RESEARCH ARTICLE
Web-oriented GIS system for monitoring, conservation
and law enforcement of the Brazilian Amazon
Carlos Moreira Souza Jr. & Kátia Pereira & Victor Lins &
Sanae Haiashy & Daniel Souza
Received: 1 June 2009 /Accepted: 25 September 2009 /Published online: 1 December 2009
# Springer-Verlag 2009
Abstract A web GIS (WGIS) system for the Brazilian
Amazon, named ImazonGeo and based on open source and
public domain data, is presented. ImazonGeo was built
following three principles. First, the system is based on
Spatial Data Infrastructure architecture and web interface
built using free software and public domain data. Second,
we went beyond visualization of maps and spatial queries
by providing information obtained with spatial analysis
models. To do that, we designed a database that stores the
results of previously defined spatial analyses and developed
customized reports and query tools to facilitate fast access
of information by end-users. Finally, the system is
application-oriented in the areas of forest monitoring,
conservation and forest law enforcement, meaning that it
aims to contribute to support the protection of Brazilian
Amazon forests. We illustrate these principles by presenting
ImazonGeo’s technology, architecture, content and tools.
Moreover, we present two successful cases to demonstrate
how the system is being used. We conclude the paper
discussing the challenges and potential solutions to turning
our WGIS-SDI system into an internet hub of geo-
information about the Brazilian Amazon.
Keywords Amazon . Conservation .Monitoring .
Spatial data infrastructure .Web GIS
Introduction
The Brazilian Amazon rainforests, hereafter referred to as
the Amazon, covers an area of 4.1 millions square
kilometers, harboring 40% of the global tropical forests
with rich biodiversity of plants and animals, and a vast
array of environmental services and natural resources
(Foley et al. 2007). This region has been threatened by
deforestation and selective logging over the past 50 years.
Currently, about 20 percent, i.e. 800 thousand square
kilometers (Inpe 2009), of the original Amazon rainforests
have been converted to cattle ranching, large scale
mechanized agriculture, small scale slash-and-burn agricul-
ture, tree plantations and other forms of land use (Laurance
et al. 2004), (Fearnside 2005). Moreover, selective logging
and forest fires have impoverished these forests by reducing
carbon stocks, causing local tree species extinction and
decreasing animal biodiversity by hunting (Asner et al.
2005; Nepstad et al. 1999, Peres et al. 2006). The pattern of
economic and human development has been well docu-
mented, showing slight improvement after the deforestation
process followed by a decline a few decades later with the
depletion of forest resources. This pattern follows a boom-
and-bust cycle and has been demonstrated in the scientific
literature (Schneider et al. 2002).
A large amount of spatial and aspatial information on
human footprint, biodiversity, infrastructure and socioeco-
nomic and biophysical variables (i.e., soil and forest types,
biomass, rainforest, topography, among others) is available
for the Amazon region from different sources. For example,
the National Research Space Agency (Inpe – Instituto
Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais) provides spatially ex-
plicit deforestation polygons for the Brazilian Amazon on
an annual basis (Inpe 2009) and on fire hot spots.
Socioeconomic information on commodity prices, demog-
Communicated by: H.A. Babaie
SI: Spatial data infrastructures for the Amazon: a first step towards a
Global Forest Information System
C. M. Souza Jr. (*) : K. Pereira : V. Lins : S. Haiashy : D. Souza
Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia – Imazon,
Caixa Postal 5101,
Belém, PA, 66613-397 Brasil
e-mail: souzajr@imazon.org.br
Earth Sci Inform (2009) 2:205–215
DOI 10.1007/s12145-009-0035-6

raphy, population growth, gross internal revenue, among
others, and thematic maps (i.e., vegetation, soil) are
available from the Brazilian Geography and Statistics
Institute (IBGE—Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Esta-
tística). Additionally, several data layers and satellite
imagery data sets are available through Web Map Server
(WMS) from different sources (i.e., NASA, Google, among
others)
These types of spatial and attribute information de-
scribed above has been used as a basis for formulating and
analyzing environmental and socioeconomic polices for the
Amazon region, such as the impact of building new roads
(Laurance et al. 2001; Fearnside 2002); evaluating the
effectiveness of protect areas for conservation of biodiver-
sity (Rylands and Brandon 2005; Reid and De Sousa 2005),
controlling deforestation by integrating rural property
boundary and deforestation data layers (Fearnside 2003),
zoning areas for sustainable forestry (Verissimo et al. 1998;
Verissimo et al. 2002) and modeling future deforestation
trends in the region (Laurance et al. 2001; Soares-Filho et
al. 2006). Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have had
a crucial role in combining and analyzing information for
these socioeconomic and environmental applications. The
ability to organize and access large databases and analyze
and report results of spatial and attribute queries has
positioned GIS as one of the key technologies for
understanding the status and predicting the fate of the
Brazilian Amazon.
