This presentation discusses the possible impacts on the final decisions made due to the introduction of an SDSS (Spatial Decision Support System) for regional transportation development in the Brazilian State of Maranhao. Today decisions of which transportation projects should be prioritized in that frontier zone are a result of political bargaining, supported to a certain extent by cost-benefit analysis. This leads to project solutions which usually do not correspond to the stated objectives of the project. Spatial information systems represent a perspective, a way of looking at problems about the world. There is still no empirical evidence (and consequently knowledge) of how spatial decision processes in developing countries actually do or will change when viewed from this perspective, but it is expected that, from this view of the world, the final choices made will be more coherent with the stated objectives. Also, decision support has always been considered "the promised land of GIS!", but, whereas the increasing analytical functionality of GIS technology has contributed significantly toward this goal, the understanding of the decision making process and how a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) can be integrated into this environment has been slow.
David Paul Stevens
University of Maryland at College Park
Department of Geography
1113 Lefrak Hall
College Park, MD 20742
Telephone: 301-405-5002/4050
Fax: 301-314-9299
Email: dstevens@glue.umd.edu
Derek Thompson