Spatial Analysis Software Tools for Community Decision Support Chris Fulcher∗, Yan Barnett** and Chris Barnett***

Center for Agricultural, Resource and Environmental Systems (CARES) Community Informatics Resource Center (CIRC)

University of Missouri-Columbia Introduction Local governments are increasingly faced with making decisions that were once delegated to the Federal government. However, with this devolution of power, local governments often lack the resources or information to make effective decisions that impact their communities. To further exacerbate this issue, rural communities in the United States are typically resource-poor compared to their more affluent urban counterparts. Specifically, rural communities typically lack the expertise and infrastructure (i.e., access to information, equipment, computer hardware and software) required to make more informed decisions. At the same time, local governments are increasingly employing Participatory Action Research (PAR) methods to address local issues. Participatory Action Research increases the need for accessible, intuitive, interactive decision support tools to evaluate socio-economic and environmental impacts of group decision making at the local level. Information science, coupled with emerging information and communications technologies (ICTs) including geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and data visualization, are increasingly being used to address policy options at the local level. However, there are several drawbacks to using these technologies: (1) limited access – the tools are often developed on stand-alone computers (i.e., not Internet-based); (2) expensive - the cost of the required hardware and software may preclude less affluent communities from using the tools; and (3) resource poor communities may lack the expertise to use the tools and interpret the results. Rural access to the Internet is not considered a limitation in the long run as ICTs continue to evolve. This paper will highlight the spatial decision support tools developed at CARES at the University of Missouri-Columbia, from stand-alone decision support tools that exhibit the drawbacks stated above, to Internet-based applications that effectively involve local governments, private landowners and citizen groups in participatory action research processes. These Internet-based tools overcome the shortcomings of traditional decision support tools by increasing access via the Internet, reducing costs and minimizing the expertise required to use the tools; thereby leveling the playing field between primarily resource rich urban and less affluent rural communities in the United States. There are several advantages to using an Internet-based GIS: (1) Cost effective: The Internet is an efficient and affordable way to distribute information; (2) No GIS software is required: Users only need a browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer to interact with the Internet-based GIS; (3) No data distribution required: All data and GIS functionality is updated via a centralized server, thus avoiding significant data management and distribution issues; (4) Effective Participatory Action Research tool for engaging stakeholders in their communities; (5) Effective research collaboration tool for engaging scientists in distributed data collection, synthesis, analysis and dissemination. The Center for Agricultural, Resource and Environmental Systems is an intercollegiate research and education center within the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri – Columbia. CARES was established in 1992 with the purpose of helping people better understand and address agricultural, natural resource and environmental issues using knowledge and information technologies. Specifically, CARES is recognized for its capacity to develop and implement Internet-based spatial decision support tools. Internet-based visualization allows decision makers to better understand their resource base - both economic and environmental - and provides a basis for making more informed decisions. The CARES website allows users to: (1) geographically visualize community, regional, and state-level information via the Internet; (2) create new GIS layers via the Internet and overlay these data to conduct location-specific analyses; and (3) generate “what if” scenarios” of land use change. Internet-based visualization enables decision makers to better understand their economic and environmental resource base and provides a basis for making more

* Assistant Professor, Truman School of Public Affairs, Co-Director, CARES, Director, CIRC; ** Research Associate and *** Associate Director, CARES

