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FRYČ, J., RYBÁŘ, R.: Usage and support of geoinformation technologies in analysing the potential of compostable biomass in the Czech Republic. Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2011, LIX, No. 1, pp. 59–66 In the current society there is more and more eff ort to introduce, to make use of, and also to develop diff erent information systems (IS). Nowadays it is already impossible to work without support of these systems for most institution of administration, private companies and single businessmen – if they want to be successful in their activities. So implementing and using of this IS become matter of fact. Waste management is one of sections, where these technologies are starting to infl uence as well. There is a development and implementation of the fi rst IS in the level of single waste generators, regions and national administration as well. It happens to gradual data standardization presently because of unifi cation and compatibility of single systems at all levels. The same situation is in section of Geographic information systems (GIS) as a one of parts of IS-subgroup. First nationwide projects, which can be also used in waste management, are starting to rise in GIS. Also this work is example of connection of GIS with one of waste management section – composting – and it shows possible practical usage on concrete examples. At present, information systems (IS) aff ect a whole range of scientifi c disciplines that enable working with large amounts of data and consequently conducting their analyses. The IS support leads to the acquisition of outputs with considerably higher information capability. This also concerns the specifi c subgroups of geographic information systems – GIS as well as the associated technologies (Longley, 2001). These technologies can contribute to solving of the impact of human activities on the environment (Tuček, 1998). The principal objective of this endeavour is to crea te a database for geographic information project in the sphere of waste management that will be entirely grounded on a GIS application. The fi eld selected for the creation of a database of this geoinformation system are biologically degradable wastes with a focus on composting in the CR, namely on the potential of the use of selected biomass types suitable for composting. The produced database allows for analysing biomass potential based on a link to other geographic entities (districts, regions, etc.) and their attributes by way of the GIS so ware. This project attempts to address and enables further GIS applications in one of the waste management fi elds, namely biomass management, and, more specifi cally, in biomass composting. Several simplifi ed IS currently exist for this sphere that serve prevailingly information purposes, such as location of the specifi c composting facilities or which basic types of biomass they process. The form in which these data are stored is usually not suitable for any further work (modifi cations, conversion into other formats, updates, etc.). The defi ciency was eliminated by this project, which also addresses the issue of how GIS can be of assistance in the fi eld of waste management by way of specifi c actual data. 60 J. Fryč, R. Rybář MATERIAL AND METHODS It generally applies that the creation of any (not only geographic) information system requires electronic data, which are used for further processing work. This project uses data such as the information on composting facilities (geographic, attributive – concrete selected information such as structural capacity, amount of compost produced annually, technology, etc.), territorial units (regions, districts) and other types of information. The actual analysis of biomass management in the CR is based on several sources. One source of data on composting facilities was Agrointeg, s.r.o., which has its seat on the premises of Mendel University in Brno. These data were compared and supplemented with the information from the database of Zemědělská a ekologická regionální agentura, o. s. (ZERA, Agricultural and Environmental Regional Agency) residing in Náměšť nad Oslavou, data acquired from the website of T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute (VUV) and, last but not least, information directly from the operators of the selected facilities. Data on territorial units and the percentage shares of plots of selected crops were taken from the database of the Czech Statistical Offi ce (CSO). The data were subsequently converted for compatibility with ArcView GIS 9.1, a product of ESRI from the USA, applied for the project elaboration. The map groundworks for this project (ArcČR 500, version 2.0a) were provided by ARCDATA Praha, s. r. o. They are constituted by a database of “shapefi les” that form the individual layers of objects and raster fi les (e.g. grids representing the terrain model, colour relief, etc.). Layers (shapefi les) can be: • Points (municipality location, location designation of a composting facility, etc.). • Lines (roads, river network, geographic network, etc.). • Areas – polygons (districts, regions, forest plots, etc.). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The objective is to develop a geographic information system addressing the issue of composting in the CR that will be capable of displaying necessary information concerning the specifi c establishments and conducting analyses of the potential of selected biomass types suitable for composting based on the data included in attribute tables for the individual (geo-) objects. This task consists of several interrelated parts. The following steps, discussed in a greater detail below, were taken in the course of creating this project: 1. Creation of attribute tables on the basis of availab le data (on composting facilities, percenta ge shares of crops in a specifi c area, etc.) for the concrete layers (composting facilities, individual biomass sources, etc.). 2. Processing of these data and production of thematic maps of the individual biomass sources in the CR. 3. Inclusion of supplementary information (that are not suitable for inclusion in an attribute table) via a hyperlink (hot link). 4. Determination of composting specifi cs (C:N, balance equation) in selected types of biomass (straw, slurry). 5. The actual analysis of the potential of selected biomass types by way of forming buff er (absorption) zones around the composting facilities. 6. Evaluation and conclusions. A er the creation of the elementary map groundwork depicting the location of the composting facilities, we need to enter the data on the objects since without them the map groundwork would be merely a passive representation of the distribution of the facilities and would not allow for any further processing. This can be carried out in several ways. The principal one tends to be the editing of attributes of the geo-objects and their entry into an attribute table compatible with the specifi c so ware. Another alternative for entering data is an interactive connection by the “hyperlink” function (Booth and Mitchell, 2001). In the process of editing layers in ArcMap, an attribute table (*.dbf) is automatically generated for each layer. Every object is represented by one line into which data can be entered a er the editing is fi nished (e. g. in Microso Excel). The data, which concurrently describe the individual facilities and enable further analysis and processing (annual capacity of the composting plant, quantity of the actually processed biomass per year, standard of mechanization equipment of the composting plant, etc.) were gradually entered into the attribute tables. The data (chiefl y from the CSO database) on selected crops in the districts of the CR were processed next (average yields, percentage shares of the plots used for their cultivation, etc.). These data were then entered into another attribute table. The data on the share of farm and non-agricultural land in every district of the CR were processed in a similar fashion. With regard to farmland, the classifi cation data of land use in the individual districts were further processed. Specifi cally, the land was classifi ed into arable land, gardens, orchards and permanent grassland. In non-agricultural land, the processed data concerned the proportions of forest stands in all districts. A map of mean production of bio-degradable municipal waste (BMW) for every district was created, too. These data were used for the creation of a map of percentage share of farm land in the CR by district in ArcMap (see Fig. 1). Other maps were designed in a similar fashion according to the aforementioned more refi ned classifi cation (gardens, orchards, etc.). During the practical application of information systems, users frequently require information types Usage and support of geoinformation technologies in analysing the potential of compostable biomass 61 (e.g. operational information, object photographs, etc.) that cannot be entered and retroactively displayed by way of an attribute table. ArcView therefore makes use of the specially designed Hyperlink tool. It was deemed suitable that the project would include a hyperlink connection with the following information: • Address of the composting plant with an overview of the most commonly collected biomass for the fi lling (in Microso Excel format). • Web link (if it exists) to the composting plant operator. • Photos of individual composting operations (if available). The project includes several composting plants, which focus on the composting of residual biomass (straw, slurry), which has certain specifi cs. These materials are characterized by a high (straw) or low (slurry) C:N ratio. This is why the material balance has to be determined for these composting plants. Before the addition of these materials to the composting foundation fi lling, their mass ratio must be established to ensure that the resulting C:N ratio is favourable (ca. 30:1) (Zemánek, 2001). The ratio was determined by dint of alligation equati