Environmental applications are a very broad category, but mainly deal with the research and analysis of the natural world and the natural and human-induced impact upon it. Environmental applications can involve forward-looking assessment to avoid harm, the monitoring of current conditions or remediation after something has gone awry. The typical purpose of the effort is simply to avoid, prevent or resolve conflict between humans and nature. There are varying business values to each of these three motivations.
When avoiding or resolving conflict between business concerns and the environment, the business value is likely mandated. Prior to the modern times of environmental regulations, the corporate motivation of profit first saw the idea of resolving environmental conflict as too expensive to undertake. Thankfully, public policy has taken a safeguard approach that has levied stiff penalties to create bottom-line motivations for environmental compliance. The business value of assessment and remediation now is very tangible in most modern countries, and there are large industries that serve environmental interests, with good profits to be made in the effort.
Preventing conflict is an area with considerable market value regardless of motivation, for it deals with risk that can be quantified to direct bottom-line results. The impact of environmental events have a direct tie to business assets, which can come to great harm at nature’s mercy, and the cost of replacement is considerable. Risk also deals with a company’s potential for harm toward the environment, and insurance policies cover remediation costs if the company’s actions cause. Here the insurance counteracts mandated or court-assessed penalties.
Technology tools that address environmental applications are varied, but very few accept inputs from multiple disciplines for a broad understanding and holistic view of problems and solutions. GIS and CAD both have a role to play in environmental applications, and the convergence of these two technologies will be increasingly important goal in order to gain much better understanding of the conflict space between infrastructure and the environment.
The Role of GIS
GIS has long had a role in regional and global integrated environmental assessments. Traditional application areas for GIS and remote sensing techniques include: forestry, hydrology, ecological modeling, marine biology, environmental monitoring, urban ecology, biodiversity assessment, land management, invasive species work, fire fuel loading and other various applications that deal with potential conflict areas. Each involves the collection and cataloging of details about the Earth’s surface along with some degree of spatial analysis.
GIS is now an essential first step in most environmental assessments, due to its ability to accept multiple inputs and variables that allow the user to create both an original picture of the environment and a picture of how that environment has changed or could change. GIS is uniquely suited to environmental visualization and simulation that allows experts to combine their knowledge in one shared repository.
CAD Modeling with a Nature Interface
CAD deals with detailed design views that allow practitioners to turn ideas and models into tangible realities. The design-based views don’t often incorporate an accurate picture of the environment outside these designed facilities, yet they’re increasingly dealing with that impact in order to increase energy efficiencies, and to take a green building approach with minimal impact on the environment.
CAD is increasingly incorporating broader outdoor environments, and city models, that are evolving to intelligent models, where analysis aids the design process. This evolution of CAD tools toward building information modeling and intelligent design, means that it is becoming more closely aligned with the design and purpose of the geospatial toolset.
The converged toolset provides the big-picture view of GIS along with the highly detailed design tools that will benefit greatly from a better understanding of Earth system interactions. The convergence of CAD, GIS and Building Information Modeling is becoming much easier as standards are implemented and software becomes more interoperable. The recent adoption of CityGML by the Open Geospatial Consortium should go a long way toward easing this convergence and speeding this development.
When contemplating the business value of a converged geospatial and drafting toolset, it’s easy to realize the benefits. Primarily, the enhanced understanding of the impacts of built structures on the environment leads to a greater balance that benefit both nature and our infrastructure. The bottom-line benefits largely evolve around greater efficiencies, whether that means less energy used in buildings and in transport or more energy generated from natural systems such as solar, wind, hydro or geothermal. Such a system would also ensure a lighter impact on the planet, which translates into long-term viable benefits from the environment rather than harsh repercussions from prior actions that renders areas of our planet unlivable.
The creeping repercussions of climate change is placing a much clearer business benefit on environmental applications. We no longer can believe that our actions on our planet are without long-term impacts, and the environmental repercussions of prior actions are having profound impacts on our economies, public health, safety and security.
Thankfully, the need to explain the need for applications involved in environmental assessment is going away. Unfortunately, the reason it no longer needs explaining is that the repercussions from mismanagement is having an increasing bottom-line effect on businesses.
Read what Jeff Thurston has to say on this topic here.
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