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informed decisions. This paper is best illustrated by going to the following URLs: www.cares.missouri.edu and www.rupri.org/circ. However, given the medium required to present this research, the author is limited to presenting a dynamic interactive process in a static format. Spatial Decision Support Tools on Stand-alone Computers While knowledge about the interactions among socioeconomic and physical processes is essential for improving community sustainability, the mere generation of such knowledge is insufficient. The knowledge must be delivered to potential users in a way that maximizes its usefulness in planning and management. Long-term community sustainability can be achieved by: (a) increasing knowledge of the spatial and temporal interactions between economic and environmental processes and how these interactions are altered by changing land use and/or management practices and (b) developing decision support systems which make this knowledge accessible to and usable by individuals and groups involved in watershed planning and management. Therefore, knowledge and information from several disciplines is integrated into a functional computer-based Watershed Management Decision Support System (WAMADSS). Although the research highlighted below was completed in 1995, it served as a foundation for the subsequent development of the Internet-based decision support tools, which are described in the following sections. The watershed management decision support system consists of three components: (1) a geographic information system, (2) an economic model, and (3) environmental simulation models. The three components are accessed through a graphical user interface which enables decision makers to generate scenarios, change land use, run the economic and environmental simulation models, and view results of these models within a GIS. The technical expertise required to manipulate the spatial and non-spatial data is imbedded in WAMADSS. Specifically, the Cost and Return Estimator (CARE) program and the AGricultural NonPoint source (AGNPS) pollution model is integrated into a seamless decision support system that is driven by a geographic information system (GIS). The CARE program is a crop budget generator and the AGNPS model simulates sediment, runoff, and nutrient transport from agricultural watersheds. The economic and environmental models are linked to ARC/INFO GIS via its programming language - ARC Macro Language (AML). The interface enables the decision maker to manipulate land use management practices, execute the models, and view results within the GIS. Specifically, AMLs, menus and C programs are used to: (1) generate CARE and AGNPS input parameters in ARC/INFO; (2) generate and export the input files to the models; (3) execute the models; (4) import the CARE and AGNPS output files into the GIS; and (5) view model results in graphical and tabular format in ARC/INFO. The Watershed Management Decision Support System is used as a method to monitor and significantly improve the decision maker’s ability to manipulate spatial and non-spatial data in order to evaluate alternative management practices. This approach enhances the “best judgment” decisions offered by conventional simulation models such as AGNPS. Specifically, ARC/INFO serves as the glue for WAMADSS; it provides a programming language that links the components together and furnishes a menu interface for the end user. Although WAMADSS was an effective tool for evaluating the economic and environmental impacts of land use change at the watershed scale, there were several limitations. First, WAMADSS was developed on an expensive IBM RISC 6000 UNIX workstation. Second, the system and its source code were developed with an expensive GIS software package. Third, WAMADSS was not accessible to stakeholders in communities interested in developing watershed management plans since it was developed on a stand-alone computer (i.e., it was not Internet-based). These stakeholders or citizen groups had to travel to the university to generate “what-if” scenarios. The primary limitation of WAMADSS was that it was not Internet-based. An Agency-based Framework for Disseminating Data In the mid 1990s several GIS vendors introduced basic Internet-based map viewing software packages. Essentially, only a browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer is needed to view and query GIS layers since the GIS software and data reside on a central server. Our center decided to use ESRI’s ArcView Internet Map Server (IMS) software to create Internet-based decision support tools. Specifically, CARES chose ArcView IMS in order to exploit ArcView’s extensions - Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst and the Image Analysis.

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The Internet was viewed as the appropriate platform and delivery mechanism for collaborating with state and federal agencies and effectively engaging stakeholders in a Participatory Action Research role. Shortly after implementing the IMS at CARES in 1996, it was demonstrated to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) as a delivery mechanism to make public information publicly available to communities in a timely fashion. Based on the positive response to ArcView IMS, CARES established several websites for state and federal agencies over the next four years. Specifically, CARES established a Watershed Information Clearinghouse, which included watershed boundaries, streams, rivers, lakes, public drinking water supplies and other water quality-related GIS layers. This website was created for EPA and MDNR as a mechanism to disseminate their data to the public in a timely fashion. Figure 1 (a) illustrates public drinking water wells for the State of Missouri while Figure 1 (b) shows a zoomed-in view of a public drinking water well on top of a 1-meter digital orthophoto quarter quadrangle (DOQQ).

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Figure 1. (a) The State of Missouri - Public Drinking Water Well Locations and (b) attributes or Characteristics of a Public Drinking Water Well. Although CARES established several websites for disseminating data, the framework did not allow users to overlay, for example, demographic, land use, and soils data, since these layers were located on separate agency-based websites. As stated in the Introduction, local governments are increasingly faced with making decisions; however, they often lack the resources or information to make effective decisions that impact their communities. Although Internet Mapping provides a level playing field with respect to access to a rudimentary GIS and spatial data, decision makers care less about viewing agency-based data and more about how data from several agencies can be used together in a decision support framework. Issues regarding access, bandwidth and GIS functionality were raised by a number of scientists when CARES initiated its Internet Map Server projects in 1996. At the time, few people outside the research community had access to the Internet and those that did have access were likely to be using 14.4 K or 28.8 K speed modems. In addition, the Internet Map Server functionality was very basic (i.e., functionality included “zoom in”, “zoom out”, “identify”, and “pan” across GIS layers). These issues were countered by stating that information systems should be developed with tomorrow’s accessibility, bandwidth and functionality in mind; specifically, information systems should be developed for how the Internet will look 5 years. Although there are still issues regarding accessibility

