Oliveira, Ronaldo Pereira de 
INTEGRATED GEOINFORMATION MODEL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING IN 
RIO de JANEIRO, RJ, BRAZIL. 
,Ronaldo Pereira de OLIVEIRA', Francisco A. LUMBRERAS‘, and Guilherme da S. PEDROZA"' 
Researcher, Embrapa Solos (National Center for Soil Research); Rio de Janeiro; RJ, Brazil; 22.460-000. 
ronaldo@cnps.embrapa.br and iflum@cnps.embrapa.br 
Student, UFF - Fluminense Federal University; Niterói; RJ; Brazil; 24.210-000. 
KEY WORDS: GIS, Integrated Geoinformation, Image Analysis, Database Revision, GIS standards, Fusion 
ABSTRACT 
The design of an integrated geoinformation model was established to the environmental planning context, which is 
conduced by the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Secretariat for the Environment. Modelling boundaries were set from a semi- 
detailed soil survey executed by Embrapa Solos. This particular study aimed to evaluate the consistence of the GIS 
application as integrated part of the planning process. Therefore, the main objective was to identify weakness of 
existing procedures where the original data set could be revised by the proposed model. In addition, it was meant to 
explore object-oriented methodology applied to evaluate results from integrated spatial analysis according to existing 
products from survey methods. The methodological approach applies terrain object modelling standards in Molenaar 
(1996) and UML language for analysis and design (Rational, 1997). Yet, an integrated GIS environment supported by 
object-oriented technology (ILWIS 2.1 ®) was used to implement the conceptual model processes. Results are an 
updated semi-detailed soil map, at 1:75,000 scale, and derived information as land suitability for horticulture and 
reforestation, land vulnerability, and land environmental quality. Further spatial analysis were defined to support 
reclassification, aggregation, generalisation, and overlay processes for land suitability and land vulnerability 
interpretations. DTM analysis helped to review where the county area is classified either as highlands, due to erosion 
susceptibility, or as low lands, due to drainage conditions. Image analysis has considered supervised classification to 
extract update land cover information that helps to evaluate environmental quality of the lands. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
1.1 Information Modelling 
Strong limitations are present during integration and interpretation of great amounts of data supporting environmental 
planning. Many times, the degree of detailed data collected does not correspond to degree of generalisation required for 
planning activities, or vice-versa. Therefore, meaningful relationship between different levels must be identified in 
order to establish a vertical communication flow, where groups of detailed data can be associated into a broad 
characteristic at higher level of abstraction. In addition, the current market competitiveness and resource limitations 
brought information technology as a strategic factor to improve life quality, supplying demands of precision and 
promptness in decision making and planning. In this context, GIS (Geographical Information System) becomes key 
environment to support scientific aspects of integrated studies, as well as to identify and to formulate new hypothesis. 
As result, we can observe an increasing demand of geoinformation systems that serves as tool to integrate different 
contexts in environmental planning. For all those reasons, the adoption of concepts, methods and tools from information 
technology already characterises primary actions of the research agenda driven to higher levels of food productivity and 
environmental quality of the lands. 
The great potential of object oriented constructs are still not explored by thematic surveyors, although the methodology 
can express relationships of semantic representations of natural system components. This should be understood by 
specialists as a consistent tool that has abilities to deal with complex problems as identification and classification of 
biophysical terrain objects. Some of those constructs are abstraction, categorisation, inheritance, clustering, boundary 
delineation, aggregation, and generalisation. Object-oriented models can support descriptions of system structure 
properties and behaviour. Structural properties combine the static nature of the data organisation. The behaviour is the 
dynamic characteristic of the geo-object, which is related to possible changes in the information nature. In this context, 
environmental researchers can declare the nature of the phenomena by defining its attributes and the behaviour of its 
geometric representation. 
In order to approximate concepts from thematic surveyors and system analysts, an integrated geoinformation modelling 
study was developed within a context of environmental planning aiming to identify critical phases of the existing 
  
  
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part B7. Amsterdam 2000. 1073