The Advanced Resource Technology Group (ART) was formed in 1988 with an aim to provide leadership in such areas as GIS institutional development, GIS environmental database design and development, application of cartographic and spatial analysis for agriculture, natural resources, and rural development. Besides using traditional remote sensing and GIS techniques, researchers at ART are developing the next generation of GIS-based modeling and simulation tools including artificial intelligence, intelligent visualization, synthetic environments, and semantic-based data access. The ART Group provides the primary focus for research and extension in cartographic and spatial analysis for the College of Agriculture, but also encourages and facilitates cooperation among faculty with similar expertise and interests campus-wide. For new and old GIS users from all departments ART helps with GIS hardware and software selection, provides advice and training on GIS database development and analysis, and offers technical review of proposals. Furthermore, as an integral component of research and extension, ART faculty promote and assist in the development of GIS instructional resources and curriculum for the benefit of the college, university, and the State of Arizona. Some of ART's many interdisciplinary projects include a HPCC challenge grant from NSF (with Electrical & Computer Engineering projects) to study natural process interactions with very large-scale simulation environments that are supported by GIS databases. The US Army and Navy has contracted ART to develop GIS-based management systems for land-use and threatened and endangered species.

Specifically ART proposes to:

1. Provide leadership in research and development in the following areas:
   
   • GIS Institutional Development
   • GIS and Environmental Database Design and Development
   • Development of GIS-based Applications and Modeling
   • Visualization and Perception
   • Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications
   • Advanced Computing
   
   
2. Expand ART's role in assisting other College of Agriculture researchers in applying spatial analysis techniques to their efforts. The areas that ART can provide assistance include:
   
   • Choosing, purchasing and installing hardware and software
   • Maintaining maintenance and license agreements
   • Technical review of proposals
   • Advisement and training on GIS database development
   • Advisement and training on GIS analysis
   
   
3. Expand ART's role in the application of cartographic and spatial analysis techniques and approaches to agriculture, natural resources, and rural development by utilizing the capabilities of the Cooperative Extension System. ART will facilitate the development of extension programming in the use and application of GIS for clients in the State of Arizona. Specifically ART proposes to:
   
   • Provide COA clients with information on GIS
   • Assist COA clients to develop GIS projects.
   • Assist COA clients to develop GIS and tabular databases
   • Assist COA clients to develop special applications
   • Conduct training activities for COA clients in the state
   • Develop network data sharing capabilities
   
   
4. ART will assume primary responsibility for providing instruction in GIS-related topics in the College of Agriculture. Courses offered by SRNR and other college faculty will have direct application in agriculture and natural resources. ART faculty will also assist and facilitate developing an instruction program in GIS for the University.

Description of ART's Focus Areas

• GIS Institutional Development: ART assists cooperators in the development and management of GIS projects and programs. This includes helping cooperators perform needs assessments, data inventories, hardware and software selection, application development, training, and technical support.
• GIS and Environmental Database Development: ART has considerable experience in the creation of high quality databases utilizing several methods including direct digitizing, remote sensing, and automatic mapping using global positioning systems (GPS). ART's objective is to be a leader in the development of GIS databases through the use of GPS and high resolution aerial photography and videography. These topics are important in the application of these technologies in agriculture and natural resources.
• Development of GIS-based Applications and Modeling: ART develops GIS-based applications for solving management problems. This includes GIS-based cartographic modeling, using GIS databases to parameterize external models, and developing GIS-based dynamic models. Examples of applications ART has developed include: fire growth modeling, hydrological and erosion modeling, forage production and utilization prediction, archeological site prediction, and visual quality evaluation.
• Visualization and Perception: ART is a leading center in the use of GIS and simulation in the evaluation of visual quality and human perception. ART has been working with federal agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, developing techniques to simulate the effects of management on visual quality. ART has also been investigating the use of new visualization techniques for the analysis of complex data, especially with dynamic data streams.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications: ART has been using AI techniques such as neural networks and genetic algorithms to help in natural resource assessment and decision making.
• Advanced Computing: ART is developing a high performance computing capability to allow more advanced modeling and simulation systems to be designed. This effort has been directed at implementing parallel and distributed computing architectures. In this area, ART has developed joint projects with researchers in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Management Information Systems.

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