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today (5 years later), many more people have access to the Internet and a growing number use cable modem and DSL, which did not exist when the CARES migration of research projects the Internet began in 1996. A Holistic Framework for Decision Support An agency-based framework for disseminating data is not a desirable structure for local governments and citizen groups concerned with issues, such as land use, since they require GIS layers and other data from several agencies. For example, if a citizen steering committee appointed by county commissioners is addressing a land use issue in their county, several layers would be needed, including: land cover satellite imagery which may be obtained from the Missouri Department of Conservation, road networks from the Missouri Department of Transportation, socio-economic and demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau, soils from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, and stream networks from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency or the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. This steering committee, most local governments, and citizen groups will likely not have the resources to readily integrate data from Agency-based Internet Mapping websites and other clearinghouses of GIS data into a meaningful decision support system. Therefore, CARES coordinated with state and federal agencies to integrate agency-based Internet Mapping websites into a holistic framework for decision support. “Holistic” is often defined as an approach that emphasizes the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. In other words, the “whole” reflects the decision support framework, while the parts are the agency-based data that contribute to the whole. CARES proceeded to develop an Internet Mapping website using focus groups that had no background in GIS or Internet Mapping (Figure 2 (a)). These focus groups provided feedback on menu interface development, navigation around the website, and improving the functionality of the mapping tools. Based on focus group input, a three step process was developed for accessing the Internet Mapping website (Figure 2 (b)).

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Figure 2. (a) CARES Website and (b) Interactive Mapping page for initiating the three step process. An overview of the three step process is in order. The first step is to specify the area of interest (Figure 3 (a)). The user can select one of eight ways to zoom into a particular area of the state. The options include zooming into a specific county, school district, zip code, or other geographic delineation.

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Figure 3. (a) Step 1: Specify Area of Interest – County; (b) Step 2: Select Data Layers; (c) Step 3: Verify Selections Once the aerial extent is selected the user is taken to “Step 2: Select Data Layers” (Figure 3 (b)). The 22 themes or categories depicted in this step comprise the core of the holistic framework for decision support because it contains the data layers that were once housed in separate agency-based Internet Mapping websites. Each category has a number of individual data layers related to that theme. For example, the “Administrative” category has 10 data layers associated with it including “County boundaries”, “Cities and towns” and “Zip codes”. Also, the “Housing” “Income” and “Population” categories have a number of associated census data layers. The wealth of data layers in each category provides a good foundation for community-based decision support. The third step in the process is to verify the selections made in step 2 (Figure 3 (c)). Before clicking on the “Make Map” button, the decision maker can double-check to make sure that all data layers are included. The user can also decide to remove any unwanted data layers by clicking on the name of the data layers the user wishes to remove and then clicking on the “Delete Selected Layers” button. The user can then click on the “Make Map” button to initiate the Internet Mapping session. The Internet Mapping website is being actively used by educators, local governments, citizens groups, state and federal agencies, university extension staff and the general public. For example, assume a farmer in rural Missouri wanted to expand his poultry operation onto land owned by his neighbor who was willing to sell (Figure 4 (a)). A university extension agent was visiting the farmer and asked if he would like to visit the CARES website and view his land along with other GIS layers. The extension agent and the farmer first used the CARES planimeter tool to determine the number of acres in the adjacent field. The field measured 91.55 acres in size. After viewing a number of GIS layers on top of the farmer’s property and adjacent land, the “Public Drinking Water Watershed” layer was overlayed on the property (Figure 4 (b)). It was readily apparent to the farmer and extension agent that a Public Drinking Water watershed extended into neighbor’s land. Given this information the farmer opted not to buy the land from his neighbor since an expansion of a poultry operation into a Public Drinking Water watershed would likely entail additional administrative hurdles with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

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Figure 4. (a) Expand here? (b) Proposed expansion is in a Public Drinking Water watershed For brevity’s sake Figure 5 below provides illustrations and brief definitions of additional tools developed at CARES that are located in the menu bar above the interactive map once the “Make Map” button is clicked.

