Environmental Information System

Smartphones are both green technologies and an integral parts of green information systems that are beginning to make serious contributions toward a sustainable environment. We trace the rise of the smartphone, with particular attention given to the iPhone and its many applications. The fundamental differences between smartphone-based and more common Internet applications, and how these might enhance sustainable strategies for organizations with a green agenda are highlighted. U-Commerce is suggested as a theoretical framework that best explains this, and the four dimension of U-Commerce are employed to illustrate how innovative organizations are using the unique characteristics of smartphones to pursue environmentally sound strategies. A process that might be followed for indentifying applications for sustainable issues, making sure that the applications take advantages of a smartphone's unique features, and that contribute to sustainability by using fewer resources, protecting resources, and improving our use of current resources. The paper concludes by identifying a research agenda for information systems scholars to pursue studying the use of smartphones in search of a sustainable information technology agenda.

We present preliminary results of our joint investigations to monitor and mitigate environmental pollution, a leading contributor to chronic and deadly health disorders and diseases affecting millions of people each year. Using nanotechnology-based gas sensors; pollution is monitored at several ground stations. The sensor unit is portable, provides instantaneous ground pollution concentrations accurately, and can be readily deployed to disseminate real-time pollution data to a web server providing a topological overview of monitored locations. We are also employing remote sensing technologies with high-spatial and spectral resolution to model urban pollution using satellite images and image processing. One of the objectives of this investigation is to develop a unique capability to acquire, display and assimilate these valuable sources of data to accurately assess urban pollution by real-time monitoring using commercial sensors fabricated using nanofabrication technologies and satellite imagery. This integrated tool will be beneficial towards prediction processes to support public awareness and establish policy priorities for air quality in polluted areas. The complex nature of environmental pollution data mining requires computing technologies that integrate multiple sources and repositories of data over multiple networking systems and platforms that must be accurate, secure, and reliable. An evaluation of information security risks and strategies within an environmental information system is presented. In addition to air pollution, we explore the efficacy of nanostructured materials in the detection and remediation of water pollution. We present our results of sorption on advanced nanomaterials-based sorbents that have been found effective in the removal of cadmium and arsenic from water streams. r

The Danjiangkou reservoir lies in the upper Hanjiang basin and is the source of water for the Middle Route Project (MRP) under the South-to-North Water Transfer Scheme (SNWT) in China. The eco-environment of water resource areas plays an important role in water conservation and purification and would have significant implications for the economic prosperity in Hanjiang basin as well as for the SNWT. Focusing on the Danjiangkou Reservoir Area (DRA), this study established an environmental information system database. Based on the database, an eco-environmental vulnerability assessment method using integrated fuzzy AHP (FAHP) and GIS was developed for the DRA. According to eco-environmental conditions and anthropic effects, vulnerability was classified into five levels: potential, light, medium, heavy and very heavy. The eco-environmental vulnerability distribution and major problems of the eco-environment were analysed and discussed. The results indicated that eco-environmental vulnerability in the DRA was moderate overall. Regions with lower eco-environmental vulnerability were located in Qinling Mountain area in the northwest, Daba Mountain area in the south and the area immediately surrounding Danjiangkou Reservoir in the east. Two regions with very high eco-environmental vulnerability were located in the north of Danjiangkou Reservoir in Henan province and in the western part of Shanxi province. On the basis of analysis of distribution of the different factors of eco-environmental vulnerability, different environmental protection measures were proposed for different areas. This study demonstrated that the proposed method was an effective approach for the assessment of environmental vulnerability. The results gained closely reflected the reality of the eco-environmental vulnerability of the DRA.

