ABSTRACT
Relevant and sufficient amounts of data are required to make correct and accurate decisions. Although some data are straightforward and easy to understand, other data—especially those with large quantity and sophisticated relationships to other data—could appear to be complicated, intimidating, and confusing. These data need to be processed and analyzed to reveal the patterns and relationships hidden in the large amounts of numbers. For example, while reviewing the historical records and reports of previous investigations at an environmentally impacted site, an environmental scientist gathers a large amount of datasets, such as historical drawings and aerial photos; chemical results of soil, surface water, sediment and groundwater samples; current and planned future land uses, hydrology, geology, soil, vegetation and elevation data; geophysical transects and anomalies and intrusive investigation results; water wells; wetlands; census data; cultural sites, habitats of protected species; affected properties; right of entry (ROE) information, and so on.