– Label: Label features on the map. – Transparent: Make the selected polygon data layer see-through. A popup menu opens for selecting the

transparent data layer and level. – Add & Remove: Add or remove data layers from the map. – Print Map: Generate a map for printing out or saving to disk. Opens a separate browser window and displays

a page with the current map display, a title, and the legend. – Help: Open this help page. – Geographic Coordinate: Click on a location to display the latitude / longitude and UTM coordinates. – Distance: Draw a line to measure distance. Double click to end the line. – Area: Used to draw a polygon to measure area and perimeter. Double click to end the polygon (planimeter). – Radius Query: Click on a location to get information about features within a radius. A popup menu opens up

for selecting the query data layer and entering radius. – Area Query: Draw a polygon to get information about features within an area. A popup menu opens for

selecting the query data layer. – Clip: Draw a polygon to cut out features of data layers. Opens a popup menu for selecting the data layers to

clip. The clipped data layers are listed as hyperlinks for download. – Spatial Summary: Allows the user to summarize spatial data (i.e., census data) by any geographic feature.

Figure 5. Illustrations and definitions of mapping tools. Technical Overview of ArcView IMS for Community Decision Support The migration from stand-alone spatial decision support systems to Internet based applications required the analyst to expand the tool chest of programming languages at their disposal. Specifically, the programming languages required to operationalize the holistic framework described above required using Avenue (ArcView programming language), JavaScript, Java, HTML, VBScript for ASP (Active Server Pages) and Perl.

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A brief overview of how maps are rendered via the Internet is in order. Given the nature of the holistic framework described in the previous section, considerable attention was paid to creating intuitive menu interfaces that would help the user navigate through a large number of data layers in order to select those layers relevant to the local context or issue. Staff faced three major challenges in developing a customized ArcView IMS session: (1) How to organize user access to the databases, (2) how to improve user’s geographic interaction with the data, and (3) how to optimize the presentation of the map. The first challenge involved managing and displaying over 200 data sets, some of which were state-wide in extent while others were regional or local. By default, ArcView IMS only allowed users to initiate the mapping session at a pre-defined geographic extent. Also, all datasets to be presented to users had to be presented at the same time, leading to a situation where all data sets would be served out, even if the user was only interested in one data set. The challenge was, therefore, on how to allow users to build their own ArcView IMS session, including their own list of data sets within their desired geographic area. While there were multiple possible solutions, a unique ArcView IMS session was created for each user by creating a new ArcView “View” for each person accessing the IMS. This new “View” allowed a unique set of data to be displayed for a unique area. This posed another challenge: how to get the information from the user on what area and data they wanted to display. A 1-2-3 step process was developed to address this issue. By selecting from lists of geographic extents (i.e. the county list) or entering a definable extent (i.e. your address), the user could convey their desired map area to their view. A similar approach was taken for the data – the user selected from a list of all possible data just those data to be map. All interactions were collected in the form of temporary cookies as the user clicked through Steps 1 and 2. When the user clicked “Make Map” in Step 3 a script was initiated to collect the information (from the cookies stored on the user’s computer) and compile a URL string to send to the ArcView IMS server. On the server side (in ArcView) the customized scripts: (a) opened a new view and assigned a unique view identifier each time a new user accesses the IMS; and (b) set the geographic extent by either reading shape extents (i.e., a county) or performing other georeferencing actions (i.e., address matching, lat/long calculation). Another script reads the set of data requested and loaded those data sets into the new view. The map was then served. Since the cookies were stored on the client side during the entire mapping session, the user can go back to the 1-2-3 step process and change the selections to update the map without leaving the current map session. The second challenge addressed the limited default ArcView IMS tools for user interaction. The basic components for geographic interaction were already present in tools such as “Identify” and “Zoom In” (the applet already converted mouse clicks to real-world coordinates); however, more functionality could be developed with the existing information. Specifically, scripts for how point locations were collected for “Identify” were examined and used to create a coordinate measurement tool to report lat/long and UTM. When the user clicked in a map area, a URL with a set of coordinates was sent to the server where ArcView calculated between different projections. Using the same concept, a radius query tool was developed where the user entered a central point and a distance and ArcView created a buffered shape around that point and query information from another data set using that shape. Taking things a step further, other functions were developed in which the applet was instructed to collect coordinates until the user double clicked to send the coordinate URL. Arcview uses the sets of coordinates to create either line or polygon shapes. This allowed for the creation of the line and area measurement tools, the polygon query tools, and the suite of digitizing tools (discussed later in the paper). The third challenge involved some enhancements to improve the user’s IMS experience. First, a GIF license was purchased to send GIF images of the data to the client, making the picture a little clearer. Also, by sending the map in GIF format, the file size of the image sent was usually smaller, making the process a little faster. Second, the mapping session was opened in a new window set to the users screen resolution (a parameter already sent by the user’s browser to the server). This did away with requiring the user to scroll to see the whole map for low resolution users or sending a tiny map to high resolution users. Also, because low resolution users were getting a smaller image, the image dowload time was faster (faster being a relative term influenced by connection speed, internet traffic, etc). Finally, the buttons were refined to include both a graphic and some brief text. This benefited our English language clients (the majority of our users) by allowing them to glance over the entire set of buttons and quickly get a sense of each function.