Meta information systems are tools to organize and document the large and ever growing resources of environmental and geospatial data compiled by government agencies, academia, non-government organizations, and industry. Their main purpose is to provide an overview of the available information sources and to support manual and semi-automatic searches for environmental information. Good examples for national and international meta information systems are the German/Austrian Umweltdatenkatalog (UDK), and the European Catalogue of Data Sources (CDS). The UDK was created in the nineties to improve access to environmental and geospatial data sources held mainly by government agencies in Germany and Austria (Günther, 1998). (Legat et al., 1999) describes their five years experiences with the Austrian UDK (the most advanced UDK) and concludes, that with the help of the system, the process of finding and administering data has drastically improved. The CDS (ETC/CDS, 2000) is a locator system for environmental data in Europe. It collects and maintains environmental meta information of all 18 countries participating in the European Environment Agency (EEA) and, in the future, the 13 PHARE countries (PHARE is an European Commission Programme, the main channel for the European Union's financial and technical cooperation with the countries of central and eastern Europe). The CDS is maintained by the Topic Centre on Catalogue of Data Sources (ETC/CDS), based in Hannover, Germany. The CDS supplies answers on: • "WHO is responsible for WHAT information and data?" • "In WHICH form and WHERE do the data exist ?" • "HOW can the data be accessed?" The CDS data model (EEA, 1996) consists of a three level architecture: The core level is recommended to be used by all national implementations, levels 1 and 2 allow to implement additional attributes based on specific needs of the referenced data sources or national authorities. The CDS can be accessed over the Internet through a special interface, the WebCDS. Meta data suppliers may use a Windows application, WinCDS, to register data sources or alter meta data entries. Both search and maintenance are supported by GEMET, a multilingual environmental thesaurus (see below and Table 2). Meta information systems like the UDK or the CDS do not actually hold environmental and/or geospatial data sets, but provide and manage information, i.e. meta data about sources of environmental and/or geospatial data. To be useful, such meta information has to describe a number of important attributes of the listed data sources: • Availability (Which data exist for specific geographic locations?), • Fitness of use (Do these data meet the requirements for specific, user defined applications?), • Access (How can the data be accessed by the user ?), and • Transfer (How can the data be transferred to the user?) (Tschangho, 1999). Meta information systems give the user the advantage of shortening the search process for data, information or knowledge. However, the user must transform the required data to his format. Furthermore, the integration process is not always supported by the users system. Therefore, tools are required to achieve interoperability of data sources listed in a meta information system. Problems that might arise due to heterogeneity of the data are already well known within the distributed database systems community (e.g. (Kim & Seo, 1991), (Kashyap & Sheth, 1995) and (Saltor & Rodriguez, 1997)). In general, heterogeneity problems can be divided into three categories: (a) syntax (e. g. data format heterogeneity), (b) structure (e. g. homonyms, synonyms or different attributes in database tables), and (c) Semantics (e. g. intended meaning of terms in a special context or application). Attempts have been made to improve catalog interoperability, and they can be classified into several groups (a) Standardization, (b) Development of interchange protocols and (c) Mediation. These groups will be described below. Table 2: List of environmental thesauri Name Organization Languages Reference UDK Thesaurus UBA (Austria) German http://www.cedar.univie.ac.at/wg r_home/

Every year between one and two million African children under five die of malaria. If one adds to this the contribution of malaria to all-cause infant mortality then clearly the burden of the disease is catastrophic — a disaster quietly happening each and every year. New tools are needed urgently to support those currently available for control of the disease. An effective vaccine remains elusive. This article outlines the potential contribution to malaria control services of satellite information, which is being used by resource managers in other sectors. In particular, it highlights the lessons which can be learned from early warning systems in other areas, especially those designed to respond to famine. An appendix provides a brief introduction to satellite data and their interpretation.

Environmental information is available to managers through a broad range of methods and tools, from raw data provision to knowledge-based decision support systems. The design of 'environmental information systems' (EISs) to enhance the use of environmental information includes consideration of data formats, user interface, the nature of management questions, data characteristics such as variability, reliability and periodicity, and the management culture within which the EIS is intended for use. One of the principles of EIS design is that the designer must know potential users -their wishes, needs, likes and dislikes. Interface prototyping is an approach to EIS design that provides designers with useful information about users and their interaction with the EIS under construction. A case study of interface prototyping in EIS design was carried out in development of a water balance assessment program for farm management planning. It was found that the approach opened the minds of potential users to the opportunities afforded by a well-designed information system, provided identification of required data, imposed a scientific rigour that transformed an ill-structured problem into a structured one, and resulted in widespread use of the program. 

