GIS for Environmental Decision-Making

Series:
Innovations in GIS
Published:
November 19, 2007 by CRC Press - 288 Pages
Editor(s):
Andrew A. Lovett, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, UK; Katy Appleton, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

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Hardback
$119.95
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ISBN 9780849374234
Cat# 7423
 

Features

  • Highlights innovations in data sourcing, mapping frameworks, analytical techniques, and involvement in participative processes.
  • Includes applications in the areas of catchment, coastal and land-use planning, natural resource management, the provision of tourist information, renewable energy developments, and urban pedestrian accessibility
  • Addresses data, modeling, and participation issues with examples from a variety of countries
  • Provides a broad perspective on the use of GIS across different environmental contexts

    • Summary

    Environmental applications have long been a core use of GIS. However, the effectiveness of GIS-based methods depends on the decision-making frameworks and contexts within which they are employed. GIS for Environmental Decision-Making takes an interdisciplinary look at the capacities of GIS to integrate, analyze, and display data on which decisions must be based. It provides a broad prospective on the current state of GIS for environmental decision-making and emphasizes the importance of matters related to data, analysis, and modeling tools, as well as stakeholder participation.

    The book is divided into three sections, which effectively relate to three key aspects of the decision-making process as supported by GIS: data required, tools being developed, and aspects of participation. The first section stresses the ability to integrate data from different sources as a defining characteristic of GIS and illustrates the benefits that this can bring in the context of deriving land-use and other information. The second section discusses a range of issues concerning the use of GIS for suitability mapping and strategic planning exercises, through illustrative examples. The last section of the book focuses on the use of GIS-based techniques to facilitate public participation in decision-making processes. In particular, it provides an overview of developments in this area, concentrating on how GIS, modeling, and 3D landscape visualization techniques are gradually achieving closer integration.

    Given the complex challenges presented by global environmental change, GIS for Environmental Decision-Making provides a clear illustration of how the use of GIS can make significant contributions to trans-disciplinary initiatives to address environmental problems.

    Table of Contents

    Developments in GIS for Environmental Decision-Making
    Lovett and Appleton

    PART I - DATA FOR DECISION-MAKING
    An Optimised Semi-Automated Methodology for Populating a National Land?Use Dataset
    Tompkinson, Morton, Gomm and Seaman

    A New Framework for Feature-Based Digital Mapping in Three-Dimensional Space
    Slingsby, Longley and Parker

    From Electronic Logbooks to Sustainable Marine Environments: A GIS to Support the Common Fisheries Policy
    Whalley and Kemp

    PART II - TOOLS TO SUPPORT DECISION-MAKING
    GIS and Environmental Decision-Making: From Sites to Strategies and Back Again
    MacFarlane and Dunsford

    Creating a Digital Representation of the Water Table in a Sandstone Aquifer
    Posen, Lovett, Hiscock, Reid, Evers and Ward

    GIS and Predictive Modelling: A Comparison of Methods for Forest Management and Decision Making
    Felicísimo and Gómez-Muñoz

    A Comparison of Two Techniques for Local Land-Use Change Simulation in the Swiss Mountain Area
    Walz, Bebi and Purves

    'Riding an Elephant to Catch a Grasshopper': Applying and Evaluating Techniques for Stakeholder Participation in Land-Use Planning within the Kae Watershed, Northern Thailand
    Shutidamrong and Lovett

    Grid-Enabled GIS: Opportunities and Challenges
    Jarvis

    PART III - PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING
    Developments in Public Participation and Collaborative Environmental Decision-Making
    Bishop

    Using Virtual Reality to Simulate Coastal Erosion: A Participative Decision Tool?
    Brown, Jude, Koukoulas, Nicholls, Dickson and Walkden

    Multiple Windows on Accessibility: An Evaluation of Campus Buildings by Mobility Impaired and Able-Bodied Participants using PPGIS
    Castle and Jarvis

    Visualisation Techniques to Support Planning of Renewable Energy Developments
    Miller, Morrice, Coleby and Messager

    The Social Implications of Developing a Web-GIS: Observations from Studies in Rural Bavaria
    Herrmann and Neumeier

    Editorial Reviews

    "As a landscape ecologist interested in how spatial tools and analysis can assist planning for a sustainable future, I feel that this book is an important and useful text for highlighting the vital role that GIS can play in helping to make well informed decisions and aid planning."

    – D. M. Pearson, Charles Darwin University, in Journal of Spatial Science, December 2008

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