Study

Distance course in

Spatial Decision Support Systems

Increasingly, the generation of relevant information is the problem since (according to American political scientist, economist and psychologist Herbert Simon) a wealth of information creates poverty of attention.

This course introduces participants to techniques for selecting and processing data to generate meaningful and timely information to support the better management of resources. To improve decision making, the required information, tools, techniques, models and decision-making procedures can be integrated in a user-friendly information processing system called a spatial decision support system (SDSS). In contrast to other geo-information systems, an SDSS provides insight into assessments of tradeoffs between the various options open to decision makers.

For whom is the course relevant?

The course is intended for organizations, individual practitioners and spatial analysts with a professional or academic background who support spatial planning and decision-making processes. Although it is interesting for decision makers to establish a way of thinking for themselves, the course also goes into some practical detail. This course is also attractive to PhD students and researchers who want to work with SDSS.

What is the course content?

The contents of the course are structured into the following six lessons:
Lesson 1: Why do we need to support decision makers?
Lesson 2: Basic views on the decision-making process
Lesson 3: What is the role of spatial decision support systems in the decision-making process?
Lesson 4: Basic principles of multicriteria analysis
Lesson 5: Spatial multicriteria analysis
Lesson 6: Application of the theory of the decision-making process, multicriteria analysis and spatial multicriteria analysis to case studies. Cases from different disciplines can be chosen.

The lessons are related to the main course objectives as follows:

• Lessons 1-3: Understanding the role of spatial decision support systems in the decision-making process
• Lessons 4-6: Justifying and performing spatial multicriteria evaluation in solving spatial decision problems

We find it important to work with exercises and case studies, because our teaching philosophy follows a Chinese proverb that emphasizes the step from listening and reading to independent practice:

Tell me and I will forget
Show me and I will remember
Involve me and I will understand
Step back and I will act.

Therefore, lessons 1-5 each offer new material in the form of video presentations, literature and exercises, whereas lesson 6 does not offer any new material but aims at independent (naturally with guidance) application of concepts and practices.

What will be achieved?

On completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• explain the principles of decision-making processes and decision support systems
• distinguish between various phases of the decision-making process and their required types of information
• discuss the linkages between GIS and decision support systems
• apply spatial multicriteria decision analysis techniques to combine various layers of information “criteria” of different quality, format and type to support the planning and decision-making process
• classify and compare different multicriteria evaluation techniques
• use spatial multicriteria evaluation techniques in proposing an appropriate solution to a spatial problem
• assess and interpret the results of the multicriteria evaluation process.

Why choose this course?

Organizational change: Our experience is that for these skills to be used in planning and decision making practice in organizations, it is very important that a critical mass of people in an organization understands the use of spatial planning and decision support systems. A Distance course means that organizations need not send many staff abroad, yet many can learn.

Many disciplines: Spatial planning and decision support systems are applied in many disciplines, ranging from urban planning to integrated watershed management, natural resources management, etc. We focus on methods and methodologies with examples from many disciplines. Therefore, this course is accessible and of interest to many people with different disciplinary backgrounds.

Many countries: Finally, although examples from developed countries are also used, many examples of applications come from developing countries, which makes the course highly accessible to people from both developing and developed countries.

Learning from a distance, how is it like?

The general approach of the course is task based learning which blends theory and practice. The study load is 20 to 24 hours per week. All materials including (most of) the software will be provided online in ITC's digital learning environment Blackboard. For convenient offline study most materials will be sent on a CD-Rom. We will use email for individual communication and a discussion board in Blackboard for group communication.

Admission requirements

Academic level and background

Applicants for the Distance programme should have a Bachelor degree or equivalent from a recognised university in a discipline related to the course, preferably combined with working experience in a relevant field.

English language

As all courses are given in English, proficiency in the English language is a prerequisite. Participants in Distance programme are exempted from an English language test. However, ITC expects their proficiency in the English language to meet the minimum requirements mentioned below.

English language tests: minimum requirements

Computer skills

Applicants for the Distance education programme must have elementary computer experience, regular access to internet and e-mail. For some courses additional computer skills are required (see description of specific course).

GIS and remote sensing

Most distance courses, except for the introductory course, require knowledge of, and skills in, working with GIS and/or digital image processing of remotely sensed data.

Candidates are asked to provide proof of identity during the registration process.

Software requirements

• Internet Explorer 5.0 (6.0 or higher recommended)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Integrated Land and Water Information Systems (ILWIS), The ITC GIS software package
• Multi-sectoral Integrated and Operational (MULINO) decision support system for sustainable use of water resources at the catchment scale
• What if? (demo version)
• Definite (student version)

All software is freeware and will be supplied on CD-ROM.

Hardware requirements

ITC expects the hardware to meet the minimum requirements mentioned below:

What more there is to know?

This distance course is based on a module of one of ITC's degree courses, successful completion will lead to exemption for that module in the degree course.