Project SummaryARTEMIS EN 1001
(Application Research & Testing for Emergency Management Intelligent Systems)
The management of emergencies, whether resulting from natural or man-made causes, faces major difficulties as a result of:
- poor and inefficient planning
- lack of inter-agency co-ordination
- insufficient information
- shortage of experience and training of responders
- weak technical support (databases, experts, decision support tools,
etc.)
- lack of real-time monitoring of changing conditions etc.
Recent developments in the fields of telematics and knowledge-based systems offer prospects of an important contribution being made to emergency management. These developments make it possible to combine reliable and efficient data acquisition networks, which feed in data in real time, with on-line intelligent software, which can give the right answers and explanations to operators. Good decisions can be supported through dialogue between the system and its operators.
The objective of the present project is to provide the groundwork for a system which achieves that. It aims to establish user requirements and functional specifications. Initially two classes of emergency situations will be covered: industrial accidents and floods. Eventually it is intended that the specifications be applied to a wide range of emergency situations. When fully implemented the resulting system will enable emergency management and planning authorities to:
- integrate monitoring and planning functions
- establish a coherent framework for inter-agency co-ordination of
plans
- draft plans to be implemented in response to different types of emergency
- train decision-makers in crisis management
- dynamically manage an emergency situation when it arises from a major
incident
- aid decision makers in the longer-term management of an incident
as it evolves
- aid longer-term land use and infrastructure planning.
The present project will arrive at a full specification for such a system covering:
- user requirements
- functional specifications
- evaluation framework
- specification of model adaptation and development requirements
- the building of a 'mock-up' of the final system.
Major Validation Sites
Prefecture of West Attica, Athens, GR
Spanish Ministry of Public Works, Valencia, ES
Users
Users will be involved in various stages throughout the project. Included will be major actors in emergency management in Greece and Spain, e.g. the Fire Corps of Greece, the Civil Protection Authority of Spain, the Prefecture of West Attica, and the General Directorate for Hydraulic Works in Spain.
Approach
User requirements will be established through a series of structured group discussions. System architecture and modelling requirements will be specified for full development. A 'mock-up' of the system will be constructed to aid interaction with users and to demonstrate basic system functionalities.
Expected Benefits
- improved performance of emergency management authorities, resulting
in less material damage and loss of life, whether from man-made or natural
disasters
- ability of political and civil authorities to perform their tasks
more effectively and efficiently
- in the case of industrial accidents, less damage and lower insurance
payments due to better response from emergency units
- for supplier companies, value added to telematics infrastructures,
which will provide added incentive for wider adoption and installation.
Contribution to EU Policies
The system is expected to result in improved practices in emergency management, leading to a common platform for the development of site-specific management systems. It will speed up the full implementation of the SEVESO Directive.
Contact Person
Prof. Nicolaos Christos Markatos
National Technical University of Athens
Tel: +30 1 772 32 35
Fax: +30 1 772 31 55
e-mail: cfdu@orfeas.chemeng.ntua.gr
Web site: http://www.netmode.ntua.gr/artemis/
Project Participants
National Technical University of Athens, GR
Direccion General de Obras Hydraulicas, ES
Direccion General de Proteccion Civil, ES
Fire Corps of Greece, GR
Hellenic Aspropyrgos Refineries, GR
IMPETUS Systems and Telecommunications, GR
Ministry of Environment and Public Works, GR
Prefecture of West Attica, GR
SYNCONSULT, ES
The University of Leeds, UK
Transport Environment Development
Systems, GR
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, ES
Project Summary(Integrated Contaminated Sites Management)
The COSIMA consortium comprises five cities: Cologne (DE), Cork (IE),
Bologna (IT), Amsterdam (NL) and Katowice (PL). In addition three software
development firms are involved: ESBI, strässle, and ESRI Italia. This
group will develop a computerised Integrated Contaminated Sites Management
Support System (CSMSS) to assist experts in planning, environment and other
fields in remediating, assessing, registering and reinstating sites which
may have been contaminated through previous use, for example, for industrial
or landfill purposes.
Sites must be investigated to assess the nature and extent of contamination
and the effort and resources required to make them safe and suitable for
further use. COSIMA will agree a common approach for the investigation,
analysis and reinstatement of contaminated sites, and will develop and
implement an appropriate support and analysis system on the basis of three
different Geographic Information Systems (GIS): ArcInfo, Intergraph and
GRADIS-GIS.
The system will hold graphics for maps, photographs, etc, and text on procedures for testing and analysis, methods of remediation, results obtained and cross-references to standards for investigation, clean-up and re-use of sites. It will assist users by analysing sites and suggesting methods and levels of reinstatement, linking into existing computer record and analysis facilities in the cities. Common interfaces, data handling methods, reports and graphic presentation will make CSMSS appear and function the same in all participating cities.
