| The thesis is divided into two parts, the development of a conceptual framework for SRIS (Spatially Referenced Information Systems) adapted to different decision making settings and then wastewater treatment applications specifically designed for metal fabricating industries.; I. Development of a conceptual framework for SRIS. The design of a SRIS in land-use planning is dependent upon the type of decision making context and a basic distinction is made between management, strategic planning, and negotiation purposes. It is ascertained that each one brings with it fundamentally different requirements with respect to the management of ambiguity and uncertainty. Once these concepts are presented together with the flexibility needed in the information treatment process, their implications are more fully expressed in terms of informational quality, bringing in such attributes as, on the one hand, accuracy, completeness, consistency, opportunity and comprehensiveness and, on the other hand, realism, interpretative ability, dialectical potential, projection and originality. Building upon these interactions between the decision context features and the information quality attributes, elements of a SRIS support guide are developed together with references to possible applications in order to highlight its relevance.; II. Wastewater treatment management and GIS applications. In this second part, a closer look at GIS applications is presented on the basis of real-life situations, examining in turn each one of the decision context types. The first GIS application is sketched out for management purposes. The Montréal Urban Community (MUC) is a public body faced with shared responsibility with respect to environmental quality, more specifically water quality management, and this can imply the need for a hierarchisation of overflows in its sewage system that will take into account industrial discharges. The thesis shows how a GIS can be used in dealing with potentially toxic overflows during thunderstorm events, by assessing their impacts on the environment.; The second GIS application is settled in strategic planning terms . This time the MUC is faced with the problem of incomplete treatment of industrial effluent charges and several collective management options are analysed with respect to scale economies opportunities, transportation costs differentials and variable pollution risks. The thesis shows how operation research procedures coupled with GIS can support the decision making process.; The last GIS application involves a negotiation environment. The SIVO (Syndicat intercommunal de la Vallée de l'Ondaine) is a public institution located in part of the Loire River Basin, near Saint-Étienne in France, charged with the responsibility to conduct a negotiation process implying public and private organisations with respect to the management of industrial effluents. The SRIS is developed this time in a way that leads to convergence among a multiplicity of interests, starting with very diverse perceptions, values and objectives. A support system using role games, cooperative principles, multicriteria analysis and GIS capacities is developed in such a way as to help to bring consensus. |
