Representing and applying knowledge about spatial processes in environmental management

Since the mid-1970s, expert systems have been employed in a variety of problem domains of which perhaps the most successful have been medicine, computing, and mineral prospecting (Waterman, 1985). In May 1985, the CSIRO Division of Water and Land Resources set up a knowledge systems group (KSG) to investigate the potential of knowledge-based programs for assisting natural resource managers. However, at the time the KSG was formed, there had not been any proven applications of this technology in natural resource management, even though there was a rising level of interest among both scientists and managers.