An urban environmental monitoring and information system

Abstract

Evaluating, monitoring and informing about the urban environmental quality has become a main issue, particularly important when considered as a decision- making tool that contributes to more liveable and sustainable cities. Following a tendency observed in other European cities, the city of Braga (Portugal) has decided to create an infrastructure for environmental data acquisition and a web- based platform as a public information system. Some of the innovations introduced in this new platform include the use of mobile instrumented units, the extensive use of simulation software to create long-term pollution (air and noise) maps, and the presentation of the information through a geographical interface developed over Google Maps technology. This paper discusses some of the critical aspects regarding the conceptual design of such an information system, and presents the actual information system developed for Braga, named SmarBRAGA.