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Decision Support Tools in Participatory Action Research The impact of citizen participation in the local decision making process using Internet Mapping tools is highlighted by a study recently completed for Saline County, Missouri. County commissioners in Saline County approached the University of Missouri-Columbia for assistance in addressing the economic and environmental impacts of Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and their potential expansion in the county. This volatile issue was charged with emotion rather than sound information. Therefore, the University Outreach and Extension put together a team of researchers and Saline County extension staff to work with a citizen steering committee that reflected the varied interests in the county. As part of the process CARES introduced the Missouri Map Room to the steering committee. Initially the steering committee reacted negatively to the fact that anyone could use the Internet Mapping site to zoom in and identify buildings and fields with the 1-meter imagery. The “Big Brother” mentality exhibited by several committee members was somewhat alleviated when it was brought to their attention that all the data they were viewing was public information that can be obtained from individual agencies. It was also made clear that the only difference between agency-based data and the holistic framework data provided by CARES was that this data was readily available to decision makers in an intuitive structure whereby users can focus on the issues rather than data collection, synthesis and maintenance. Local governments and the public have a choice to make with respect to the evolution of information and communications technologies and the wealth of publicly available data– ignore them or embrace them. The decision to ignore technologies and data based on fears of “Big Brother” might lead to decisions being made in a vacuum, or worse, having decisions made by people outside the community who have little understanding of the local context. The decision to embrace these technologies and data may lead to a more informed decision making process. Development and Implementation of a Digitizing Tool for Adding Local Knowledge The Internet Mapping website allowed the Saline County Study steering committee members to examine their County’s resource base from either their homes, offices or the Marshall Public Library. Based on this examination, steering committee members pointed out errors and omissions on the official agency-generated GIS layers. For example, one committee member noted that the Department of Transportation’s road network was out of date. The member showed the committee where the road ended and where it should be extended to. Engaging citizens and the local government in a Participatory Action Research process was quite valuable in that they provided information, due to their extensive knowledge of the area, that would otherwise be missing from agency databases (i.e., expert knowledge). CARES therefore developed a suite of tools that allows users to create their own GIS layers through the Internet. These unique tools enable researchers to engage communities in a participatory research framework by creating “living maps” through the Internet. The concept of creating these Internet-based “living maps” was based on a video entitled, Maps with Teeth: Bioregional mapping by locals communicates a sense of place and regional identity. In this video, community members were encouraged to create their own paper maps that record the stored information of people who know the place. “The process of creating such maps has become a way of building community, and can provide a powerful blueprint for social change” (Maps with Teeth, 1997). Essentially, the approach whereby people stood around a table and marked on paper maps was adapted to the Internet and integrated into the mapping website. A more detailed description of how data is digitized is in order. The digitizing tools were created to enter in real-time spatial data, including attribute information, via the Internet or a secured Intranet. Using a standard web browser, a user can zoom in on any given location in the Missouri and add or edit geographic features such as points (e.g., households, well locations), lines (e.g., roads, streams), and polygons (e.g., fields or jurisdictional boundaries). The process of adding new geographic features is often referred to as digitizing. 1-meter imagery (aerial photography that can distinguish houses, roads, trees, cars, and other objects larger than 1 meter) or other detailed maps often serves as a reference layer to digitize these geographic features. Figure 6 provides illustrations and brief definitions of the digitizing tools developed at CARES.