Background, aim and scope This paper presents a preliminary study of the water profile with reference to microbiological parameters, required by Directive 2006/07/EC (European Community 2006) concerning the management of bathing water quality, in the coastal belt of the Province of Venice (Italy, Northern Adriatic Sea). A historical database has been implemented with monitoring data for the period 2000–2006 (data on rivers, bathing and marine coastal waters and on the characterization of Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) discharges) from the institutional activity of Veneto Regional Environmental Prevention and Protection Agency (ARPAV). An integrated areal analysis for the microbiological investigation of homogeneous stretches along the coast of the Province of Venice was performed for a preliminary characterization of the bathing water profile considering water quality status and existing pressure sources. Materials and methods ARPAV is the institutional body responsible for environmental monitoring and control activities. Data were produced from monitoring and controls made available by the Regional Environmental Informative System and extracted and elaborated for the period of interest (2000−2006). Sampling and analysis of microbiological parameters were executed following the official Italian methods in accordance with international procedures (APHA et al. 1998). For the purpose of this study, the coast was divided into eight stretches, which were considered to be homogeneous according to their physical and geographical characteristics. An ANOVA statistical assessment has been performed on stretches I, V and VIII. Results and discussion From the integrated areal analysis of microbiological parameters in the homogeneous stretches along the coast of all the investigated matrices, high mean levels of faecal contamination were found in some cases. The most critical situation amongst the stretches evaluated is to be found in stretch VIII—Ca’ Roman, Sottomarina and Isola Verde shores (Southern part of the Province). These results can be widely attributed to pressure sources from the Brenta and Adige rivers, rather than to local contributions. Stretches VI and VII, which correspond to the area from Punta Sabbioni (Cavallino shore N–E) to the Pellestrina shore (S–W), present the best conditions for faecal contamination parameters (low pollution levels). These situations can probably be explained given that WWTPs 7 and 8 have two submarine outfalls at a distance of about 4 km from the coastline and therefore a discharge point which is distant from the bathing and marine coastal monitoring stations; there are also no river mouths in these two stretches. Due to lack of data, it was not possible to implement seasonal assessments. Conclusions This study aimed to develop an integrated areal analysis for biological parameters along the coast over the period 2000–2006 for the identified homogeneous stretches in order to develop a preliminary approach for the characterization of the water profile, as requested by directive 2006/7/EC. From the integrated analysis of the stretches, it is evident that in some cases there are high levels of faecal contamination along the coast which can be caused by river flows which heavily condition the quality of coastal waters as verified with the statistical assessment. Recommendations and perspectives From the preliminary analysis, the submarine outfalls seem to be the best solution to guarantee good bathing water quality on the coast. Nevertheless, it must be observed that this solution cannot overlook the possible impact of the discharges on seawaters intended for a specific use, such as mussel farms with reference to coastal hydrodynamics. Therefore, a sound wastewater dispersion analysis on the discharges of the WWTPs for the identification of the interested area and the level of contamination must be performed; a modelling study on pollution dispersion is complementary to this study (Scroccaro et al. 2009). This analysis highlights the critical stretches as being numbers II and, above all, VIII with particular correlation with the main river mouths. Thus, it is evident that the issue of microbiological impact must be studied following a river basin approach according to the influence of river loads on coastal areas.

