Overview
People with a stake in land, use decision-making including natural resources management groups, agricultural sciences, policy makers and land management researchers, often need to access and analyse large amounts of environmental, social and economic information. MCAS-S provides a powerful tool for information assessment and by using graphical displays, conveying complex information is a more readily understood way.
MCAS-S
The Multi-Criteria Analysis Shell for Spatial Decision Support (MCAS-S) is a software tool developed by the Bureau of Rural Sciences that brings the MCA process into the decision-makers' realm. It is an easy-to-use, flexible tool that promotes:
- insightful desktop combination and study of different types of mapped information
- understanding of the relationships between the decision-making process and the available spatial data
- interactive 'live-update' and mapping of alternative project scenarios. investigating suitable landscapes for acquisition of areas for conservation
GIS (geographic information systems) programming is not required, removing the usual technical obstacles to non-GIS users.
Who Can use MCAS-S
Managers, policy makers and land management researchers at the national, state and local level involved in land resource evaluation and decision-making will find MCAS-S a helpful tool, particularly those working with spatial data with limited GIS support.
MCAS-S can assist in participatory processes and workshop situations where a clear understanding of varying approaches to spatial data management and information arrangement is necessary. Stakeholders can see the potential impacts that their decisions may make.
What Has It Been Used for?
MCAS-S is the latest of several MCA decision aids used in the Australian Government Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry policy environment since the early 1990s. MCAS-S is currently being used at the national, regional and catchment scale for:
- assessment of Australia's rangelands: analysing natural resources, patterns of use and commodity assets
- assessment of land cover change and ecosystem services using the Vegetation Assets, States and Transitions (VAST) framework
- assessing the contribution to ecologically sustainable development of regional areas for the National Land and Water Resources Audit.
What is new Version 2?
In response to user requirements Version 2 now incorporates the handling of time series (rainfall, temperate etc), complex development of composite spatial databases, a pair-wise comparison using the Analytical Hierarchy Process as well as improved masking, project generation and expanded use of colour.