ABSTRACT
In Chapter 7, the implementation of desktop spatial decision support systems (SDSS) was discussed by presenting two examples of available SDSS programs and two examples of developing new custom SDSS tools in Microsoft Excel and ArcGIS. This chapter will focus on Web-based SDSS. Traditional desktop SDSS implementations often require expensive software and also powerful desktop computers. In addition, they also often rely upon existing GIS, modeling, and other software, thus calling upon users to have access to and a certain level of experience with these programs. These characteristics make it difficult for organizations to effectively place SDSS within their institutional context. With the tremendous growth in the use of the Web, there has been a move to develop both Webbased decision support systems DSS and SDSS. The Web is playing a huge role in SDSS application development mainly because of advantages such as platform independency, reductions in distribution costs and maintenance problems, ease of use, and widespread access (Peng and Tsou 2003). These advantages help explain the increase in Web-based SDSS applications over the last decade or so. In the database of SDSS publications collated and described in earlier chapters, there were approximately fifty
Web-based SDSS documented, with the earliest appearing in 1999. For more detail, Rinner and Jankowski (2002), Rinner (2003), and Sugumaran and Sugumaran (2007) have described technical foundations and applications of Web-based SDSS.
