EMDS update summer 2017

The Ecosystem Management Decision Support System is heading toward version 5.5. Recent updates to the system include support for tactical planning (deciding which possible management actions are highest priority in a management unit). This feature is currently supported by both Criterium DecisionPlus, a multi-criteria decision support system (DSS) that has been part of EMDS since 2002, and VisiRule, a recently added DSS that uses graphically-based decision trees with powerful support from its underlying Prolog engine. In summer 2017, we are also adding GeNIe's Bayesian inference engine from BayesFusion, which will likewise support tactical planning, based on probabilistic reasoning with Bayes nets and Bayesian influence diagrams. In a previous note, we mentioned that EMDS now runs in the open source GIS, MapWindow. This summer, we are extending our open source GIS environment to include QGIS. Also, coming in about winter or spring 2018, users will be able to export EMDS projects to Microsoft's Azure Cloud, where managers will be able to work collaboratively on EMDS projects. Finally, a little further down the line, the EMDS team is planning to add support for geodesign, an advanced spatial decision support technology that is a bit of a hybrid of strategic and tactical planning concepts and methods.

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