“MEADOWS” — an expert system for the establishment of diverse wildflower grasslands on derelict land in urban areas in the UK

Abstract

MEADOWS is an expert system that provides advice on the establishment and management of diverse, wildflower grasslands on derelict land in urban areas in the UK. Three key processes are involved in producing site-specific recommendations — an initial feasibility screen, soil suitability analysis, and requirements for establishment and management. The knowledge base, which provides the operating rules of the system, has been derived from three research areas — land reclamation, floral diversity, and urban landscape design. This knowledge base has been incorporated into a rule-based expert system that operates on IBM-compatible machines and uses the software shell — EXSYS. Two important issues that had to be resolved in translating expert opinion into operating rules were: determining the level of precision required in estimating the value of key variables, and designing practical methods that users might employ to obtain estimates of these variables. The current and future potential offered by MEADOWS, as well as the problems that remain to be resolved, are discussed.