Environmental Information
Geographic Information System
An essential aspect of environmental information is that it comes in many different forms: by subject and in time and space. Of the three, the last of these represents the true backbone of the data bank. Hence, in order to preserve this characteristic it is necessary to access specific instruments such as Geographic Information Systems.
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is an integrated analysis and management computer tool with reference to space. These solutions combine to form a database manager and a series of specific tools for handling information on the municipality, allowing multiple operations (consultations, data cross referencing, cartographic generation, statistics, reports, complex territorial models, etc.) which would be extremely difficult to do by other means.
The GIS allows an integrated vision of the municipality, both regard to subject and space. Based on the information collected in the data bank, the system is capable of making complex and thorough analyses of the problems and environmental potentials of the milieu, in a consistent manner and at an appropriate scale for decision taking. In this sense, the possibility it offers to simulate future actions or to establish behavioural procedures in the light of specific actions planned in the municipality, make this an extremely useful instrument for environmental specialists.
Since the SIAM was initiated, the possibility of territorial analysis offered by the SIAM has led to municipal planning surveys in widely differing fields: the planning of agricultural and forestry areas, planning the urban centre of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the development of its Green Ring, the siting of new infrastructures, etc.
For example, through its GIS, the SIAM has been an essential tool in tackling surveys such as the Special Planning of Mountain Areas, the Planning of Recreational Activities, several plans to restore degraded areas, etc., playing an important role in reviewing the categorisation of land not apt for development within the framework of the new General Urban Development Plan.
In short, the GIS becomes a key element within the Environmental Information System, and not only affords a method for keeping geographical and thematic data, but shares these with other specific consultation, analysis or management applications via the municipal Intranet, or viaInternet.