The pressure on environmental systems is increasing worldwide due to population growth and the consequences of climate change. Adaptable tools and methods are needed to elaborate information, develop understanding and strategies for sustainable use and management of environmental systems. Such tools should assist scientists, natural resource managers and decision makers in their work by providing them with (1) sufficient information about relevant drivers, attributes and factors from measured data, (2) tools and methods for user friendly access and integrated analyses of such data, i.e. environmental information systems (EIS), and (3) tools for estimating additional information not available as measurements, i.e. environmental simulation models. For an integrated assessment of complex environmental systems and their related problems a seamless and preferably standardized coupling of environmental information systems with environmental modelling systems is desirable. On the other hand, both parts should always be useable as standalone versions to avoid over-complexity of toolsets which can hamper or even permit their use for projects which tackle less complex problems.

The provision of accurate, comprehensive and condensed information contained in distributed environmental information systems via public search interfaces raises several technological challenges. Our approach to tackle these challenges is based on a consequent use of ontologies. Starting with an analysis of requirements resulting from semantic search scenarios, we explain the advantages of using ontologies based on standards and aim to reuse and transform terminological systems available in the environmental domain into ontologies. We develop an architecture guided by the premise of exerting a minimum of influence on existing search infrastructures. As a consequence of using a (possibly large) number of ontologies, tools for ontology management are needed. A key argument for using ontologies is that nowadays-as an outcome of the Semantic Web initiative-very powerful processing tools are available. We elaborate ontology mapping as an example and outline how a comprehensive ontology management can be achieved.

Citizens are increasingly aware of the influence of environmental and meteorological conditions on the quality of their life. This results in an increasing demand for personalized environmental information, i.e., information that is tailored to citizens' specific context and background. In this work we describe the development of an environmental information system that addresses this demand in its full complexity. Specifically, we aim at developing a system that supports submission of user generated queries related to environmental conditions. From the technical point of view, the system is tuned to discover reliable data in the web and to process these data in order to convert them into knowledge, which is stored in a dedicated repository. At run time, this information is transferred into an ontology-structured knowledge base, from which then information relevant to the specific user is deduced and communicated in the language of their preference.

A very large number of data sources on environment, energy, and natural resources are available worldwide. Unfortunately, users usually face several problems when they want to search and use relevant information. In the Ecobase project, we address these problems in the context of several environmental applications in Brazil and Europe. We propose a distributed architecture for environmental information systems (EIS) based on the Le Select middleware developed at INRIA. In this paper, we present this architecture and its capabilities, and discuss the lessons learned and open issues.

Due to the globalization of the information and knowledge society on the Internet, modern Web-based Information Systems (WIS) must be flexible and prepared to be easily accessible and manageable in real-time. In recent times it has received a special interest the globalization of information through a common vocabulary (i.e., ontologies), and the standardized way in which information is retrieved on the Web (i.e., powerful search engines, and intelligent software agents). These same principles of globalization and standardization should also be valid for the user interfaces of the WIS, but they are built on traditional development paradigms. In this paper we present an approach to reduce the gap of globalization/standardization in the generation of WIS user interfaces by using a real-time "bottom-up" composition perspective with COTSinterface components (type interface widgets) and trading services.

Purpose -Over the past 50 years India has been experiencing rapid population growth, causing the migration of a large part of the population to the cities looking for livelihood. This resulted in massive increments of population in the cities that has led to the increase of pollution. Gujarat, being a highly industrialized state, is a case in point. The systems for treatment and water disposal of this state are highly challenged. The north-western state of Gujarat has no effective systems for treatment or disposal of waste water. The purpose of this article is to address this problem, introducing a geographic information system (GIS) approach to record the characterization, analyze the needs and generate a conceptual GIS database in the state. Design/methodology/approach -This paper outlines the background, suggested methodology for the development of a GIS database pollution dependent control of water pollution in the state of Gujarat in India. The present research is to install a document management system that has been developed in providing organizing chart, sorting, querying and retrieving of key data. A computerized laboratory information system on monitoring of quality of ambient air has been developed. Findings -An integrated GIS database has been generated involving creation of pollutant contours, querying and visualizing the query output in spatial and non-spatial form. Originality/value -The authors have created a complete geo-spatial database for the environmental monitoring for the whole state of Gujarat. They have dealt with nearly 36,000 different files from different sources and put them together to create the database. A computerized laboratory information system on monitoring of quality of ambient air has been developed. Front-end application programs have been developed in Visual Basic and the back-end database to integrate the laboratory data and the existing data in oracle database.

