SIVERTUN, AKE

                         UMEA UNIVERSITET (SWEDEN), 1993

                         GEOGRAPHY (0366)
 

                         An integrating approach, including knowledge about whole systems of processes, is essential in order to
                         reach both development and environmental protection goals. In this thesis Geographical Information
                         Systems (GIS) are suggested as a tool to realise such integrated models. The main hypothesis in this
                         work is that several natural technical and social systems that share a time-space can be compared and
                         analysed in a GIS. My first objective was to analyze how GIS can support research, planning, and, more
                         specifically, bring a broad scattering of competence together in an interdisciplinary process. The second
                         objective concerns the requirement that models should be comparable and possible to include in other
                         models, and that they can be communicated to planners, politicians and the public. Four examples on
                         the possibilities and problems when using GIS in interdisciplinary studies are presented. The first articles
                         focus on non-point source pollutants as a problem under growing attention when the big industrial and
                         municipal point sources are brought under control. To manage non-point source pollutants, detailed
                         knowledge about local conditions is required to facilitate precise advices on land use. To estimate the
                         flow of metals and N(itrogen) in an area it is important to identify the soil moisture. Soil moisture changes
                         over time but also significantly in the landscape according to several factors. Here a method is presented
                         that calculate soil moisture over large areas. Man as a hydrologic factor has to be assessed to also
                         understand the relative importance of anthropogen processes. To offer a supplement to direct
                         measurements and add anthropogen factors, a GIS model is presented that takes soil-type, topography,
                         vegetation, land-use, agricultural drainage and relative position in the watershed into account. A method
                         to analyse and visualise development over time and space in the same model is presented in the last
                         empirical study. The development of agricultural drainage can be discussed as a product of several
                         forces here analyzed together and visualized with help of colour coded 'Hyper pixels' and maps. Finally, a
                         discussion concerning the physiological and psychological possibilities to communicate
                         multidimensional phenomena with the help of pictures and maps is held. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
 

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