Spatial Analysis Software Tools for Community Decision Support

Introduction Local governments are increasingly faced with making decisions that were once delegated to the Federal government. However, with this devolution of power, local governments often lack the resources or information to make effective decisions that impact their communities. To further exacerbate this issue, rural communities in the United States are typically resource-poor compared to their more affluent urban counterparts. Specifically, rural communities typically lack the expertise and infrastructure (i.e., access to information, equipment, computer hardware and software) required to make more informed decisions. At the same time, local governments are increasingly employing Participatory Action Research (PAR) methods to address local issues. Participatory Action Research increases the need for accessible, intuitive, interactive decision support tools to evaluate socio-economic and environmental impacts of group decision making at the local level.