The Institute of Environmental Engineering at the University of Pannonia has undertaken the challenge to develop an online environmental information system. This system is able to receive and process the collected environmental data via Internet. The authors have attached importance to the presentation of the data and have included other comprehensible information for laymen as well in order to work out visualisation techniques that are expressive and attract attention for environmental questions through the developed information system. The ways of visualizing physical and chemical parameters of surface water and the effects of motorway construction were examined.

Abstrakt Ein System ist entwickelt worden, das auf dem SPINE-Datenmodell basiert. Das System ist modularisiert, einschließlich der SPINE-Datenbanken, der besonders geentworfenen Daten, die Software anfassen, der dynamischen Web-Seiten für Datenbankpublikation und, die des wichtigsten Teils, eine Methodenlehre für die Datenbehandlung und -kontrolle. Es wurde versucht, um eine allgemeine Annäherung zu erreichen, die jede quantitative korporative Umweltinformation anfassen kann. Das Ziel

In many Environmental Information Systems the actual observations arise from a discrete monitoring network which might be rather heterogeneous in both location and types of measurements made. In this paper we describe the architecture and infrastructure for a system, developed as part of the EU FP6 funded INTAMAP project, to provide a service oriented solution that allows the construction of an interoperable, automatic, interpolation system. This system will be based on the Open Geospatial Consortium's Web Feature Service (WFS) standard. The essence of our approach is to extend the GML3.1 observation feature to include information about the sensor using SensorML, and to further extend this to incorporate observation error characteristics. Our extended WFS will accept observations, and will store them in a database. The observations will be passed to our R-based interpolation server, which will use a range of methods, including a novel sparse, sequential kriging method (only briefly described here) to produce an internal representation of the interpolated field resulting from the observations currently uploaded to the system. The extended WFS will then accept queries, such as 'What is the probability distribution of the desired variable at a given point', 'What is the mean value over a given region', or 'What is the probability of exceeding a certain threshold at a given location'. To support information-rich transfer of complex and uncertain

One of the most prominent themes concerning environment is the inner and marine water protection. The information required for developing such a theme is very large, having to cover numerous and various fields of knowledge: geography, chemistry, hydrology, geology, biology, physics, economics and social sciences. The national Institutions devoted to cope with this theme, such as the Italian Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services (APAT), have to solve two fundamental problems: how to collect such a large mass of information, and how to access the information and retrieve coherent data to process in order to perform easy, fast and reliable decision making. The first problem has been solved by APAT in successive steps, as the technology progressively changed, producing large collections of data stored in several technologically distinct repositories. However, accessing data sources individually and then combining the results manually every time an information is nee...

In this paper we present the web-based River Basin Information System (RBIS) for data management, analysis and exchange as an integral standalone part of the Integrated Landscape Management System (ILMS). Its architectural layout will be outlined together with the underlying software platform. Selected RBIS modules will be characterized in more detail to emphasize the benefits of integrated data management as a basis of the holistic environmental planning workflow covered by ILMS.

Die Informatik hat die Anwendung ihrer Methoden und Techniken in Umweltschutz, Umweltforschung und Umweltplanung zu einer Spezialdisziplin zusammengefaßt, die seit einigen Jahren als Umweltinformatik bezeichnet wird. Die Umweltinformatik ist bisher noch stark von einem nachsorgenden Umweltschutz geprägt, der vor allem technische Unterstützung bei der Überwachung, Analyse und Dokumentation von Umweltzuständen benötigt. Es gibt jedoch auch eine wachsende Zahl von Forschungs- und Entwicklungsarbeiten, die sich auf vorbeugende Umweltschutzmaßnahmen konzentrieren. Die verarbeiteten Daten und Informationen beziehen sich in diesem Fall seltener auf die natürliche Umwelt und häufiger auf anthropogene Systeme wie z.B. Produktionsprozesse oder Verkehrssysteme, die den Zustand der natürlichen Umwelt beeinflussen. Ziel ist dann die Abschätzung, Analyse und Reduktion der von diesen Systemen verursachten Umweltbelastungen. Wichtige Themen in diesem Bereich sind betriebliche Umweltinformationssysteme und die umweltorientierte Verkehrsmodellierung.

Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, zu untersuchen, welche Beiträge die Informatik zur Verwirklichung einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung leisten kann, und welche Prinzipien und Methoden hierfür eingesetzt werden sollten. Die Orientierung am Leitbild der nachhaltigen Entwicklung macht es erforderlich, Aspekte einzubeziehen, die über die Informatik hinausgehen.

In Santiago de Chile and other cities in Chile, air pollution is a dramatic problem. An Environmental Information System (EIS) based on air quality models is extremely valuable in order to support users in governmental administrations and industry with forecasting and operative decision-making as well as short to long-term regional planning. Using a model-based EIS for air pollution it is possible (i) to study complex source/receptor relationships, (ii) to optimize air pollution abatement strategies either locally or in a larger region, and (iii) to forecast the air quality for urban and industrial regions. The paper presents issues of a joint project of Universidad Catolica de Chile and GMD FIRST which objectives are the exchange of know how in the fields of EIS design and the use of air quality models, the installation of a model-based EIS for air pollution for Santiago de Chile including the acquisition of necessary input data, the study of the particularities of the Santiago region and the demonstration of the functionality of the EIS in terms of analysis and forecast of air pollution.

This paper aims at describing how the E 2 SP (Environmental Enterprise Service Provider) system supports the local and regional environmental agencies in fulfilling their daily reporting and data analysis activities, trough providing a cost effective Internet based data processing platform. The E 2 SP online reporting platform presented in this paper is partly funded by the European Commission in the eTEN program.

Language Technology for Transnational Web Services Multilinguality and Cross Cultural Communication 1 Stephan Busemann TEMSIS DFKI, Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3, D-66123 Saarbrücken [email protected] Summary The growing flood of information on the internet is ...

A prototype petrologic database (MinChem) has been under continual development for several years. MinChem contains petrologic, mineralogical, and bulk-rock geochemical data for Hanford Site sediments collected over multiple decades. The database is in relational form and consists of a series of related tables modeled after the Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS) structures (BHI 2002). The HEIS-compatible tables were created in anticipation of eventual migration into HEIS, or some future form of HEIS (e.g., HEIS-GEO).

Paper outlines current trends in environmental information management in the Czech Republic specifically in the field of environmental reporting systems. The paper also presents selected results of two research projects "Analysis and Design of Environmental Data Models and External Czech Environmental Information System Interfaces Compatible with the EU" and "Proposal of Communication Framework with International Environmental Information Systems". The paper furthermore discusses the developed web based information system Central Data Model which facilitates the management and monitoring of the reporting activities that the Czech Republic demands. During the development of environmental reporting (on national and international levels) system the Unified Modelling Language was used for process modelling and for the design. Results are applicable not only in the area of public administration but also in the field of business environmental communication and environmental and sustainability corporate reporting. The global central data model for environmental information exchange and reporting purposes has been designed to perform systematic attributing, thereby providing a basis for a central output data warehouse to meet reporting obligations.

Full-text search functions in environmental portals make a large amount of environmental data accessible. Many data sources, however, are not suited for indexing by search machines or the data themselves are not suited for access by full-text search. A possibility to make such data of the “dark web” accessible consists in addressing the data sources in the environmental portal directly. The procedure presented here starts with a formal description of data sources (e.g. from the point of view of the portal, these are the target systems). Based on this description, a special component of full-text search, the so-called search broker, can extend and detail a search query, such that all necessary parameters (if possible) are compiled to address these systems and to guide the user directly to the data desired. The presentation component of the environmental portal is responsible for the adequate compilation and display of these data, the so-called result mash-up.

