Integration of scientific information management and environmental research

Increased attention to spatial variability, scale and the integration of basic and applied research to address societal issues has several implications for the management of scientific information. These new research directions have created a need for rapid and easier data analysis; timely, broad-scale, high-resolution data; new analytical approaches; better sampling resolution in space; and a shift in focus from data to information to knowledge. This will require the use of remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), spatial statistics and other methods. Several challenges are discussed for future enviromental information management and analysis systems: distributed analytical environments, database management systems, integrated GIS and remote sensing in the time domain, user interfaces, visualization software and knowledge discovery, improved spatial sampling resolution and standardization. -from Authors