Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are powerful computer-based tools for storing, managing, and manipulating information about spatially-distributed phenomena. GIS has proved extremely valuable to municipalities, government and non-profit agencies and private business, assisting them in information management, planning and decision making, emergency response, and monitoring of environmental change. Effective use of GIS requires substantial training and expertise. This has been a major obstacle to full realization of GIS' benefits in government and industry. This project will develop a software-based GIS Expert Assistant as an aid to enhance the training process, assist the occasional user, and improve reliability and consistency of GIS analysis results. The GIS Expert Assistant will be built using the knowledge engineering techniques developed by the artificial intelligence community, and will incorporate knowledge and techniques recognized by experts in the GIS field. The GIS Expert Assistant will function as a readily-available consultant or aide, providing immediate assistance while a user is interacting with the GIS. It is not intended to replace or overrule the experienced practitioner or instructor, but will enable more efficient use of these scarce human resources. This research will provide the basis for implementing a commercial software package to assist users of GIS packages in learning and using their GIS more effectively.
