Water quality management using GIS data mining

Nowadays scientists, managers and decision makers have faced with ever increasing production of digital geospatial data acquired at various geometric, thematic and temporal characteristics. Geospatial information systems (GISs) have been widely considered to handle such a diverse range of geospatial data. One of the important issues in geospatial data management is to explore the relationships and future trends of the data, which is possible through geospatial data mining and knowledge discovery. Geospatial data mining, its need and analyses have been investigated in this paper. In addition, applications of geospatial data mining in environmental data management and especially in water quality management have been introduced. Finally, regarding the abundance of industrial centers in Western and Eastern Azerbaijan Provinces in North-West of Iran and their effects on water quality in this region, correlation between industrial pollutions and water quality indicators through geospatial data mining has been modeled as a case study. The results have clearly identified the relationship between number and location of industrial pollutions and water quality indicators to be used in environmental protection and land use planning.