The poster illustrates the creation of an economic development GIS database and tool based on an ecological-economic model of a county in rural New York State. The model describes complex interdependencies among businesses; and forest, human and economic resources.

A transparent and accessible Geographic Information System-supported economic development database, and model are developed with the goal of promoting resiliency and sustainability in rural economies based on the fundamental laws of nature. The model focuses on existing businesses, economic resources, diverse natural resources, especially from forests, and diverse human resources to build complexity, diversity, value and innovation, and therefore, long-term stability into rural economies and communities. The GIS-based model will incorporate remotely sensed data (land cover), soils, precipitation, hydrography (water), hypsography (elevations and topography), land use (policy), infrastructure, energy use, census data, labor data, voting data, tax data, existing business locations and types, and other appropriate data sets. The relationships among these variables will be described and validated using systems ecology modeling techniques.