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Save As: Select the data layers that you just created for downloading Add New Layer: Add a new empty data layer to the current map for digitizing Select Edit Layer: Reset the editing data layer Add Point: Add a point to the current editing data layer Add Line: Add a line to the current editing data layer Add Rectangle: Add a rectangle to the current editing data layer Add Circle: Add a circle to the current editing data layer Add Polygon: Add a polygon to the current editing data layer Split Polygon: Draw a line to split polygon in the current editing data layer Append Polygon: Append a polygon to the current editing data layer Enter Info: Select feature and update attributes of the current editing data layer Delete Feature: Select feature for deleting from the current editing data layer Figure 6. Illustrations and definitions of digitizing tools. Figure 7 illustrates the process of entering in a point on top of a house using 1-meter DOQQ imagery and attributing, or adding intelligence to that point using a “proof of concept” menu interface. Assume a user wishes to create a new GIS layer for community foodbanks to show locations of where food is distributed to hungry people. One purpose of adding foodbank locations may be to determine whether they are in optimal locations based on changing demographics (i.e., proximity to areas in poverty based on income census data). Figure 7 shows the process of first creating a new layer called “foodbanks”; second, clicking on the “add point” button and then clicking on top of the house to generate a point. The user then clicks on the “enter info” button to add attributes to that point. Attributes may include volume of food distributed in pounds, website address, phone number, etc.

Figure 7. Enter food bank location and add attributes (These attributes serve as the foundation for conducting spatial analyses) To ensure the integrity of data being collected via a Participatory Action Research Process, other fields can be added to the menu interface such as name of person entering data, data entry date, e-mail address of person entering in

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data, etc. The issue of quality assurance and quality control is not addressed in this paper; however, it is critical to deal with the integrity of the data being entered in order for Participatory Action Research to be meaningful. In another example, the same digitizing procedure can be used by a farmer to enter data related to crop management practices. The farmer can use the digitizing tool to first delineate field boundaries using the “add polygon” tool, then attribute those fields with information about what crops will be planted the following year (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Data entry - land use delineation and attribution. The tools created through the Saline County Study served as a foundation for developing a national-level Internet Mapping tool for the 4-H National Technology Conference, which was held at the University of Maryland, College Park from July 8-12, 2000. The objective of the mapping tool was to enable 4-H youth from around the U.S. to zoom from a national map of the U.S. down to their community. The user can then put a “pin” on the map by clicking on their neighborhood with a mouse. A “Community Technology Self-Assessment” survey then appears on the screen and prompts the user to answer questions about their level of Internet access and other technology related questions. The 4-H mapping prototype served to illustrate the potential of providing agencies with a means for distributed data entry of GIS layers and attributes via the Internet. This national website, in turn, served as a prototype for the establishing the Community Informatics Resource Center (CIRC), which will be described later in the paper. Spatial Summary Tool Citizen participation in local decision may be enhanced if there is a better understanding of the socio-economic, demographic and natural resource base of the community. For example, what are the economic development opportunities in the community given environmental constraints from ecologically sensitive watersheds? The CARES Internet Mapping website provides a foundation for addressing community-based issues by providing a spatial Summary Tool that allows the user to summarize spatial data (e.g., land use) by any geographic feature (e.g., watershed boundary). Essentially, the Spatial Summary Tool serves as a cookie cutter that summarizes data by a specified geographic boundary (county, zip code, school district, congressional district, etc.). Assume a State Senator wants to summarize “Average Household Income” by senate district, based on the 1990 census data. “Average Household Income” is aggregated to the senate district level by following this three step process:

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• Step 1. Click on the “Spatial Summary” icon above the map and then click inside a given senate district

boundary on the map. • Step 2. Select a data layer to summarize: A popup menu opens up for selecting the data layer to summarize; in

this case, “Average Household Income”. • Step 3. Select a data layer to summarize by: A popup menu opens up for selecting the data layer to summarize

by; in this case, Senate Districts. Specifically, the pixel location, which is converted to real-world coordinates (Step 1), is used to initiate an Avenue script that intersects the data layer to summarize (Step 2) with the polygon to be summarized by (Step 3). The Internet-based GIS calculates average household income In Senate District 19 to be $31,976 Based on the 1990 Census (see Figure 9).

