| The major goal of the thesis is to use the object-oriented approach to build an integrated dynamic geographical decision support system. The thesis proposes a general conceptual framework for an object-oriented design approach to the integration of alternative futures planning methods. A prototype of the software is developed and tested with an urban development study case.; The study involves with four steps. First, it starts by reviewing the definitions and components of geographical decision support systems. The problems and promises for each component are examined. Second, the study examines the object-oriented approach from two perspectives: programming language and landscape modeling and analysis method. Third, the thesis proposes a general conceptual framework for the object-oriented design approach within the alternative futures planning context. It sets up the general requirements to implement the integrated dynamic geographical decision support system. Finally, a prototype of the application program is built to meet the general requirements. It is tested with an urban case study in HangZhou, China. The study makes conclusions about the benefits of the object-oriented approach to the integrated dynamic geographical decision support system. |
