Management strategy evaluations for multiple use management of Australias North West Shelf - Visualisation software and user guide.

As its name suggests, management strategy evaluation (MSE) provides the opportunity for managers to evaluate the performance of alternative natural resource management strategies by comparison among indicators of social, economic and environmental performance. One of the primary difficulties faced when comparing these indicators is the sheer volume of data which needs to be assimilated. In the case of the North West Shelf Joint Environmental Management Study (NWSJEMS) the combination of three operating models, three development scenarios and three management strategies offers a total of twenty seven possible alternatives for evaluation. For the NWSJEMS an agent based computer program, InVitro, was used to model the impact of future development in the North West Shelf. As InVitro has stochastic components it was necessary to have multiple instances of model runs using the same initial model parameters, a process which creates enormous quantities of data. Two software packages were developed for dealing with NWSJEMS data. The first, ViewNWS, is specifically tailored for use by environmental managers needing to have an overall comparison of alternative management outcomes. It uses pre-packaged, processed data produced by InVitro and has a straightforward graphical user interface (GUI). The second software package, the NWS Technical User Interface, is targeted at modellers and programmers. It allows the user to visualise raw model output to allow rapid model and parameter changes.

顾名思义，管理策略评估（Management Strategy Evaluation, MSE）为管理者提供了通过对比社会、经济与环境绩效指标，评估各类备选自然资源管理策略绩效的契机。在对比此类指标时，核心难点之一在于需整合的海量数据体量。以西澳大利亚西北陆架联合环境管理研究（North West Shelf Joint Environmental Management Study, NWSJEMS）为例，3种运行模型、3种开发情景与3种管理策略的组合，共计可生成27种可供评估的备选方案。针对该研究项目，科研团队采用了基于智能体（Agent）的计算机程序InVitro，对西北陆架未来开发活动的影响进行建模。由于InVitro包含随机成分，因此需针对同一组初始模型参数多次运行模型，这一过程会产生海量数据。为此，科研团队开发了两款软件工具以处理NWSJEMS相关数据。第一款工具为ViewNWS，专为需要快速对比各类备选管理方案整体成效的环境管理者定制。该工具依托InVitro生成的预封装处理后数据，搭载了简洁直观的图形用户界面（Graphical User Interface, GUI）。第二款工具为NWS技术用户界面，面向建模人员与程序员开发，支持用户可视化原始模型输出结果，以实现模型与参数的快速调整。