Web-based Spatial Decision Support System Research Articles

The framework of a geospatial semantic web-based spatial decision support system for Digital Earth

While significant progress has been made to implement the Digital Earth vision, current implementation only makes it easy to integrate and share spatial data from distributed sources and has limited capabilities to integrate data and models for simulating social and physical processes. To achieve effectiveness of decision-making using Digital Earth for understanding the Earth and its systems, new infrastructures that provide capabilities of computational simulation are needed. This paper proposed a framework of geospatial semantic web-based interoperable spatial decision support systems (SDSSs) to expand capabilities of the currently implemented infrastructure of Digital Earth. Main technologies applied in the framework such as heterogeneous ontology integration, ontology-based catalog service, and web service composition were introduced. We proposed a partition-refinement algorithm for ontology matching and integration, and an algorithm for web service discovery and composition. The proposed interoperable SDSS enables decision-makers to reuse and integrate geospatial data and geoprocessing resources from heterogeneous sources across the Internet. Based on the proposed framework, a prototype to assist in protective boundary delimitation for Lunan Stone Forest conservation was implemented to demonstrate how ontology-based web services and the services-oriented architecture can contribute to the development of interoperable SDSSs in support of Digital Earth for decision-making.

Multi-Criteria Spatial Decision Support System DECERNS

Land-use planning and environmental management often requires an implementation of both geoyspatial information analysis and value-driven criteria within the decision-making process. DECERNS (Decision Evaluation in Complex Risk Network Systems) is a web-based distributed decision support system for multicriteria analysis of a wide range of spatially-explicit land management alternatives. It integrates mainly basic and some advanced GIS functions and implements several Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods and tools. DECERNS can also be integrated with a model server containing generic and site specific models for in-depth analysis of project and environmental risks as well as other decision criteria under consideration. This paper provides an overview of the modeling approaches as well as methods and tools used in DECERNS. Application of the DECERNS WebSDSS (Web-based Spatial Decision Support System) for a housing site selection case study is presented.

Discovering decision heuristics in collaborative planning

In collaborative decision-making complex interacting agents with conflicting goals need to work in a distributed environment. However, Decision Maker's (DM) preferences and judgments are often represented in value-laden terms or preference-ordered criteria. This paper presents a novel approach to discovering decision patters in group environment by using Dominance-based Rough Set Approach (DRSA) to account for preference-order in the domains of attributes in the set of decision classes. The model is illustrated with an example showing how a preference-centric spatial decision model can be integrated with the dominance-based principle of rough set to derive minimal covering 'if.., then…,' decision rules to reason over a set of possible invasion scenario. This paper also illustrates a web-based spatial decision support system for land use change assessment, which is designed to assess the hydrological impact of land use changes and at the same time offers interface to express user's preference using dynamic visualisation.

Geospatial web services within a scientific workflow: Predicting marine mammal habitats in a dynamic environment

Our ability to inform conservation and management of species is fundamentally limited by the availability of relevant biogeographic data, use of statistically robust predictive models, and presentation of results to decision makers. Despite the ubiquity of presence-only models, where available, survey effort should be included in the modeling process to limit spatial bias. The biogeographic archive therefore should be able to store and serve related spatial information such as lines of survey effort or polygons of the study area, best accomplished through geospatial web services such as the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS). Ideally data could then be easily fetched by modelers into a scientific workflow, providing a visually intuitive, modular, reusable canvas for linking analytical processes without the need to code. Species distribution model results should be easily accessible to decision makers, such as through a web-based spatial decision support system (SDSS). With these principles in mind, we describe our progress to date serving marine animal biogeographic data from OBIS-SEAMAP ( http://seamap.env.duke.edu), and consuming the data for predictive environmental modeling of cetaceans. Using geospatial web services to automate the scientific workflow process, marine mammal observations from OBIS-SEAMAP are used to sample through date-synchronous remotely sensed satellite data for building multivariate habitat models using a variety of statistical techniques (GLM, GAM, and CART). We developed custom scientific workflows using ESRI Model Builder, ArcGIS geoprocessor, R statistical package, Python scripting language, PostGIS geodatabase, and UMN MapServer. These model outputs are then passed to an SDSS with spatial summary capability. Custom products will be open-source and freely available. In the future, we hope to integrate technologies such as OGC WCS, OPeNDAP, and Kepler. The principles and lessons described here can be broadly applied to serving biogeographic data, species distribution modeling, and decision support within the ecological informatics community.

