ABSTRACT
Geospatial analysis defines a family of methods and technologies that exploit the application and analytic manipulation of geographically referenced data. This chapter examines the geospatial solution as a decision style to enhance the challenge of environmental sustainability assessment and forecasting. The acquisition, management, storage, visualization, and analysis of data that are location based on the functional elements that characterize geospatial technology. The geospatial data collected and maintained by these systems feed decision making and facilitate the spatial expression of land resources and land cover information. In addition, geospatial technology enables the collection of data at a range of geographic sales and levels of detail that can be tailored to the information needs required by a given problem. A comprehensive discussion of the problem of environmental definition offered by Glasson et al. provides a reasonable starting point. The factors selected for analysis are considered decision relevant given the nature of the problem.
