Planning Support
GIS-based planning support systems are computerized programs that use geospatial tools to analyze and visualize scenarios to better plan for the future. Some general planning tasks that can be supported using GIS software and systems include compiling baseline information, evaluating courses of actions, modeling possible scenarios, and monitoring results and other possible outcomes. Researchers at our Center have developed numerous planning support systems using these types of tools.
These new systems are helping engineers, planners, and industry professionals make smarter and more efficient decisions about the future. For example, DeKalb County, Georgia, leaders used the systems to look at the financial impact that annexations and incorporations will have on the county.
Here are other examples:
Mapping Gorilla Movements in Rwanda
Since the early 2000s, researchers at our Center and Georgia Tech have partnered with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International to map mountain gorilla movements in Volcanoes National Park in the African nation of Rwanda.
In 2012, the center converted 12 years of daily GPS readings of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International's mountain gorilla research groups into one consolidated spatial database with more than 50,000 unique mountain gorilla observations and their associated descriptors from 1999 - 2011. This database is available to the public for viewing through an interactive map.
Coastal and Marine Planning
The goal of the Georgia Coastal and Marine Planning (GCAMP) project is to conserve natural, cultural, and economic resources in Georgia’s offshore environment through planning and coordination. It aims to do this by facilitating the state’s management of coastal and ocean resources, coordinating with federal regulatory agencies, and providing online access to data regarding coastal and ocean resources.
Georgia’s coastline provides an infinite supply of natural wind and ocean resources that have the potential to substantially contribute to the state’s energy supply. GCAMP aims to define a clear process for licensing and permitting offshore energy in Georgia, and close the data and communication gaps between regulatory agencies that could delay the permitting process.