Background: This study is part of a broader research ‘Development of a decision support system (DSS) and data needs for the Beaver Lake watershed.’One of the major objectives of the broader research was to organize and disseminate the water quality data and watershed spatial and non-spatial data through a GIS-linked database. This interactive GIS sites were developed to accomplish this objective.Beaver Lake DSS is presented to public through the web link: Objective: To create user-friendly interactive GIS sites using ArcIMS for Beaver Lake Watershed Management. To devise mechanism to access watershed numeric database. Study area: Beaver lake is the primary drinking water source for more than 280,000 people in Northwest Arkansas (Miller and Daniels, 2002). The watershed contains approximately 3,000 km of streams with the main tributaries being Richland Creek, War Eagle Creek, and White River (Figure 1). Figure 1. Location of Beaver Lake watershed and stream network Methodology: Spatial database creation: The spatial database for the watershed include: –Point attribute layers: Rural residential houses, business houses, poultry/turkey/pig houses (confined feeding houses), and USGS gaging stations –Line attribute layers: Stream network and inland transportation network –Polygon attribute layers: Watershed spatial position, watershed outline, sub-watershed outlines, Soil Water Conservation District (SWCD)- NRCS boundary, watershed land ownership map, city limits inside watershed, flood-prone zone map, precipitation range map, national forest cover, soil inventory, and watershed compartment layer, raster digital databases of land use/land cover map, digital elevation model (DEM), slope map, shaded relief map, and digital orthophoto quarter quadrangle (DOQQ) map, etc. ArcIMS Design: It provides the foundation for disseminating high-end GIS and mapping services via the Internet (ESRI, Redlands, CA). Four main components of ArcIMS, such as Author, Designer, Administrator, and Manager were used in interactive GIS mapping design. Different ArcIMS service used for data transfer: The services in this study are: Image service, Feature service, and Metadata service. Results and Discussion: ArcIMS Web Site Development: Beaver Lake watershed decision support system (BLWDSS) project was designed to facilitate watershed managers and the watershed stakeholders to undertake management decisions in an efficient and economic way. Five individual Internet sites were developed using ArcIMS. –Two sites were created with feature service and were provided on web as Java-based client viewer service (Example: Figure 2). –The other three (Example: Figure 3) were created with image service and provided on web as HTML-based client viewer service. –Another Java-based client viewer service site (Figure 4) was created with few layers such as USGS functional gaging station layer, SWAT devised subwatershed layer, inland transportation network, and water bodies network, etc. This was to facilitate dissemination of historical water quality data and the scenario analysis results for pollutant loads from subwatersheds. Figure 2. Java-based interactive GIS site showing various spatial layers of BLWDSS project. Figure 3. HTML-based interactive GIS site showing point attribute spatial layers of BLWDSS project. Online GIS Functionality through Interactive GIS Web Site: –Both the HTML and JAVA based interactive GIS websites have simple GIS functionalities, e.g., data query, map tips, stored query, panning, zooming, etc., (Figures 2, 3, and 4). –A viewer window fixed at the top-right and top-left corner of the interactive maps (Figures 3 and 4, respectively) would guide the user to browse to the exact destination in the layers. Figure 4. The Java-based interactive GIS site to facilitate water quality and scenario data dissemination. –All the available data layers are shown on the right side of the ArcIMS page (Figures 2, 3, and 4). –Figure 5 shows the functionality of zooming the watershed spatial layers into a certain scale to view the scale rendered layers, such as soil (very descriptive and large layer) and residential units. Figure 5. BLWDSS interactive GIS site showing scale rendered layers, layer tips, and map tips options. Data Delivery via Interactive GIS Web Site: Interactive GIS sites are a good source of watershed spatial and non-spatial data access (Figure 6) Figure 6. The interactive GIS site designed to download subwatershed- based pollutant load results and historical water quality data. Watershed Management Decision-Making Facilitation through Interactive GIS Web Site: –Figure 7 shows how one can add new layers online to an interactive GIS site. Figure 7. Online adding of new spatial layers in the interactive GIS site to facilitate watershed management decision-making. –Example of online buffering of selected streams to make a decision on riparian forest cover to reduce pollutant transport to streams (Figure 8). –online user interaction facility through Map Notes in interactive GIS maps(Figure 8). Figure 8. Online watershed management decision-making by buffering and map note facility in the interactive GIS site. Conclusion: The developed interactive GIS sites are provided in the University of Arkansas web siteshown in background section. Efficient and low cost data dissemination and decision-making would be possible through the development of ArcIMS interactive GIS sites. References: Miller, F. and M. B. Daniels Water Resources of Beaver Lake. University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service – Agriculture and Natural Resources. Acknowledgements: Funding for this project was provided by the EPA through Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission (project number :SGA029). We sincerely acknowledge the help and support provided by the Beaver Water District, AWRC, and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, USGS, and CAST for data access. Using Interactive GIS Mapping in a Watershed Management DSS Design S. S. Panda, I. Chaubey, M. Matlock* *Respectively, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor, Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR Save button Selected feature Active layer Created buffer Map Notes features