Web-Based GIS and Spatial Decision Support System

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Web-based GIS is an emerging information system technology combining GIS, database software and programming languages in a distributed computing environment. Applications of publicly available GIS can provide effective decision support in land use planning decisions by enhancing communication among multiple stakeholders and their access to relevant information.

Researchers at the Alternative Growth Futures Lab (AGF) of the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado are currently developing GIS tools to aid local governments and citizens in visioning alternative growth patterns. These urban growth models include a land conversion model of the Colorado Front Range, a cellular automata model of developer decision-making, an agent-based model of amenity-based exurban development processes, and an agent-based model of the effect of transportation investments on land markets. Researchers at the AGF lab are also using integrated spatial and qualitative research methods to evaluate wildfire vulnerability in the wildland-urban interface.