Based at the University of Vermont, the EcoValue project provides an interactive decision support system for assessing and reporting the economic value of ecosystem goods and services in geographic context.

The project combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and relational database technology to provide interactive maps, graphs and statistics that are dynamically generated by linking together the best available peer-reviewed valuation literature and GIS land cover layers in a flexible web-based platform.

Three principles guide the EcoValue project:

1. Use the best available economic methods and data sources to develop a standard methodology for assessing ecosystem goods and services in spatially explicit context.
2. Create a web-based interface that allows multiple stakeholders to conduct value assessments of selected landscape features in a fully 'data transparent' mapping environment.
3. Design and calibrate a transparent value-transfer algorithm that will provide end-users with the ability to estimate economic values in a spatially explicit landscape context without incurring the high cost that would be needed to conduct a series of direct empirical valuation studies.

The end result you find here is a web-based, GIS assessment tool capable of generating meaningful and reliable economic value estimates of landscape based ecosystem goods and services that can then be integrated into research, decision-making and planning.

The EcoValue project has been funded through competitive grants to provide valuation estimates for the State of Maryland and the Northern Forest region , but our vision is to extend this analysis to other regions throughout United States and the world. For more information, please contact Dr. Matthew A. Wilson at the University of Vermont.