The final system will be a standardised, user-friendly, map-based tool to support contaminated sites management. It will promote economic, environmentally sound development of cities through comprehensive and speedy analysis and processing of sites, and, being standardised, it will facilitate cooperation and development Europe-wide.
Major Validation Sites
Stadt Köln, Amt für Umweltschutz, Köln, DE
Cork Corporation, Environmental Unit, Cork, IE
Users
The COSIMA consortium is led by cities in their capacity as telematics users. The expert staff from the local authorities in charge of contaminated sites management will define the requirements for the entire technical task, which will be carried out by the industry partners, and will verify the results.
Approach
The contaminated sites management support system will be implemented on existing GISs provided with RDBMS. This will provide the systems with an open architecture and make them interoperable. It will be designed to form an integrated tool for standardised data structure, data integration and presentation.
Expected Benefits
- increased environmental information and safety for the citizen
- quicker and more reliable environmental information for users
- improved security in planning
- better facilities for decision-making
- reduced costs of urban and regional planning
- greater attraction for inward investment
- significant advantages for supplying companies on the (GIS) market.
Contribution to EU Policies
EU policies in the field of environment and technology will be implemented in a practical working environment (i.e. in urban development). Political EU objectives will be promoted with the initiation of long-term co-operation, for instance in economic and social cohesion and through the integration of a partner from Eastern Europe.
Contact Person
Frank Weber
Stadt Köln
Tel: +49 221 221 14 80 (secretariat)
Tel: +49 221 221 18 22 (direct line)
Fax: +49 221 2211900
e-mail: 100433.2635@compuserve.com
Project Participants
Stadt Köln Amt für Umweltschutz, DE
Azienda Consortile Servizi Reno, Ingegneria della Qualità, IT
City of Katowice, PL
Comune di Bologna, IT
Cork Corporation, IE
Environmental System Research Institute (ESRI), DE
ESBI Computing Limited, IE
Gemeente Amsterdam, Milieudienst, NL
Strässle Informationssysteme GmbH, DE
Project Summary
(Distributed Environment Disaster Information and Control System)
DEDICS is a telematics tool designed to facilitate the management of environmental disasters by providing users with a set of functions to support monitoring, control and decision-making. The system is composed of elements designed to provide key information to the users: early detection for fast response, simulation for preparing types of intervention, data server for sharing experience, and building up an information asset for post-analysis of disasters. These services use an interactive communication kernel, which links all types of users in headquarters, offices and the in field of operations.
As most environmental disasters are on a regional scale, DEDICS is a regional system. It is designed to be adapted to a wide range of such situations. Its application will be tested on forest fires, which constitute one of the most frequent and difficult kinds of environmental disasters in Europe.
DEDICS concerns three categories of users who share common interests and needs:
- fire managers, involved in prevention and fighting of forest fires
- local authorities, responsible for land management, resource allocation
and information to the public
- researchers involved in the study of forest fire prevention and simulation
models.
The objective of the project is to increase efficiency in prevention, fighting and understanding of forest fires. It will promote better cooperation in the field of environmental disasters through the assessment of common needs, the evaluation of different solutions and the organisation of demonstrations by users from six European countries.
Major Validation Sites
OANAK, Eastern Crete Development Organisation, Heraklion, GR
Junta de Andalucia, Jaen, ES
DDSIS, Direction Départmentale des Services d'Incendie et de
Secours, Villeneuve-Loubet, FR
Fire Brigade, Kassel, DE
Users
The users of the system will be fire managers involved in prevention and fighting of forest fires; local authorities involved in land management, resource allocation and information to the public; and researchers involved in the study of forest fire prevention and simulation models.
Approach
DEDICS will apply the technologies of distributed computing and information processing, satellite, radio and mobile phone communications, decision support systems, and GIS.
Expected Benefits
- reduced damage - due to improved prevention and management of forest
fires
- better protection of the population - due to models for predicting
fires at the urban-rural interface boundary
- better protection of the environment
- easier decision-making - due to readier availability of data
- improved communications between users
- ability to use simulation models
- improvements in the validation of existing systems and easier introduction
of new components adapted to requirements
- specification and promotion of standards for information on natural
hazard management.
Contribution to EU Policies
Protection of forests against fires has a particular and urgent importance
in the EU (EC regulation 2158/92).
Improved alert criteria guarantee better organisation for fire-fighting
and adapt actions to the real situation (4th FP, Environment and Climate).
