GIS for Environmental Management

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Complex environmental challenges increasingly demand sophisticated solutions. GIS for Environmental Management outlines the ways that GIS is fulfilling the need of humanity to better manage, protect, and preserve the environment.

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, choking dust threatens the health of residents in Douglas, Arizona and nearby Auga Prieta, Mexico. GIS identifies the sources of the dust and aids in efforts to solve the problem. The Missouri Botanical Garden uses GIS-based data gathered during 25 years of research to help Madagascar expand its ecologically protected areas as part of a campaign to preserve the Earth’s biodiversity. A Japanese university professor uses GIS to create an Internet site linking scientists and the people interested in the preservation of an historic wetland. An American university professor relies on GIS to assess the health of wetlands along the shore of Lake Ontario near Rochester, New York.

These case studies explore some of the innovative GIS projects presented in GIS for Environmental Management. Each study showcases GIS solutions and balances GIS technology with the human element. GIS for Environmental Management covers topics ranging from biodiversity and pollution to more specific subjects such as coastal zone management and change detection. This reader friendly text is relevant for non-technical audiences and GIS professionals. Participants in each case study tell in their own words how they made use of GIS.

GIS for Environmental Management shows how this powerful technology is helping us manage our environment.

About the author:

Robert Scally has been a journalist, writer and editor for 25 years. He specializes in making technical topics understandable to everyone. His work has appeared in American Banker, DSN/Retailing Today, the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., the San Diego Business Journal and the Wall Street Journal. His articles have also appeared on the Associated Press, Copley News Service, Dow Jones and Scripps-Howard wire services. He has a BS degree from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and now resides in San Diego, California.