RIMENTAL 
TITUTE 
titute 
O. C. 
nic species 
ation was 
pursuing 
ordingly. 
1 a GIS. Then, 
ta such as, 
. A GIS was 
sites at the 
e creation also 
a new horizon 
be created at 
, on Taiwan. It 
at terrain in 
Low Altitude 
as created in 
At the very 
information 
d as well. A 
'S 
have to be created. Management 
prescription at the station has to 
overcome problems not only case by 
case but also in ecological sense. All 
experimental problems should be 
treated on a continuous basis and in an 
interaction fashion. A GIS database 
creation was then developed to pursue 
the objective of the station. 
2. MATERIALS AND 
METHOD 
2.1 Self-developed Geographic 
Information Systems 
No commercial GIS packages 
were implemented. All programs were 
written in C language. Functions were 
provided in a module by module 
fashion. Only personal computers 
were used as host computers but all 
programs can be ported into a work 
station in a short of period of time. 
Menu driven and all Chinese mode 
make the whole systems quite user 
friendly. Usually, it only takes 30 
minutes to train a person to use the 
systems. 
2.2 Databases 
Databases consist of soil, 
vegetation, biology, animal, 
meteorology, topography. The station 
was a national forest with elevation in 
the range of 700 meters to 1834 
meters. Forest inventory conducted by 
Taiwan Forest Bureau gave the station 
a basic database. Database creation 
has to deal with any single site at a 
given time. 
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Actually, an ecology system is 
changing all the time and their 
interactions has to be taken into 
consideration. Continuous and spatial 
interaction are two major components 
of the database creation at the station 
from the very beginning. Maps, 
imagery, attributes, voices and 
computer animation are different types 
of data in the databases. They are 
relational databases which are suitable 
for GIS analysis. 
2.3 Remote Sensing and Global 
Positioning Systems 
Geographic information 
systems can not provide all functions 
for the management of the station. 
Remote sensing on the ground and 
from the sky can provide imagery for 
further study and change detection. 
Satellite imagery is not good enough 
because of their spatial resolution. A 
two meters resolution of imagery will 
provide very good information in the 
near future. Global positioning 
systems were integrated into 
geographic information — systems 
directly or separately. With both 
function modes, database creation can 
be performed in a field trip and at the 
office. An image display and overlay 
module provides basic remote sensing 
functions for the systems. A global 
positioning systems (GPS) module 
provides database creation function 
and also works with GIS modules side 
by side. That means users can 
implement GPS and GIS together or 
separately as they wish.