THE COUNTRYSIDE-INFORMATION-SYSTEM - A STRATEGIC-LEVEL DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEM

The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) has monitored ecological ch ange in Great Britain (GB) since 1978. The task has been undertaken us ing a stratified sampling scheme working with a 1 km square as the sam ple unit. In more recent years, scientific researchers at ITE have bee n working closely with the policy-makers of the United Kingdom Departm ent of the Environment. The presentation of information to policy advi sors and planners was a component within a large project investigating the ecological consequences of land-use change. A simple PC-based dec ision support system was developed during the project and subsequently has been expanded to produce a marketable product. The system, called the Countryside Information System (CIS), presents and links informat ion at national, regional and thematic levels along with qualifying da ta describing accuracy and appropriateness of use (i.e., metadata). An integral part of the CIS is the ITE Land Classification, which divide s GB into 32 environmental land classes; all 250 000 squares have been classified. The classification allows sampled data to be presented an d, as the co-ordinate system is widely used in GB, it allows census da tasets to be linked and compared. CIS has been described as a Geograph ical Information System, but the classification, data held within the system, and the use of metadata to assist in interpretation of results make the system much more decision-support oriented. Indeed, governme nt departments have been involved in directing the development and are now starting to use the system to answer parliamentary questions and formulate, assess and monitor environmental policy. The CIS is an open system, running on a standard PC in Microsoft Windows. Tools for load ing and editing new datasets (both sample and census) are incorporated in the suite of programs. The Windows environment and users comments during development have produced a system with an intuitive feel, remo ving some of the overhead of acquiring specialised technical skills be fore being able to operate a system. This paper describes the CIS and presents examples of its applications.