ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the characteristics of a geographic information system (GIS), and differentiate it from mapping and database management systems. It identifies some tools used in agricultural planning, including some expert systems (ES) that are under development. The chapter discusses why a knowledge-based GIS was chosen for planning environment. It presents an overview of the DREAGIS system components. A GIS is a computer program or a set of computer programs designed to store, edit, manipulate and retrieve data that can be geographically referenced. As a part of the Comprehensive Resource Inventory and Evaluation System (CRIES) project, the agricultural regions of the Dominican Republic were classified in Resource Planning Units. Consequently, the solution adopted was to link the CRIES-GIS with a database package, and to employ an ES to provide expertise in identifying the crops that could be grown in a particular area.
