On June 28 through July 1 of 2006, a NATO Advanced Research Workshop was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. This workshop brought the top researchers in Fuzzy GIS together, both from NATO countries as well as partner countries. The workshop focused on how uncertainty and fuzziness can be better modelled and implemented in Geographic Information Science to help decision makers make more informed choices, especially as they pertain to environmental security and protection.

On June 28 through July 1, 2006, a NATO advanced research workshop was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. This meeting of scholars from both NATO and NATO partner countries brought together the leading researchers in the field of Fuzziness and Uncertainty in GIS for Environmental Security and Protection. The papers based upon the presentations at this meeting are included in this book. They were all quite good, some focusing on the use of fuzzy sets in geography, others focusing on explicit environmental concerns in Ukraine. What this book cannot show is the camaraderie and spirit of cooperation that permeated the atmosphere of this workshop. These researchers, many of whom had never met before, are now colleagues, and are continuing to collaborate on research to this day, and probably beyond. Scholars from various positions and countries have chosen to work together in the spirit of cooperation to make the ideas presented in this book come to fruition. At press time, we do not know if Ukraine will become a NATO member or not. In any case, the editors wish to thank the NATO Science Committee for their funding, encouragement, and work in making this workshop a reality. We hope that the spirit of cooperation and intellectual curiosity that was so lively at the conference will encourage the reader in the perusal of this work.