CBR-based integration of a hydrodynamic and water quality model and GIS—a case study of Chaohu City

Monitoring on urban water environment and analysis of engineering improvement measures are intricate and time-consuming tasks. In previous studies, the integration of hydrodynamic and water quality models and geographical information system (GIS) usually takes three approaches: loose coupling, tight coupling, and full coupling. However, this paper adopted a special loose coupling approach—case-based reasoning (CBR) to develop an integrated decision support system. This was characterized by invoking the case base stored in the GIS platform as the output of the model. The fused capability of model’s water quality predication and strong spatial data processing analysis of GIS can be realized at the same time by integration. The functionality of the integrated system was illustrated through a case study of Chaohu, a medium-sized city in China, which includes case retrieval, result interpretation, and the visual display in the GIS platform. Results verified the feasibility and operability of the developed method. As a useful tool, the integrated decision support system makes it simpler and more convenient for decision makers to make decisions efficiently and quickly.