EIA mapping AND CONSENTsIn order to gain consent for developments a wide variety of stakeholders need to be involved within the planning process. The level of information required by each stakeholder will vary; GIS analysis and reporting tools provide an effective means to interrogate data at the appropriate level to best communicate information to stakeholders. GIS is a very powerful tool to support onshore planning activities enabling users to identify areas of environmental concern, assess possible impacts of the development, determine land ownership boundaries and incorporate the results of studies and surveys into geodatabases. For example, one area of environmental concern is the visual impact of development; GIS can be used to combine a large number of important factors into a multi-criteria viewshed analysis to consider the impacts that a windfarm may have on the surrounding environment and populations. Any changes to proposed developments need to be informed to the appropriate planning authority: GIS is able to provide professional map documents to support the reporting of planning changes and help ensure that proposed alterations are consented.
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