The coast is subject to increasing pressure from a multitude of often competing users.
Coastal managers are faced with the challenge of balancing the distribution and activities
of users. They must take into account user conflicts, environmental impacts, socioeconomic
benefits, and the voices of the coastal community. On another stream.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are being heralded as decision support tools.
These tools range from inventory warehouses to dedicated Spatial Decision Support
Systems (SDSS) to impending Collaborative Spatial Decision Making Systems (CSDMS)
for decision-making groups. This research investigated the marriage of these two fields,
coastal management and GIS, through the development and pilot implementation of a
Coastal SDSS for multiple-use management.
The investigation was pursued by exploring the component parts of a Coastal SDSS: (1)
the decision makers and process within which they function; (2) the analysis upon which
decisions are made; and (3) the data which are analysed and in themselves contribute to an
understanding of the decision problem and solution. Information and observations for
each of these components were gathered and woven together from five sources: (1)
literature survey; (2) a two-phase questionnaire of coastal decision makers; (3) interviews
of participants of a resource management multi-stakeholder process; (4) non-participant
observation of an ongoing coastal management process; and (5) two workshops involving
the pilot implementation of a Coastal SDSS to evaluate its effectiveness for group-based
coastal management. The workshops, involving members from eight stakeholder groups,
formed part of a current coastal management initiative in Barkley Sound, Vancouver
Island. The pilot Coastal SDSS was programmed in Arclnfo™. It included the
development of position analysis and multi-criteria analysis models accessed from a
customised interface. The results from the workshops were assimilated with previous
findings into design and implementation specifications of a Coastal SDSS.
Twenty-one specifications are made for the development and implemention of a Coastal
SDSS under categories of: 1) format; 2) decision making; 3) analysis; and 4) data. A
chauffeur-driven system is advocated as the preferred format of implementation directed
by a GIS facilitator and GIS analyst. Of critical importance to the successful
implementation of a Coastal SDSS is adequate preparation of technical accessibility for
participants. The decision making approach of a Coastal SDSS should lie in the
generation and evaluation of alternatives with an emphasis on graphic communication and
dynamic decision making. The analytical component of a Coastal SDSS must balance
quantitative analysis with qualitative, and deterministic with interactive. Analytical
specifications recommended include capability analysis, spatial coincidence, multi-criteria
analysis, consensus evaluation, alternative evaluation, environmental modelling and
generic GIS functionality. The points of emphasis for the data component include a
taxonomy of coastal inventory with particular reference to coastal use and administrative
framework, representation of the coast as a continuous transition zone between marine
and terrestrial environments, cartographic communication geared towards decision
making, and a metadata strategy for managing data quality.
This research concludes that Coastal SDSS can fill a void in and enhance coastal
management particularly with respect to supporting communication and objective spatial
analytical methods. However, decision makers were cautious in embracing a central role
for Coastal SDSS. Their concerns can be addressed by involving the full range of coastal
decision makers in the design and development of Coastal SDSS particularly through
experimental research design and by incorporating GIS into coastal management curricula. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/9807 |
| Date | 01 August 2018 |
| Creators | Canessa, Rosaline Regan |
| Contributors | Keller, C. Peter |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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