ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with natural resource assessment and discusses expert systems that are being used with some success and promise in this area. In the natural resource areas, a combination of existing, extensive detailed facts, coupled with the expert system shell structure, makes for a productive approach. Prospector demonstrated an ability to perform at or near the level of expert economic geologists. Various factors, coupled with the power of expert systems and expert system shells, make microcomputers one of the most useful tools ever available to manage natural resources in developing countries. Natural resource data can generally be characterized as scientific, technical, and to some extent economic in nature; and involving increasingly large volumes of detail. In developing countries where the amount of collected data may not be as large, near-term opportunities may exist in natural resource data management, which will make the tasks of computer analysis, assessment, and management much easier, less expensive, and more comprehensive.
