A spectacular example of GIS potential was implemented four years after the disastrous explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Western Russia. Russian administrators were attempting to manage the most catastrophic non-natural disaster in our recorded history. The ramifications of this event are so far reaching that they defy conventional analysis. In response, the Russians contacted John Baldwin, an environmental specialist at the University of Oregon. Professor Baldwin enlisted the aid of a colleague, Professor David Hulse, who had just developed a new GIS program. Baldwin and Hulse arrived in Russia in March of 1991. The site of this test of GIS capability was a heavily impacted area near the border of the Ukraine in Western Russia (Weisman 49). "The goal was (to create) a program that could be grasped after one demonstration." (Weisman 49) Using the intuitive or point & click format of the Macintosh or Windows software the Russians and their American counterparts created an astounding demonstration. Professor Baldwin explained to Alan Weisman in his 1994 article for Harpers Magazine, that the viewer would initially see scenes of the town of Novozybkov. Scenes of the local flora & fauna edit smoothly into animations of local children and townspeople at work or in transit down the lanes of the village. With a click, another data layer appears. The layer reveals a map of Europe. The map displays an obvious brown stain around the site of Chernobyl. The stain spreads out towards Europe. The brown cloud engulfs nearly the entire area of Western Russia. The image zooms in and depicts clouds of radiation migrating up the food chain. The GIS system simulates the radiation stain as it contaminates the local soils and streams. The stain then moves upward from grass to cattle to hamburger. With another click, the radioactive stain permeates the body of a young female. The descent continues into micro detail where single cells and strands of DNA are being irradiated by radioactive ions. The final level of the database provides an optional scientific layer for science students, complete with equations and chemical formulas ( 50 ).
A further example of the potential that GIS provides for managing the unmanageable is the 1995 North Brooklyn project. As detailed by Deborah Masters, environmental monitor for the cities of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, New York in a 1995 article by Michael Cooper for the New York Times, a complex web of environmental and management problems faced the City of North Brooklyn. Industries and residences had evolved here side by side for 50 years. Trash sat for long periods before being processed to landfills. The area had suffered a massive oil spill. The area endured a saturation of waste transfer stations and temporary dumps. All of the problems combined to create a management task that appeared impossible (12). In spite of the complex nature of this environmental puzzle the GIS map presents in simple fashion an overview of every |
trouble spot. In addition to overviews the GIS system displays the Cities current and
future strategies for handling each problem identified.