More recently, Web-based Geographic Information Sys-
tems (WGIS) have become available to facilitate access to
digital maps and spatial model results. This represents a
tremendous step in democratizing access to geographic
information among different users. WGIS systems for the
Brazilian Amazon have spread rapidly on the internet with
most of them focused on visualization of database contents
and attribute query results. Existing WGIS systems for this
region lack tools for spatial analysis—using different data
sources—and quick access to reports containing maps,
graphs, text and tabular information. However, there are
challenges to implementing such WGIS tools. First, the
WGIS database and metadata must be updated frequently to
make it relevant to end-users interested in monitoring and
conversation applications. For example, information on fire
and deforestation alerts exists in a daily and monthly basis,
respectively, making database update a requirement. Sec-
ond, end-users require results of spatial analysis such as
defining deforestation hot spots in protected areas, munic-
ipalities, and other geographic units. This type of applica-
tion requires performing spatial analysis on-the-fly which
imposes a high demand for internet server to deliver the
query results. Third, there is the requirement to understand
user needs about the information necessary to support their
applications. Therefore, developing a WGIS requires a
detailed survey about the demand for spatial information
among several group of users working on monitoring and
conservation fields. Finally, WGIS must be easy-to-use by
end-users which usually do not possess background on GIS
and spatial analysis. For example, some users just need to
receive a deforestation alert report with the location of the
event and ancillary information to access the area. This type
of task must be performed by providing only an e-mail
address to receive the alert report.
The advent of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) shed
lights on how to overcome these challenges. Wikipedia,
another powerful tool for democratizing information,
defines SDI as ‘… a framework of spatial data, metadata,
users and tools that are interactively connected in order to
use spatial data in an efficient and flexible way’. (Groot
1997) highlights the main purpose of SDI as being to
reduce user effort, time and financial resources needed to
access and use geographic information. In this paper, we
present a WGIS system developed for the Brazilian
Amazon region, named ImazonGeo (www.imazongeo.org.
br), whose aim is to go beyond visualization of static data
layers by focusing on user needs for application in
monitoring, environmental law enforcement, conservation
and in increasing transparency of governmental informa-
tion. To demonstrate how ImazonGeo works, we first
present ImazonGeo SDI architecture, database, technology
and tools to facilitate access to information resulting from
spatial analysis. Next, we demonstrate ImazonGeo’s
strengths with two examples of applications: i) monitoring
deforestation and fires; ii) law enforcement of Protected
Areas. Finally, we conclude this paper with a discussion of
future developments of ImazonGeo and our strategy for
engaging end-users to effectively take advantage of this
SDI WGIS system.
ImazonGeo SDI
ImazonGeo SDI is made up of five components: i) Geo-
information; ii) Technology; iii) Interface; iv) Tools, and v)
User applications (Fig. 1). These components are integrated
to respond to three specific objectives of the system. First,
develop a robust database to facilitate access to relevant
information the Brazilian Amazon and of results of
complex spatial analysis. Second, develop an affordable
system based on public domain geo-information databases
and software technologies. Third, provide relevant applica-
tions, based on simple and intuitive tools, to support
monitoring and conservation of the Brazilian Amazon
forests. The system components and presented in detail
below.
206 Earth Sci Inform (2009) 2:205–215