Regional business and political leaders are planning to introduce a technology that would enable the public and private sectors to tackle problems such as urban growth and education through advanced computer visualization, simulation and modeling.

The University of Washington and Microsoft Corp. are among those backing the project, according to Tayloe Washburn, a Seattle land-use attorney and vice chairman of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. They hope to decide how to introduce the technology and how to pay for it by 2008 or 2009.

The idea is based on Arizona State University's Decision Theater, a facility that uses wall-size video screens and moving charts and maps to allow business leaders and policy makers to "see," in three-dimensional detail, the outcomes of decisions they might make about various issues. Arizona has used Decision Theater to map out water supplies, make projections of the impacts of a drought and test water-supply policies. Representatives of China, India and Finland have visited the theater and expressed interest in developing similar technologies.

The Arizona Republic describes the Decision Theater, launched in May 2005, as a "technical marvel that makes PowerPoint presentations look like cave drawings."

Washburn says the UW, Microsoft, the City of Seattle, King County and the Puget Sound Regional Council are all interested in introducing the technology. One question is whether to build it as a large facility like ASU's Decision Theater or to scale it down to the level of a plasma TV screen.

Several months ago, a delegation from the Seattle Chamber of Commerce visited Phoenix and the Decision Theater. The potential applications, Washburn says, are numerous. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that both on the Alaskan Way Viaduct and on the 520 bridge, we are struggling to visualize and choose among alternatives."

Another use for the Decision Theater? Figuring out how the Puget Sound region will accommodate the 1.7 million people expected to move to the area by 2040.