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SEMINAR PUBLICATION: NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM-SOLVING WITH GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Citation:
U.S. EPA. SEMINAR PUBLICATION: NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM-SOLVING WITH GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/625/R-95/004, 1995.
Impact/Purpose:
information
Description:
The National Conference on Environmental Problem Solving with Geographic Information Systems was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 21-23, 1994. The conference was a forum for over 450 environmental professionals to exchange information and approaches on how to use geographic information systems (GIS) to define, assess, and solve environmental problems. Cross–media pollutant transport and watershed-based decision–making have made the process of solving environmental problems more complex. The application of GIS to environmental problem–solving has greatly increased our ability to manipulate and analyze relational and spatial data, providing environmental decision–makers with a powerful tool for analyzing multimedia environmental data over increasingly broader areas (e.g.; watersheds, states, regions). While the approach to using GIS varies from application to application, a common, technically sound framework for applying GIS to environmental problems should be developed and implemented. This conference was an initial step in defining this framework by examining the following areas: 1. Problem identification and definition. 2. Data requirements (e.g., coverage, scale), availability, documentation, reliability, and acquisition. 3. Approaches considered and selected for problem–solving. 4. Unique challenges and pitfalls encountered. 5. Interpretation of results, including level of confidence achieved based on data quality and approach taken. Presenters were requested to address one or more of these areas in papers and posters that focused on applications of GIS to specific environmental problems. This document presents peer-reviewed papers from the conference. The papers have been organized by general topic area as follows: GIS Concepts; Ground–Water Applications; Watershed Applications; Wetlands Applications; Water Quality Applications; Environmental Management Applications; Other GIS Applications. The purpose of this document is to share the information presented at the conference with individuals who were unable to attend. This document will be useful to individuals who are currently applying GIS to environmental situations or considering GIS for application in environmental problem–solving. These individuals include environmental regulatory personnel at the federal, state and local level; university professors, researchers, and students; private sector personnel, including industry representatives and environmental consultants; and other interested persons. The goal of sharing this information with a broader audience is to help users apply GIS to environmental problem–solving with a greater awareness of the power and limitations of this very useful tool.