During the last several years, environmental impact assessment, regional or spatial planning, and environmental. balancing seem to develop similarities, e.g. joint basic methodological approaches like the use of environmental indicators, the focus on same environmental goods like air, water, soil, flora/fauna, etc. (Lenz, 1999). Especially Geographical Information System (GIS)-based software systems show their multiple applications in these fields. Experiences from a set of regional environmental (or eco-)balances show a wide range of advantages as well as disadvantages of the widespread use of GIS-based planning tools. With the background of concepts and examples for spatial eco-balances for the district Pfaffenhofen (Upper Bavaria, Germany; cf. Lenz, 1997) and the municipality Mulfingen (Hohenlohe, Germany), both related to the concept of environmental indicators of the advisory board of environmental affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany (SRU, 1994) and the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA, 1995), we can show GIS-based information systems of a high practical relevancy. Aims were to balance environmental effects in a map scale of 1:5000-1:50,000, in order to provide the administration with tools for an environmentally sound and sustainable development of their area (Lenz, 1997, 1999; Beuttler et al., 1999). In this contribution we will discuss the technical and practical designs of these information systems. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
