Through 12 case studies, this book examines various ways that innovative water resource managers are using spatial analysis and electronic mapping to provide increased functionality and reliability to the complex systems they oversee. Water management personnel learn how GIS helps keep track of maintenance needs of the hundreds of miles of historic canals in the United Kingdom, how GIS is providing the technological underpinning for early-warning avalanche systems in Switzerland, and how GIS is used to keep track of the complex system of dikes, pumps, and drainage pools that help Holland maintain its existence as the land reclaimed from the sea. Also discussed is how GIS provides an important tool for European unity, as countries who are seeking acceptance to the European economic union must use the technology to bring their water infrastructures into conformance with EU standards.
