## 4 GIS Integration  
The ultimate goal of this kind of environmental model was to provide the potential end-user with a simple, intuitive, and easy-to-use tool. The key to achieve this was to automate the pre-processing of the input data and the post-processing of the simulation results, showing them in a user-friendly interface. Environmental event simulation requires coupling geospatial data with the simulation models, and this approach calls for a geospatial data management system to handle the diverse resources of information needed as the input data, as well as to display the simulation results. The Geographical Information System (GIS) is one of the geospatial information technologies that can be used to store, manage, and analyze geographical data about natural factors contributing to wildfires, and therefore, it is a suitable tool to integrate a wildfire simulation model. Different attempts have been made to integrate the PhyFire model in a GIS system: as an add-in for the desktop software ArcMap and as a GIS solution based on a web server. In [17], several scripts were developed to automate geospatial data acquisition and pre-processing, model execution, and visualization of the simulation results on a base map. This implementation used the Python language and Esri's ArcPy library to extend the functionality of ArcMap 10.4. Although fully functional, integrating the PhyFire model into ArcGIS makes it difficult for potential usersto obtain the model, as it requires them to have the appropriate ArcGIS Desktop software license. To overcome these disadvantages, make the PhyFire model a widely accessible tool, and reach a broader audience, a web platform was developed in [18]. The platform [[http://sinumcc.usal.es](http://sinumcc.usal.es)]([http://sinumcc.usal.es](http://sinumcc.usal.es)) (accessed on 30 January 2023) allows uploading fire simulation data and the pre-processing, processing, and visualization of the simulation results throughout the Spanish territory. The web platform involves two large modules: the Sinumcc Web Platform (_frontend_) itself and the Sinumcc GIS Server (_backend_). The Sinumcc Web Platform is used to collect data intuitively, semi-automatically, and visually, as well as to display the results of the simulations. The Sinumcc GIS Server is the module that processes the spatial data for the area selected by the users and performs the simulations based on the data collected from the Sinumcc Web Platform. The web platform was developed using current communication and data processing technologies, such as API REST, JSON, and ArcGIS Server. Both solutions need a base map to help the user identify the different points of reference of the study domain: both the Spanish Topographic Base Map provided by the _Instituto Geogrffico Nacional de Espana_ (IGN) via a Web Map Service [47] and the Topographic base map from Esri were used for this purpose [48]. Currently, we are working on a profound improvement of this web platform to make it more accessible and expandable through the use of free software. Maintaining the philosophy of a frontend and backend (client-server) connected through web services based on a REST API, the web platform is being redesigned through a module-based design. Technologically, the new platform will be based on the use of a No-SQL database for user management, a spatial data model of global scope based on the World Geodetic System WGS84 [49] geographic coordinate system, enabling better access to geospatial information, the free software library GDAL/OGR [50], eliminating its dependence on the ArcGIS Server, the framework Angular 2+ [51], and OpenLayers as the map viewer. For any of the GIS solutions adopted, it is essential to gather all the necessary geospatial information, as well as meteorological data, to feed the PhyFire model. For this purpose, a geodatabase was developed for the Spanish territory, which contains three maps with information adapted to the requirements of the PhyFire model.