Figure 9. Average household income in senate district 19 (Randolph, Boone and Howard counties, Missouri) is $31,976 based on the 1990 census. Livestock Site Selection Tool As part of the Saline county Study, an Internet-based Livestock Site Select Tool was created. The criteria included for the analysis of suitable locations of livestock operations are based on a published research paper by agricultural engineers from the University of Iowa (Jain, et. al., 1995). The authors selected six spatial databases as criteria to evaluate relative suitability of livestock production in Iowa: soil drainage class, soil permeability, land slope, aspect, stream proximity, and road proximity. This methodology, which was not Internet-enabled, was adapted for Missouri and integrated into the Internet Mapping website using ArcView IMS and an ArcView extension – Spatial Analyst. As stated earlier, the CAFO issue was volatile; however the site selection tool forced all members of the steering committee to focus on the list of criteria rather than relying on their emotions to drive the process. The first “what if” scenario was based on suitable livestock locations being: somewhat to very poorly drained soil; low in soil permeability; on land less than 10% slope; no closer than 1,000 feet from a stream; no farther than 1,000 feet from a road; and a minimum area of 30 acres (Figure 10 (a)). Spatial Analyst was used to perform a conditional calculation of each layer separately and those cells that meet the above criteria in each layer were assigned a value. Those cells that contain the unique value across all the layers were determined suitable for livestock production.

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After selecting values for each criterion, the “Submit” button was clicked to generate a livestock site suitability map for Saline County (Figure 10 (b)). The steering committee immediately saw that the City of Marshall was designated as a suitable location for a livestock operation. Both pro- and anti-CAFO steering committee members requested that CARES modify its list of criteria to include an urban setback option whereby a user can enter a minimum distance from an urban area. Other suggestions for adding to the criteria list included providing setbacks for tourist areas, state parks, and rural residences.

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Figure 10. (a) Criteria fro site selection; (b) County-level view of suitable livestock locations. Although there was not complete agreement between pro- and anti-CAFO committee members, the Internet Mapping tools provided a firmer foundation on which to reach common ground and make more informed decisions. After introducing the Livestock Site Selection Tool, the committee members agreed that, with the available information and communications technologies and access to a wealth of public data in a decision making structure, the process should evolve from being issue-based to capacity building. Specifically, the Saline County Study was transformed into visioning process for the future of Saline County. Migration from ArcView IMS to Arc IMS In January 2001, the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) and CARES established the Community Informatics Resource Center (CIRC), which is housed in CARES. The new center builds on the Missouri state-level applications offered by CARES and applies the concepts and Interactive Mapping tools to the national level. The purpose of CIRC is to coordinate with RUPRI to make policy-relevant information and decision support resources available to community-based decision makers throughout rural America. While public policy analyses are most often focused at the federal and state level, often the most critical public policy decision making occurs at the community, county, and regional level. CIRC will assist these decision makers by providing relevant and timely information regarding the "place-based" implications of issues impacting rural America. CIRC's principle goal is to rapidly transform data and static reports into interactive visualization and analytic tools for local decision support across the United States. In order to effectively ramp up this national-level effort it was necessary to migrate from ArcView IMS to Arc IMS, due to the limitations of ArcView IMS. Specifically:

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1) ArcView IMS has limited representation of geographic data (i.e. labeling, speed); 2) ArcView IMS is not multithread enabled, as is Arc IMS; that is, ArcView IMS cannot process multiple user

requests at the same time by allocating resources. ArcView IMS is single thread enabled, meaning, only one user request can be processed at a time – if one user pans, another user has to wait on their process until first request is finished;