Environmental Information System (EIS) development is a complex task involving modeling several aspects of the physical real world and complexity management. Conceptual modeling is an essential premise for a correct development of complex information systems. Reusable conceptual schemas have the potential to facilitate this difficult and time-consuming activity. In addition, linking conceptual schemas to reusable software components may provide a way for reusing not only concepts but also software applications. We propose a conceptual model for the development of Component-based Environmental Monitoring Systems studying in a high-level analysis, the appropriate components and conceptual models for them

Environmental information systems (EIS) have been in professional use for quite a long time. Applications of this domain often include features of quite common location based services (LBS). This means utilization of space-, time-and content-oriented data for positioning and routing services with various maps. Firstly, new integrated technology and lower prices of related technology have made it possible for users to benefit from new mobile services with reasonable cost. Secondly, new kinds of ambient aware applications are active research and development topics. We define mobile environmental information systems (MEIS) as integrated mobile information systems used to study, monitor and exploit the nature as well as to guide users like tourists and biologists in the nature. In this paper we present our research in progress, where we have built the first MEIS prototype to be used as a basis for MEIS services that exploit LBS and ambient awareness. The main purpose of this experiment has been to explore the technologies and methods for efficient building of easily extendable mobile platforms that would support main MEIS functionalities. According to our literature survey no similar technical solution as a mobile phone service did not exist.

Advances in environmental sciences increase the difficulty in creating products that can be readily used by non-experts. In this paper we demonstrate how a carefully designed environmental system is able to provide solutions. While complex transformations are kept in the system background, predefined expert choices give a user great flexibility in selecting what is required for the specific applications. In

Building environmental information systems is a challenging task. It involves a detailed analysis of the addressee's needs, development of air pollutant concentration assessment and interpretation techniques, which must be tailored to the addressee, as well as the development of information planning and production strategies. Environmental engineers are increasingly often in charge of setting up environmental services. They must be thus knowledgeable in a number of issues they did not face before. We present an air quality information system MARQUIS, which is usable, on the one hand, as a base service that can be extended and adapted to a new environmental information scenario, and, on the other hand, as a source of teaching and training material for environmental engineers.

We sketch the HIPPOLYTOS and the KOIOS system prototypes for simple, keyword-based search in structured environmental data. Built on top of a commercial Spatial Data Warehouse software, the prototypes apply lightweight Semantic Web techniques to facilitate search in complex environmental information systems.

The Networked Environmental Information System for Global Emissions Inventories (NEISGEI, pronounced "nice-guy,") is an EPA supported initiative to develop a web-based global air emissions inventory network. Part of this effort is the development of a Web portal that provides description and access to distributed emission inventory data, tools for processing and analyzing the data, means for registering new data, and an environment for collaboration among international researchers, policymakers, and the interested public. This paper presents the portal infrastructure and select data and tools available through it.

Agriculture in the Netherlands produces high emissions of minerals to soil and ammonia to air, which cause environmental problems. The CLEAN model is a tool to evaluate policy options to reduce these problems. An overview of the model is presented and the difficulties in calculating manure surpluses and manure destinations are highlighted. To fulfil its purpose the model needs to be rather detailed, use large amounts of data, be fast, and produce reliable results. The model concepts and information technology that were chosen to meet these requirements are discussed. Special attention is paid to the position of the model in a larger information system and the use of a relational database. The development of this environmental information system will be evaluated and based on this experience, some remarks will be made on model integration.

Recognising soil a key role as regulator of energy and matter flows within agro-ecosystems has led to a growing concern to assess its quality and vulnerability for different applications and to an increasing use of simulation models as tools for environmental planning and management. These models often require as inputs physico-hydrological soil parameters which can be difficult to retrieve in the ordinary soil surveys. The research in soil data applications has lead