An Interactive Decision Support System for Analyzing and Linkage of Weather-Related Restrictions of Opencast Lignite Mines

Opencast lignite mines leave behind large cratered landscapes, which also represent a large intervention in nature. In addition to being unusable, these areas also pose a hazard to the surrounding areas. Therefore, the goal is to renaturalize and recultivate these areas in order to recreate natural and usable areas again. These areas can then be used as nature reserves, for agriculture or tourism. The process of recultivation is based on a large amount of information, such as how should an area be implemented, what restrictions should be observed, and under what conditions may the whole recultivation process take place. While all of this information is available and there are many tools for displaying weather data, for example, this information is not linked to the specific area data. Linking a weather-related restriction (that only exists in a purely textual report for an area) to the weather data for a specific area at a specific time is very time-consuming and cumbersome. We support the experts in performing their tasks by linking the different types of data and providing visualizations of these data together with an appropriate filtering mechanism and selection mechanisms, implemented in an interactive decision support system. Textual information and explanations of the various restrictions are additionally linked to provide a clear explanation of the validity of specific restrictions