Expert Systems and Geographic Information Systems for Impact Assessment

Impact Assessment is becoming part and parcel of an increasing number of development proposals in the UK and Europe. As the practice of Impact Assessment develops it becomes more standardized and good practice starts to be defined. However, the quality of Impact Assessment is still far from satisfactory. Expert Systems and GIS for Impact Assessment discusses the potential of integrating these two well known computer technologies to help with the process of Impact Assessment. The proposition behind the work is that all three areas are potentially complementary and that mutual benefits can be gained from bringing them together in the field of planning. Following an introduction to each area, the various ways in which GIS and Expert Systems can be applied are discussed. This book is aimed at professionals working with Environmental Impact Assessment, GIS and expert-systems professionals and students in these areas.

Table of Contents:
PART ONE Chapter 1 1. Introduction 2. Expert Systems: what about space? 3. Geographical Information Systems: more than display tools? 4. GIS problems and potential 5. Impact Assessment: ripe for automation? 6. The IA process 7. Environmental Statements 8. Integration: the way ahead? REFERENCES Chapter 2 1. Introduction 2. Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence 2.1.The classical period 2.2.The romantic period 2.3.The modern period 2. Expert systems: structure and design 3. The promise of Expert Systems? 4. From Expert Systems to Decision Support Systems 5. Conclusions: expert systems are dead, long live expert systems? REFERENCES Chapter 3 1. Introduction 2. Impact Assessment and Environmental Management 3. The role of GIS 4. GIS for Impact Assessment 4.1. GIS mapping for Impact Assessment 4.2. GIS linked to external models for IA 4.3. Using GIS' own functionality for IA 4.4. Multi-purpose GIS systems 5. Conclusions REFERENCES Chapter 4 1. Introduction 2. GIS for environmental mapping and management 3. GIS linked to external models for environmental management 3.1.Water modeling 3.2.GIS and other environmental modeling 3.3.GIS for model design and development 3.4.GIS and other modeling approaches 4. Using GIS' own functionality for environmental management 4.1.Pre-programmed GIS applications 5. General-purpose environmental management systems 6. Conclusions REFERENCES Chapter 5 1. Introduction 2. Expert Systems without GIS for Environmental Assessment 2.1.Expert Systems without GIS for Impact Assessment 2.2.Expert Systems without GIS for environmental management 3. Expert Systems with GIS 3.1.GIS and Expert Systems: methodological issues 3.1.1.Methodological issues: visualization 3.1.2.Methodological issues: classification 3.2.GIS and Expert Systems in the Regional Research Laboratories 3.2.1.The RRLs Research Agenda 3.2.2.RRL-related work and publications 3.3.3.GIS and AI in the RRLs: conclusions 3.3.ES and GIS for Impact Assessment 3.4.ES and GIS for Environmental Management 4. Decision Support Systems (and ES) with GIS 4.1.GIS and DSS for Impact Assessment 4.2.GIS and DSS for Environmental Management 5. Conclusions REFERENCES PART TWO Chapter 6 1. Introduction 2. The logic of Project Screening 3. The SCREEN Expert System at Oxford Brookes University 4. Scoping 5. The SCOPE Expert System at Oxford Brookes University 6. Adding GIS to the SCREEN-SCOPE suite at Oxford Brookes 6.1.Procedures linking ES and GIS 6.2.Evaluating the GIS links 7. Conclusions REFERENCES Chapter 7 1. Introduction 2. Air Pollution 2.1.Project design and location 2.2.Baseline assessment 2.3.Impact prediction and assessment 2.3.1.Variations in the modeling approach 2.3.2.Model output and accuracy 2.4.Mitigation measures 3. Noise 3.1.Project design 3.2.Noise baseline assessment 3.3.Noise-impact prediction 3.3.1.Construction noise 3.3.2.Traffic noise 3.3.3.Vibration 3.3.4.Re-radiated noise 3.4.Mitigation 4. Conclusions: expert systems for air-pollution and noise impact assessment REFERENCES Chapter 8 1. Introduction 2. Terrestrial Ecology 2.1.Project characteristics and potential impacts 2.2.Area characterization and ecological baseline 2.3.Quality assessment 2.4.Impact assessment 2.5.Mitigation 3. Landscape impact assessment 3.1.Project characteristics 3.2.Area of study 3.3.Preliminary landscape quality assessment 3.4.Field study and baseline assessment 3.5.Impact assessment 3.6.Mitigation 4. Conclusions: the limits of expert systems REFERENCES Chapter 9 1. Introduction 2. Socio-economic impacts 2.1.Understanding the project 2.2.Understanding the baseline 2.3.Economic impact prediction 2.3.1.The multiplicand 2.3.2.The multiplier 2.3.2.1.Location Quotients 2.4.Social impact prediction 2.5.Impact significance 2.6.Mitigation 3. Traffic impacts 3.1.The development project 3.2.Baseline study 3.3.Traffic generation 3.4.Impact assessment 3.4.1.Loop-back 3.5.Mitigation 4. Conclusions: expert systems and models, problems and choices REFERENCES Chapter 10 1. Introduction 2. The project 3. Hydrogeology: the baseline 3.1.Hydrogeological impacts 3.2.Hydrogeological mitigation and monitoring 4. Water quantity and quality: the baseline 4.1.Water quantity impacts 4.2.Water quality impacts 4.3.Water use impacts 4.4.Water impact mitigation 5. Freshwater ecology impact assessment: the baseline 5.1.Freshwater ecology impacts and mitigation 6. Coastal water ecology impact assessment: the baseline 6.1.Coastal water ecology impacts and mitigation 7. Conclusions: impact sequences REFERENCES Chapter 11 1. Meta-assessment: reviewing Environmental Statements 2. The building blocks of the assessment 3. Evaluation 3.1.Scoring individual aspects 3.2.Overall evaluation 4. Conclusions: expert systems for highly structured quantity-quality conversions REFERENCES Chapter 12 1. Expert Systems for Impact Assessment 2. Conclusions: the limits of Expert Systems and GIS 2.1.GIS and IA in retrospect 2.2.Expert Systems and IA in retrospect 3. Conclusions REFERENCES Systems and GIS for Impact Assessment 2. Expert Systems and Decision Support 3. GIS and Impact Assessment 4. GIS and Environmental Management 5. GIS and Expert Systems for Impact Assessment. Part 2. 6. Hard-modeled Impacts: Air and Noise 7. Soft-modeled Impacts: Terrestrial Ecology and Landscape 8. Socio-economic and Traffic Impacts 9. Water impacts 10. Reviewing Environmental Impact Statements 11. Conclusions: The Limits of GIS and Expert Systems for Impact Assessment.

About the Author :
Agustin Rodreguez-Bachiller is a senior lecturer in quantitative methods in the School of Planning. His research and teaching interests involve information technology, expert systems, applied statistics, GIS / spatial analysis, and planning methods and theory. Professor John Glasson is Head of the School of Planning at Oxford Brookes University and is the Research Director of the Impact Assessment Unit. He is also a member of various national professional and academic committees, including the ESRC Global Environmental Change Committee.