Abstract
Comprehensive datasets for nature-based solutions (NBS), and their diverse relationships have not yet been accumulated into a deployable format. This research describes the development of a novel National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) system for NBS co-benefits throughout the contiguous United States. Here, we gather and integrate robust geospatial datasets from the social, ecological, environmental, and hydrologic domains using seamless, cloud-based data services to facilitate the trans-disciplinary assessment of NBSs as a function of society and Earth. This research enhances practical decision making and research by assimilating web-based datasets and describing the missing links between national policy and robust adoption of NBSs as a sustainability solution. This NSDI serves to foster participatory planning capabilities and integrate local sustainability goals into decision–support frameworks. Such a platform strengthens the knowledge base necessary for addressing multiple, co-evolving issues of societal relevance, an essential component of fully espousing NBSs within the realm of socio-technological systems and improving policies and implementation regarding sustainable solutions. The efficacy of the proposed platform to serve as a holistic data information system is assessed by exploring important characteristics associated with geospatial NSDI tools, namely, openness, spatial functionality, scalability, and standardization. By placing GIS strengths and weaknesses in the context of transdisciplinary NBSs, we reveal strategic directions toward further co-production of such NSDIs. We conclude with recommendations for facilitating a shared vision of transdisciplinary technologies to strengthen the amalgamation of broad co-benefits and multi-disciplinary influences in sustainability planning.
Highlights
Flooding is the most prevalent and influential natural disaster in the world, causing more economic damage and affecting more people than any other natural event [1]
While our approach of pre-authorizing the ArcGIS Online organizational credentials provided a functional solution for public dissemination of nature-based solutions (NBS)-Geo, we acknowledged several limitations associated with the semi-open nature of the Esri Living Atlas
Due to the manner in which the Esri Living Atlas data is compiled by contributions from a plethora of user-types, and not all datasets have been vetted as authoritative, we suggest further efforts to comprehensively document the underlying datasets involved in holistic NBS planning and research
Summary
Flooding is the most prevalent and influential natural disaster in the world, causing more economic damage and affecting more people than any other natural event [1]. NBSs contribute to conservation efforts by enhancing ecosystem diversity and connectivity [11] While such utilities have been widely noted within the literature, traditional NBS planning prioritizes flood mitigation with less attention to co-benefits due to a lack of representative datasets [4]. A right first step toward fully encompassing NBS multi-functionalities is to represent overlapping phenomena as explicit functions of space Toward this aim, we suggest the combination of cloud-based geographical information systems (GIS) with curated web mapping applications to facilitate two-way interaction between users and integrated datasets across disparate domains (i.e., sociology, hydrology, ecology, environmental science). The UN IPCC panel noted a particular fragmentation of social reference data within NBS science and urged a rapid development toward novel data streams that could facilitate transdisciplinary research [25]
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