Web-based Spatial Decision Support Systems (WebSDSS): Evolution, Architecture, Examples and Challenges

Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS), which support spatial analysis and decision making, are currently receiving much attention. Research on SDSS originated from two distinct sources, namely, the GIS community and the DSS community. The synergy between these two research groups has lead to the adoption of state of the art technical solutions and the development of sophisticated SDSS that satisfy the needs of geographers and top-level decision makers. Recently, the Web has added a new dimension to SDSS and Web-based SDSS (WebSDSS) are being developed in a number of application domains. This article provides an overview of the emergence of SDSS, its architecture and applications, and discusses some of the enabling technologies and research challenges for future SDSS development and deployment.

A web-based spatial decision support system optimizes routes for oversize/overweight vehicles in Delaware

Delaware Department of Transportation has developed a web-based spatial decision support system for managing the movement of oversize and overweight vehicles over the State's highways. This system combines network optimization techniques and a J2EE web-architecture to provide a robust, high-performance and scalable system meeting Delaware's current and future permit processing needs. The new system replaces existing manual processes, providing a number of immediate and future benefits including reducing time to calculate some permits from weeks to seconds, reducing processing costs and providing potential safety benefits by reacting to rapidly changing highway conditions.

Exploring the influence of perceptual factors in the success of web-based spatial DSS

Increasing reliance on the web for decision-making combined with higher demand on technologies that can efficiently deal with large volumes of data make visualization an important decision-making tool. Spatial decision support systems (SDSS) using the latest advances in geographic information systems (GIS) could be the appropriate approach in making DSS available to mass web-users for making decisions that have spatial components. Hence, it is important to explore the factors that impact perceived successful use of web-based SDSS. In this paper, we synthesize task–technology, goal setting, and self-efficacy theories in developing a conceptual model and the subsequent empirical study for exploring the perceptual factors impacting the perceived performance of web-based SDSS.

Web-based GIS and spatial decision support system for watershed management

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been widely used for spatial data manipulation for hydrologic model operations and as a supporting tool to develop spatial decision support systems (SDSS). Information technologies, including GIS and the Internet, have provided opportunities to overcome many of the limitations of computer-based models in terms of data preparation and visualisation, and provide the possibility to create integrated SDSS. This paper examines the relationship between changes in GIS technology and watershed management SDSS. It also describes a conceptual web-based SDSS framework in terms of system components and data flow. A prototype watershed management web-based SDSS that utilises the conceptual framework is examined (URL: http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~watergen/owls). The SDSS uses web-GIS for watershed delineation, map interfaces and data preparation routines, a hydrologic model for hydrologic/water quality impact analysis and web communication programs for Internet-based system operation. The web-based SDSS can be helpful for watershed management decision-makers and interested stakeholders. The watershed management SDSS also provides insight into the role of GIS and information technologies in creating readily accessible and useable SDSS capabilities.

UTILIZING WEB-BASED GIS AND SDSS FOR HYDROLOGICAL LAND USE CHANGE IMPACT ASSESSMENTN

A web-based spatial decision support system (SDSS) was developed to assist with watershed hydrologic and waterquality assessment for present and future land uses. The SDSS comprises integrated web-based programs, a hydrologic model,web-GIS, and databases. The SDSS uses web-GIS capability for internet map browsing, real-time web-based watersheddelineation, and hydrologic spatial data extraction to prepare input data for the Long-Term Hydrological Impact Assessment(L-THIA) model. An urbanizing watershed in suburban Lafayette, Indiana, was selected to illustrate the SDSS capability andto evaluate land use change impact on direct runoff and nonpoint-source pollution. The SDSS is operational for supportinglocal communities, regional consulting companies, and other stakeholders at: http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~watergen.

Design and Implementation of a Web-Based Collaborative Spatial Decision Support System

The development of collaborative spatial decision support systems presents a host of challenges, ranging from technical to societal and institutional. Resource managers and environmental planners often need to understand the effect of the distributed and uncoordinated land management practices of individual decision-makers, which in the long run causes significant environmental impact. In many cases environmental planning requires collaborative decision-making tools where complex interacting agents with conflicting goals need to work without any prior idea of the counterpart. This paper identifies research issues on the design and implementation of a Web-based collaborative spatial decision making in the specific context of distributed environmental planning. We demonstrate a Web-based Spatial Decision Support System GEO-ELCA (Exploratory Land Use Change Assessment) for typical decision-making tasks by urban or municipal planning agencies where resource managers or stakeholders of different interest groups can express their options for future land use changes and assess the resulting hydrological impacts in a collaborative environment.