Abstract
Ecosystem management is carried out at a variety of spatial and temporal scales (Franklin, 1993a, 1993b; Kohm and Franklin, 1997). Ecological assessment (EA), however, especially ecosystem characterization, generally has a landscape-scale component and can hardly be conducted without the use of a geographic information system (GIS). Much of the biophysical and socioeconomic data that form the basis of EA are in digital map format (see Chapter 5), and carrying out EA requires that these map themes be overlaid, compared, analyzed, or used in a model (see Chapter 18), often in conjunction with nonspatial attribute data. Not long ago, GIS was a somewhat daunting new technology with a steep learning curve, but in the last decade it has become increasingly integrated into research, land-use and land management planning, ecosystem management, and related modeling at a variety of institutions and agencies. Therefore, this chapter will only briefly define GIS, point the reader to a number of excellent texts on the subject, and concentrate on how GIS is used in EA. Accordingly, the standard definition of GIS as a computer information system “for the capture, storage, retrieval, analysis and display of spatial data” (Clarke, 1995, p. 13) is enhanced by (1985, p. 36): “a GIS is best defined as a system which uses a spatial data base to provide answers to queries of a geographical nature.”
Keywords
- Geographic Information System
- Digital Elevation Model
- Spatial Data
- Geographic Information System Software
- Spatial Data Analysis
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Franklin, J. (2001). Geographic Information Science and Ecological Assessment. In: Jensen, M.E., Bourgeron, P.S. (eds) A Guidebook for Integrated Ecological Assessments. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8620-7_12
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