A. Aboujaoude et at. : System for the Management of Agricultural Pollution
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5 ISMAP AND DECISION-MAKING
5.1 ISMAP end-users
ISMAP end-users typically are local/regional authorities and national/regional
agencies in charge of water resource protection. Recent laws (e.g. "Loi sur l'Eau
1992 II in France) prescribe a sustainable management of water resources at
regional and local scale in E.C. countries. Appropriate tools, technologies and
methodologies to prepare protection plans and to follow them up in the coming
years are expected. These legal orientations imply a significant evolution in the
capabilities of tools. IS MAP will contribute to bridge the gap between
conventional methods and current and future requirements, based on a sound
valorization of state-of-the-art knowledge.
It must be clearly stated that, given the complexity of the problem and the
diversity of situations, it is not realistic to envisage a comprehensive computerized
Decision-support system accessible to all type of users. Expertise will be required,
and the end-user here is the user of results and not the direct operator of the tool.
Farmers are also potential end-users of ISMAP results in a different way. Farming
models taking into account socio-economic balances and environmental
consequences should be used for large farm exploitations (e.g. Po Valley in Italy).
5.2 ISMAP decision-support contribution
ISMAP has no intention of substituting for the decision-maker. The role of the
IDSS is to provide a synthetic vision of a given problem and to assist the user in
investigating sound elements of solutions to this problem so that a reasonable
decision can be made, taking into account the relevant aspects of the problem.
Some possible applications of the Information & Decision Support System are
mentioned hereafter:
• Valorization of existing information
• direct availability and easy retrieval of existing general information
• easy retrieval of existing local data (environmental system)
• reasonable spatial interpretation of existing scarce data
• characterization of timewise evolutions of environmental indicators
• record of local background and past events (storage of knowledge)
• education support based on recorded events or educational tools
• didactic presentation of information
39
5 ISMAP AND DECISION-MAKING
5.1 ISMAP end-users
ISMAP end-users typically are local/regional authorities and national/regional
agencies in charge of water resource protection. Recent laws (e.g. "Loi sur l'Eau
1992 II in France) prescribe a sustainable management of water resources at
regional and local scale in E.C. countries. Appropriate tools, technologies and
methodologies to prepare protection plans and to follow them up in the coming
years are expected. These legal orientations imply a significant evolution in the
capabilities of tools. IS MAP will contribute to bridge the gap between
conventional methods and current and future requirements, based on a sound
valorization of state-of-the-art knowledge.
It must be clearly stated that, given the complexity of the problem and the
diversity of situations, it is not realistic to envisage a comprehensive computerized
Decision-support system accessible to all type of users. Expertise will be required,
and the end-user here is the user of results and not the direct operator of the tool.
Farmers are also potential end-users of ISMAP results in a different way. Farming
models taking into account socio-economic balances and environmental
consequences should be used for large farm exploitations (e.g. Po Valley in Italy).
5.2 ISMAP decision-support contribution
ISMAP has no intention of substituting for the decision-maker. The role of the
IDSS is to provide a synthetic vision of a given problem and to assist the user in
investigating sound elements of solutions to this problem so that a reasonable
decision can be made, taking into account the relevant aspects of the problem.
Some possible applications of the Information & Decision Support System are
mentioned hereafter:
• Valorization of existing information
• direct availability and easy retrieval of existing general information
• easy retrieval of existing local data (environmental system)
• reasonable spatial interpretation of existing scarce data
• characterization of timewise evolutions of environmental indicators
• record of local background and past events (storage of knowledge)
• education support based on recorded events or educational tools
• didactic presentation of information