Lake Chilika: GIS and the Challenge of Spatial Management

Abstract

The use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for a range of terrestrial spatio-temporal analyses has grown exponentially over the past three decades. This growth has occurred as a result of the system’s proven capabilities at resolving an ever widening range of problems, plus the fact that the system can be utilised for modelling and other predictive purposes. Growth has been supported by rapidly decreasing costs and by the promotion of GIS through publications, education and conferences. The use of GIS for analyses or modelling in aquatic environments has been rather slower to emerge. This is largely a function of the fact that, from a cost viewpoint and from a ‘mapping capability’ perspective, data here is much more difficult to acquire. Thus, in aquatic environments, everything moves or is mobile including both the environment itself and those objects within it. Despite these difficulties, for the past 15 years GIS has been increasingly utilised for work in both marine and freshwater environments, and there is now a huge literature that can testify to its success¹.

A paper giving a good overview of the use of GIS in coastal zone management (Zeng, T.Q. et al. (2001) Coastal GIS: Functionality Versus Applications. J. of Geospatial Engineering. Vol. 3(2), pp. 109–126) is available on http://www.lsgi.polyu.edu.hk/sTAFF/zl.li/vol_3_2/05_zeng.pdf