GIS Methodologies for Developing Conservation Strategies Part 3 potx

32 Basil G. Savitsky

and to the management of the public resource (Hassan and Hutchinson 1992).

Conservation and resource management is increasingly interdisciplinary and

interdepartmental in nature. Building the capacity to contribute to and receive

from the rapidly growing body of data is a valuable product.

Implementation of Digital Mapping Technologies in Tropical

Developing Countries

It is useful to evaluate the costs and constraints in implementing digital mapping

technologies. Successful applications have been demonstrated in the utilization

of image analysis, GIS, and GPS (table 3.1). The three technologies have been

applied in measurement of deforestation, identification of suitable habitat for

various species, and a variety of protected area wildlife management issues.

However, the initial investment in advanced mapping technologies is high, and

many remote sensing technology transfers have failed to address the unique

TABLE 3.1 Examples from the Literature Demonstrating Applications in Image

Analysis, GIS, and GPS

Technology Application Citation

Image analysis Measure deforestation Fearnside (1993)

Tucker, Holben, and Goff (1984)

Identify habitat

Crane Herr and Queen (1993)

Sage grouse Homer et al. (1993)

Snow leopard Prasad et al. (1991)

GIS Protected areas Campbell (1991)

McKay and Kaminski (1991)

Parker et al. (1991)

Pearsall (1991)

Riebau et al. (1991)

Wildlife management

Bear Clark, Dunn, and Smith (1993)

Holt (1991)

Elephant Falconer (1992)

Cougar Gagliuso (1991)

Ecosystem modeling Curran (1994)

Johnson (1993)

Deforestation trends Ludeke, Maggio, and Reid (1990)

GPS Rainforest populations Wilkie (1989)

Forest management Gerlach (1992)

Thee (1992)

Bergstrom (1990)

Park resource inventory Lev (1992)

Fletcher and Sanchez (1994)

Habitat mapping Wurz (1991)

Digital Mapping Technologies 33

conditions of the recipient country (Forster 1990). The reasons for failure in

technology transfer within developed countries are similar to the causes of

failure of technology transfer in tropical developing countries, but the quality of

conditions in tropical developing countries makes technology implementation

more difficult.

The implementation of an information technology such as GIS or image

analysis can be evaluated along the three major components of the information

system—hardware and software, data, and staff (figure 3.1). The concept of the

GIS as a triangle was developed by the author to stress the balance required in

investments and activities in each of the three components in a well-functioning

information system. A successful implementation plan should address all three

components. Excessive focus often is placed upon hardware and software consid￾erations, particularly if competing vendors are involved. Often, agencies are

FIG. 3.1 Three major components of an information system. Implementa￾tion of an information system should be balanced along each component.

The presence of any two components should produce the third component.