03258naa a2200145 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000220006024500740008226000090015652026520016570000190281770000230283677302530285913316342002-11-22       1997    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aRAMALHO FILHO, A.  aSustainable land management in Brazilbpotentialities and user needs.  c1997  aSustainable development is generally defined as an integration of three main goals: environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity. In this framework, stewardship of both, natural and human resources is of prime importance. Research agendas require knowledge on potentialities of natural resources and socioeconomic context in order to supply meaningful information for sustainable development at country, region, or state levels. Besides being scientifically valid, the knowledge on the balance between natural and human interactions is indeed a potential tool for decision making in agricultural policy. Strong limitations are present, once the integration and interpretation of such amount of data are required to support decision-making./ first, is related to compatibility of geometric representations and scale of domain model abstractions, where the degree of detailed data collected does not correspond to the degree of generalisation required for planning activities. The vertical flow of information through levels of decision making, requires models at distinct levels of data aggregation. Furthermore, meaningful links between those levels must be identified to establish communication among them, where group of detailed data that can be associated into a single characteristic of a higher level of abstraction. Second, is related to the static aspect that are still present on simulation of scenarios reducing a role lot of the possibilities of research reasoning on sustainable land management. In this case, we can observe an increasing demand of geo-information systems that serves as tool for questioning, understanding, and integrating different contexts in policy making. However, the technology offered in generic and cannot support all requirements of environmental models. For this reason, the geo-information modelling of spatial objects is an essential bridge between the world of specific pictures (spatial objects/thematic abstractions) and the machine level (processes/software engineering). The objetives are to supply user needs for decision making supporting agricultural policy at federal, state, and regional levels as follows: 1) to determine the land natural potential for agriculture in Brazil, by physiographic region; 2) to establish a stratification of land potential according to land management levels; 3) to develop a system analysis and design that offers both management of attributes and geometric components within an interdisciplinary context at distinct levels of aggregation: as well as, simulation of scenarios that may suggest indicators for sustainable agriculture.1 aPEREIRA, L. C.1 aOLIVEIRA, R. P. de  tIn: CONFERENCE ON GEO INFORMATION FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT, 1997, Enschede, The Netherlands. Geo-information for sustainable land management: General information, list of participants, programme, abstracts. Enschede: ITC/ISSS, 1997. Ref.5.2.