Waikato Integrated Scenario Explorer (WISE)

Purpose

WISE is an integrated spatial decision support system is intended to support regional policy development, planning and resource management. It allows future scenarios to be explored and evaluated. The model provides projected outcomes for land use, environmental, economic, and demographic indicators.  These scenario outcomes can be used to inform community engagement, policy development and political decision making.

Description

The Waikato Integrated Scenario Explorer (WISE)  is an Integrated Spatial Decision Support System (ISDSS) designed specifically for New Zealand which focuses on the Waikato region.

It is developed as part of the Creating Futures project (www.creatingfutures.org.nz), a 4-year project (2006–2010) funded by the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science, and Technology. The project brought together a regional council (Waikato Regional Council) and several research partners in New Zealand and from overseas to provide better knowledge, methods, and tools to support long-term integrated planning.

WISE uses knowledge, models, data and parameters obtained from several central and local government agencies and research organisations, including the project partners. Its principal purpose is to support policy, planning and decision-making through integrated scenario planning.

WISE is a dynamic, spatially-explicit computer simulation model that integrates economic, demographic, environmental (climate, hydrology, water quality, biodiversity) and land use (suitability, accessibility, local influence, zoning) information to assess the effects and trade-offs of alternative future development scenarios or the consequences of policy options.

The WISE model is setup with a 'Reference' scenario which represents the modelled projections of population and economic growth for the Region and the current policies and plans that influence growth and land use development. The WISE User Interface allows for these key drivers to be changed to represent alternate scenarios of policy outcomes on economic/population growth and land use.

 

WISE - User Interface

 

Additional spatial layers can be easily imported into WISE to represent new/additional land use zoning or changes in suitability or accessibility for specific land uses as part of creating alternative scenarios.

Both numerical and graphical indicators are outputs from WISE. Further manipulation and analysis of scenario results can also be undertaken through additional spatial analysis (GIS).

Latest Version	1.5
State of Development	Stable Release
Current Development Activity	Development is on-going. Development is dependent on the requirements of Waikato Regional Council.

Scope

Outcome Areas	Economic, Environmental, Social
Management Domains	Land, Urban Systems, Biodiversity, Freshwater, Ecosystem Services
Subdomains	Contaminant Losses, Ecosystem/Habitat, Transport, Land Use
Intended End Users	Initially regional councils but could be adapted or applied to cities, districts, catchments, sectors, etc depending upon need.
Spatial Resolutions	100-500m
Spatial Extents	Local (i.e. Catchment or District), Regional
Spatial Dimensions	2D
Temporal Resolutions	Years
Temporal Extents	Decades
Steady State or Dynamic	Dynamic
Level of Integration	Economic, Environmental, Social

Input & Output Data

Key Input Data	Macro-economic data, Land Use, Land Cover, Rainfall, Temperature, Population cohorts, Migration, Fertility
Input Data Formats	GIS compatible files
Key Output Data	Macro-economic data, Land Use, Population cohorts
Output Data Formats	XLS(S), CSV, Image File(s), GIS Compatible Files

Accessibility

Open/Closed Source	Closed Source

User Information

Operating Systems	MS Windows
Software Needed	Geonamica
User Interface	Graphical desktop
Ease of Use	Moderate There is an inital level of learning required to understand how DSS works, the underlying assumptions, what parameters can be altered and what outputs can be created. This can all be done using a 'base-line' scenario. Developing and loading specific scenarios into WISE is more technical and can require expert input and review to ensure meaningful outputs are generated.
Use in Policy Process	Plan (Policy Formulation), Review (Issue Identification)
Documentation	WISE Technical Specifications and User Manuals are available from WISE Website
Support	High via WRC and RIKS. Individual contributors can also be called upon for their expertise and assistance.
Users Forum	RIKS has a users forum. There is currently no users forum for WISE, although one may be developed as WRC gains experience and possibly shares WISE with other organisations in the region.

Technical Considerations

Programming Language	C++
Analytical Techniques	Spatial Dynamics
Model Structure
Keywords	regional policy, planning, resource management
Linkages to other Models	Scenario Planning Spatial Regional Regression on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) Threatened Environment Classification (TEC tool)
Links	WISE includes 1) Sparrow, which is also a component of CLUES; 2) climate change projections from NIWA that are used in numerous studies of climate change; 3) the Waikato Regional Dynamic Economy-Environment model that also exists as a stand-alone module used by WRC and was based on a model orginally developed for Auckland; 4) Threatened Environments, PAN-NZ and LENZ which is used nationally to assess representativeness; and 5) the RIKS land-use change model, which is found in numerous other decision support system internationally as well as emerging systems in Wellington and Auckland regions.
Key References	For a range of resources see: http://www.creatingfutures.org.nz/resources/

Associated Case Studies