DESARROLLO DE UN SISTEMA DE INFORMACIÓN GEOGRÁFICA PARA MEJORAR LA GESTIÓN DEL AGUA DE RIEGO DEL EMBALSE CONVENTO VIEJO, CHILE. Development of a geographic information system to improve the irrigation water management of the Convento Viejo Dam, Chile.

A B S T R A C T When establishing strategic lines for agricultural activities, geomatic and its diverse technologies allow generating a highly representative and reliable characterization of the territory, expressed in a dynamic and flexible digital data base. This helps the planning and monitoring of the productive changes observed in lands benefited with the increase of irrigation water and the improvement of its distribution network. The main goal of the investigation was to create a Geographic Information System (GIS), feed it with farming and socioeconomic information bases allowing the identification of homogeneous intervention sectors and the establishment of an agricultural exploitation typology of the zones directly or indirectly benefited by the construction of the “Convento Viejo” Dam in its second stage. The methodology employed included the creation of a digital database from the compilation and processing of different sources and formats of digital geographic cover, geo-processing of the covers to identify homogenous intervention zones, design and application of a survey to classify the agricultural exploitations and the elaboration of a GIS consultation interphase. Four homogeneous geographic sectors were identified and delimited by topographic, agricultural and climatic variables. The agricultural exploitations typology resulted in four conglomerates (clusters) grouped according to social, productive, financial and commercial variables. The designed GIS allows easy consultation and analysis of the information improving agricultural management and planning.