3) ArcView IMS requires that ArcView actually be running at all times 4) ArcView IMS buttons go blank occasionally due to heap allocation issues Through CIRC the unique digitizing functionality is now available by accessing the Microsoft TerraServer, extracting the 1-meter imagery (DOQQs) and using this imagery as a reference layer in CIRC’s analytic environment. Therefore, new spatial data can be entered and attributed via the Internet or secured Intranet. Figure 11 illustrates the process of digitizing with Arc IMS. For example, a user zooms in from the national-level map (Figure 11 (a)) to the Chicago metropolitan area (Figure 11 (b)). The user then clicks on “Show Terraserver Aerial Photos” (Figure 11 (c)) and proceeds to zoom into the City of Chicago. The suite of digitizing tools enables the user to then create a new layer, add a point, and attribute that point (Figure 11 (d)).

Figure 11. Digitizing a point in downtown Chicago using Arc IMS. Technical Overview of Arc IMS for CIRC ArcIMS serves as the foundation for CIRC’s Internet mapping functionality. Instead of using Avenue script, ArcXML and JavaScript are employed. ArcXML is used for the communication between the user requests and responses from the server, while JavaScript translates the ArcXML requests and responses into browser-understandable code. In addition, the following programming languages are used: VML (Vector Markup Language) – for instant graphic drawing on top of images, e.g. lines on maps – more client-sided; DHTML (Dynamic HTML) for stacking images and text on top of map as layers, e.g. zoom box; VBScript for ASP functionality; and C

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

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programs for fast data manipulation. Instead of ArcView extensions, ArcGIS extensions and modules will be called for advanced spatial analysis and modeling through VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) and Java Servlets. An ArcIMS Map Service stores the list of data layers viewable to the users. To efficiently serve the subset of data layers to the user, an Access database is created to store layer parameters including symbol renderers, field definition and alias, etc. The CIRC Interactive Maps website employs the same concept for the 1-2-3 step process discussed earlier. When the user requests a map by clicking the “Make Map” button in “Step 3”, an Active Server Page (ASP) queries the parameter Access database and writes the selected parameters to a JavaScript file for the user map session. Future Directions Future research will involve integrating models with the customized Arc IMS tools. For example, the menu interface for entering in attributes can be modified to include other farm management data such as cost of seed, fertilizer and pesticides, quantities applied to the land, labor costs etc. (see farm example in a previous section). These data along with other GIS layers, could serve as inputs to economic and environmental simulation models such as an Internet based WAMADSS and be used to assist the farmer with management plans. Although an Internet-based WAMADSS does not yet exist, it would reside on a central server and the models could be seamlessly updated as new versions of the software become available. The key point to this example is that local, spatial information can be entered and used in conjunction with expert knowledge in a decision support environment. Local governments will benefit from involving land owners in programs that foster good stewardship because these landowners will use ICTs to make more informed decisions that ultimately impact the community. The CARES website evolved from an agency-based framework to a holistic decision support structure. However, this holistic structure may be overwhelming to some decision makers who only want to focus on specific issues. Therefore, issue-based websites that contain a subset of data and tools will be developed as more is learned about what data and tools should be incorporated. The issue of privacy and security are not addressed in this paper; however, it is a critical deal with these concerns because, without ensuring privacy and security of data, Internet-based decision support tools that incorporate local knowledge will not be truly realized. “Whenever a conflict arises between privacy and accountability, people demand the former for themselves and the latter for everybody else.” (Brin, 1998). With respect to the recent terrorist events in the United States, a number of government websites have closed down due to fears that terrorists will access data via the Internet and potentially cause more harm (OMB Watch, 2001). The number of websites shutting down should be monitored closely since the same information that is deprived to terrorists is also deprived to society. Without access to good information uninformed decisions will be made and unintended consequences may result. “Teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing instruction for all, and it must answer for the night which it produces. If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness” (Victor Hugo - Les Miserables). References Brin, David. The Transparent Society – Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? Reading Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1998. Jain, Dharmesh K., Udoyara S. Tim and Robert Jolly. Spatial Decision Support System for Planning Sustainable Livestock Production. Computer, Environment and Urban Systems, Vol. 19, No. 1. pp. 57-75. 1995. Maps with Teeth: Bioregional mapping by locals communicates a sense of place and regional identity. Produced by Heather MacAndrew & David Springbett, directed by Peg Campbell. 26 min. Asterisk Productions, 1997. Videocassette.