The countryside information system: A strategic-level decision support system.

Area of Science:

• Ecological monitoring
• Environmental science
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Background:

• The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) has monitored ecological change in Great Britain (GB) since 1978.
• Research focused on the ecological consequences of land-use change, necessitating effective data presentation for policymakers.
• A need existed for a system to link and interpret diverse environmental datasets for policy applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and describe the Countryside Information System (CIS) as a decision support tool.
• To present and link ecological information at various levels (national, regional, thematic) with metadata.
• To facilitate the use of ecological data in policy formulation, assessment, and monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Development of a PC-based decision support system (CIS).
• Integration of the ITE Land Classification, dividing GB into 32 environmental land classes.
• Incorporation of metadata to describe data accuracy and appropriateness for use.
• Development of tools for loading and editing both sample and census datasets within a Microsoft Windows environment.

Main Results:

• The CIS was developed as a marketable product, linking national, regional, and thematic data.
• The ITE Land Classification (32 classes) was applied to all 250,000 km squares in GB.
• The system enables linking of sampled data with census datasets using a common co-ordinate system.
• Government departments are beginning to use CIS for parliamentary questions and environmental policy.

Conclusions:

• CIS functions as a decision-support system, exceeding typical GIS capabilities through its classification and metadata.
• The system provides an intuitive user interface, reducing the need for specialized technical skills.
• CIS is an open system, adaptable for loading and editing new datasets.
• The system effectively supports environmental policy development and monitoring in the UK.