ecology and incorporates demographic theory and data. Demography has been advanced by technological capabilities associated with the 1990 Census. Employing Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, we couple Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) land cover data with census‐derived housing density data to demonstrate the operation of our framework and its utility for better understanding human‐landscape interactions. In our investigation of the Kickapoo Watershed and two sub‐ watersheds, located in southwestern Wisconsin, we identify relationships between landscape composition and the distribution and social structure of human populations. Our findings offer insight into the interplay between people and biophysical systems.     

Definition of Homogeneous Environmental Management Units for the Catalan Coast

Geographical areas constitute the basic implementation locus for integrated coastal zone management strategies and activities. Because the definition of territorial planning objectives may be affected by socioeconomic and environmental characteristics, one of the main steps in the process involves dividing the coast into homogeneous environmental management units (HEMUs). This article presents a general and simple method for regionalizing the landside of a coastal zone into HEMUs and illustrates it through application to the Catalan coast. Socioeconomic and natural (biophysical) subsystems were selected as the most appropriate dimensions of the regionalization process. Dimensions were described using 11 spatial themes, which were managed in a geographic information system environment that proved to be an adequate tool for the purpose. A final coastal zone map of four classes of HEMUs connected to local administrative units was obtained, and because it reflects the current natural and socioeconomic dynamics, it can be considered as an initial step in the planning process for the Catalan coast. Although the proposed method was developed based on the characteristics of the Catalan coast, it is general enough to be adapted and applied to most developed or developing coastal areas.     

The concept of the Portuguese National Ecological Reserve: constraints and impossibilities in the Azores Archipelago

The biophysical features of small islands (SI) distinguish them from other territories; isolation, small size and several anthropogenic pressures reduce the resilience of ecosystems and increase their vulnerability to global changes. Many SI have a shortage of infrastructures, institutions and technical/financial resources that hinder planning and require different integrated solutions. In Portugal, the National Ecological Reserve (NER) is legally binding for spatial planning instruments. It aims to defend natural values and areas of ecological value, or sensibility, or susceptible to natural hazards. However, the criteria for the design of NER are strictly set for mainland territory, not taking into account specific features of small islands. A case study of the Azores Archipelago is used to demonstrate that spatial planning instruments should be adapted to island contexts. Such adaptation will increase the effectiveness of their implementation in relation to the protection of natural resources, stability of biophysical structures and prevention of natural hazards. Observing the main differences between mainland and the Azores Archipelago it is possible to define a methodological transposition of the NER aims and goals into an island context. This approach is an answer to the constraints in effective adaptation of spatial planning instruments for islands.     

Comparison of Two Spatial Optimization Techniques: A Framework to Solve Multiobjective Land Use Distribution Problems

Two spatial optimization approaches, developed from the opposing perspectives of ecological economics and landscape planning and aimed at the definition of new distributions of farming systems and of land use elements, are compared and integrated into a general framework. The first approach, applied to a small river catchment in southwestern France, uses SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and a weighted goal programming model in combination with a geographical information system (GIS) for the determination of optimal farming system patterns, based on selected objective functions to minimize deviations from the goals of reducing nitrogen and maintaining income. The second approach, demonstrated in a suburban landscape near Leipzig, Germany, defines a GIS-based predictive habitat model for the search of unfragmented regions suitable for hare populations (Lepus europaeus), followed by compromise optimization with the aim of planning a new habitat structure distribution for the hare. The multifunctional problem is solved by the integration of the three landscape functions (“production of cereals,” “resistance to soil erosion by water,” and “landscape water retention”). Through the comparison, we propose a framework for the definition of optimal land use patterns based on optimization techniques. The framework includes the main aspects to solve land use distribution problems with the aim of finding the optimal or best land use decisions. It integrates indicators, goals of spatial developments and stakeholders, including weighting, and model tools for the prediction of objective functions and risk assessments. Methodological limits of the uncertainty of data and model outcomes are stressed. The framework clarifies the use of optimization techniques in spatial planning.     

Assessing Land-Use Impacts on Natural Resources

/ Much information is available on changes that occur in natural resources from both spatially-explicit data on environmental conditions and models of the interactions of these conditions and resources with human activities. The strategy for assessing land-use impacts on natural resources developed in this paper provides a framework for using relevant data and models to address questions of how management practices can promote both use and protection of resources. This assessment strategy integrates spatially explicit environmental data using geographic information systems (GIS) with computer models that simulate changes in land cover in response to land-use impacts. The computer models also simulate susceptibility of species to changes in habitat suitability and landscape patterns. The approach is applied to management of limestone barrens on the Oak Ridge Reservation in East Tennessee. Potential limestone barrens habitats are identified by overlaying appropriate soils, geology, slope, and land-use/land-cover conditions. Their validity is tested against known sites containing rare species that occur in these habitats. The location of habitats at risk in the aftermath of human activities is determined by using an available area model that identifies the size and proximity of sites that particular types of species can no longer use as habitat. The resulting risk map can be used in land management planning. The approach uses readily available in situ and remotely sensed data and is applicable to a wide range of locations and land-use scenarios. This approach can be refined based on needs identified by land managers and on the sensitivity of the results to the resolution of available resource information.KEY WORDS: Land management; Assessment; Habitat characterization; Limestone barrens; Ecological modeling; Geographic information systems     

Fuzzy assessment of land suitability for scientific research reserves

Evaluating the characteristics of a set of sites as potential scientific research reserves is an example of land suitability assessment. Suitability in this case is based upon multiple criteria, many of which can be linguistically imprecise and often incompatible. Fuzzy logic is a useful method for characterizing imprecise suitability criteria and for combining criteria into an overall suitability rating. The Ecosystem Management Decision Support software combined a fuzzy logic knowledge base we developed to represent the assessment problem with a GIS database providing site-specific data for the assessment. Assessment of sites as a potential natural reserve for the new University of California campus at Merced demonstrates the benefits of fuzzy suitability assessment. The study was conducted in three stages of successively smaller assessment regions with increasingly fine spatial resolution and specificity of criteria. Several sites were identified that best satisfy the suitability criteria for a reserve to represent vernal pool habitat.