Ecological Capability Evaluation of Tourism by Integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Index Overlaying (IO)(Case Study: Shahrood County - Iran)

This research attempts to select the suitable areas for tourism development using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and Ecological capability evaluation. In this research, in order to identify the environmental potential of Shahrood County for tourism, GIS as the best suitable technique for land evaluation and site feasibility was used along with Index Overlaying (IO). Thus by identifying the ecological resources of the region, in a scale of 1:250000, map layer information was dispatched to the ArcGIS to overlay. This research was done in 6 stages. After preparing the slope, aspect and elevation layers, they were overlaid in ArcGIS and the landform layer was produced. Then, the overlaying of landform, land use, soil, vegetation and wildlife layers resulted in the final environmentalunits. After that, the ecological models of extensive and intensive tourism in Iran were used for comparison and analysis. According to the results, the study area has high potential for tourism. The suitable area for intensive outdoor recreation encompassed 68.8% of the area associated with class 1 and 19.1% with class 2; and extensive outdoor recreation included 93.2% class 1 and 5.3% class 2. In addition to this, 13.6% of study area was allocated to conservation because no part of this area is suitable for tourism activities. In the end, appropriate activities for each zone are recommended.