The Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) Regional Compatible Use Plan (RCUP) reduces potential conflicts between operations at JBSA installations and surrounding communities while accommodating new growth and economic development and protecting public health, safety, and welfare. JBSA is an economic engine for the San Antonio region, generating over $30 billion dollars annually. As the largest regional employer, JBSA provides 187,000 jobs.

Potential conflicts can be measured in terms of risk. To identify compatibility-related risks to JBSA and surrounding communities, Matrix developed a first-of-its-kind GIS raster analysis for an RCUP. The analysis focused on influence areas comprising all lands within 5-mile radii of JBSA installations and included San Antonio International Airport’s operations areas. The influence areas were divided into hundreds of thousands of five-acre grid cells for the purposes of assigning risk scores. Numerous GIS layers were obtained or created to inform each area analyses: current land use, future growth, environmental variables, and communication were included. Each feature in the layers was scored on a scale of 0-5 based on overall risk of incompatibility with installation missions and operations. The individual layers were then rasterized and scores weighted under a variety of planning scenarios, including mission risk, community risk, and impacts to development.

The process was incorporated into Esri’s ModelBuilder and automated. The tool helps inform decisions by allowing stakeholders to tailor their approach based on scenarios of interest.