Automating the environmental impact assessment process: An Implementation Perspective

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a decision-making process created to incorporate environmental concerns into the procedures that guide land development and contribute to orderly environmental change. As a decision tool, EIA consists of a series of administrative requirements and analytic techniques that function to disclose the potential consequences of a proposed action before an irreversible commitment of resources is made. GIS has also been described as a decision tool that allows analysts to address complex environmental problems similar to those encountered in EIA; however, its direct application to the procedures that explain the environmental impact assessment process have not been critically examined. This article explores the nature of EIA, identifies common approaches to EIA that can be automated with the use of GIS, and describes an implementation strategy to guide the expanded application of GIS in the environmental impact assessment process. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.