Development of an Integrated GIS for Monitoring of Anthropogenic Impact on the Coastal Area of Lake Baikal
Investigation into the causes of the ecological crisis is possible as a result of multicenter studies of the coast and off-shore strip. The development of unified technical and methodological approaches in the assessment of the impact of contaminated subterranean water on the ecosystem is the basis for complex geological-geophysical, geological, geochemical, hydrochemical, hydrological, hydro biological, microbiological, landscape, diving and other researches. Complex study management involves processing of large amounts of distributed data accumulated during the studies, and needs for their integration and analysis, require the use of modern methods, use of information technology (IT) and tools to support scientific research. Since the studies are interdisciplinary and require the prompt presentation of materials from a large number of scientists from different fields of knowledge, such a system must be multiple-user. Because of the spatial nature of the data, geoinformation systems (GIS) are a suitable tool for the research support on the anthropogenic impact on the ecology of any territory. The implementation of such GIS with open architecture will provide the opportunity to expand functionality by adding new services that are both locally on the geoportal server and remotely on other servers. System development for assessing and monitoring of human impact as a geoportal has a number of advantages: High reliability of data storage; Absence of user needs to install and maintain software on his own; Free access to methods, models and algorithms of data geoprocessing, the possibility of the list of geo-algorithms expanding; The ability to apply high-performance computing to resource-intensive geoprocessing applications. In this article, an approach for informational support of human impact on the ecology of the coastal zone of Lake Baikal research is suggested. The geoportal of the Irkutsk Scientific Center allows for investigators to make a general database of issue-related data (tabulated data) and map data (information layers), as well as to start-up Internet services for geoprocessing and for complex analysis of various indicators. One of the key features of the geoportal is the ability for users to independently create the structure of their databases (add, delete and modify the structure of tables), and also to adjust start-up of geoprocessing services. This platform allows to take on projects on a variety of topics for a large number of users simultaneously.