Contact Person
Dr. Jean Luc Wybo
CEMEF/IAM
Tel: +33 4 93 95 74 29
Fax: +33 4 93 65 43 04
e-mail: wybo@cemef.cma.fr
Web site: http://www.dedics.aueb.gr
Project Participants
CEMEF/IAM, FR
ALGOSYSTEMS S.A., GR
University of Coimbra, Associação para Desenvolvimento
da Aerodinamica Industrial, PT
Asociacion de Investigacion Y Cooperacion Industrial de Andalucia,
ES
Conserzio Fisia Teletron, IT
Dipartmento Agronomia Selvicoltura Gestione del Territorio, IT
Direction Départementale des Services d'Incendie et de Secours,
FR
Eastern Crete Development Organisation, GR
Empresa Nacional Bazan de Construcciones Navales Militares, ES
IBP-PIETZCH GmbH, DE
Instituto Nacional para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza (Andalucia),
ES
Junta de Andalucia, ES
Ministry of Interior of State of Hessen, DE
National Technical University of Athens, GR
Region of Crete - Department of Forests, GR
Research Centre - Athens University of Economics and Business, GR
Project Summary
(Dissemination of Environment and Transport Telematics Results and Needs Analisys in Central and Eastern Europe)
The project will organise a diffusion event for EU RTD Telematics Application Programme (TAP) results. The conference will be organized as a joint effort of the International Society for Environmental Protection (ISEP), Austria, the Regional Environmental Centre (REC), Hungary, and the Research Centre Karlsruhe (FZK), Germany and shall take place at the REC's conference facility in Szentendre/Hungary.
The immediate objectives of the conference are to:
- present the results of Telematics projects in the fields of environment
and transport (transport projects of environmental relevance)
- facilitate the possible uptake of TAP results in CEE
- discuss the needs in CEE for Telematics related technologies and
the problems associated with their implementation
- outline existing Telematics initiatives/ success stories in CEE
- introduce the Telematics Applications Programme (TAP) in CEE.
The conference's longer term aim is to pave the way for the involvement
of CEE countries in future Telematics RTD calls and to encourage the adoption
of Telematics related applications in CEE, thereby assisting the countries
of the region to become part of the broader European "information society".
A secondary objective is to improve the state of the environment and the
management of transport by raising the standard of information related
activities such as monitoring, mapping, storage and dissemination of environment
and transport information.
Presentations at the conference will be published as proceedings and
made available on the internet. Furthermore, feedback from conference participants
to Telematic issues will be recorded (during roundtable discussion and
with an evaluation form). A summary of the evaluation form/roundtable discussion
will be produced subsequent to the conference.
Major Validation Sites
Not applicable
Users
The target group of the conference will consist primarily of environmental and transport experts: government and local authority (LA) decision makers, monitoring and technical experts, businesses, and academia.
Approach
Organisation of a conference; dissemination of conference proceedings in hardcopy and online (Internet).
Expected Benefits
In the longer-term, citizens will benefit from the development and implementation of Telematics-like information systems and the improved availability of environment and transport related information. In the short term, the awareness of CEE environmental stakeholders will be raised to Telematics activities and results.
Improved awareness of EU TAP, projects and results in the fields of
Transport and Environment. An opportunity to network and a forum for critical
evaluation of needs for Telematics in CEE. Improved understanding of opportunities
for CEE participation in the TAP.
The conference will offer the chance to explore opportunities for the
adoption and implementation of Environment and Transport Telematics applications
in CEE.
Contribution to EU Policies
By promoting technological know-how and generating knowledge about actual needs for Transport and Environment Telematics in CEE, the conference will facilitate the EU accession process.
Contact Person
Michaela Arndorfer
International Society for Environmental Protection
Tel: +43 1 715 28 28
Fax: +43 1 715 28 28 - 19
e-mail: michaela.arndorfer@cedar.univie.ac.at
http://www.rec.org/REC/Programs/Telematics/DETERMINE/default.shtml
Project Participants
International Society for Environmental Protection, AT
Regional Environmental Centre, HU
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, DE
Project Summary
(Environmental Management Architecture for Information Delivery)
The main aim of E-MAIL is to develop telematics applications to support decision-makers in regional public organisations in the environment sector. The applications will support these users in environmental monitoring and planning by combining and using data captured from different sources. This information will be converted to standardised formats and integrated on a multimedia platform containing an integrated set of tools for modelling, mapping, analysis and reporting.
The objective is to provide the E-MAIL user with efficient support systems for obtaining in-depth information on key environmental topics and environmental indicators. These include census data on population and dwelling, urbanisation and sustainable development planning, actual and potential ecological risks, surface and ground water quality, water resources management, defence from flash-floods, habitat management and conservation, waste management, pollution and industrial risks.
The project is based upon work in four different European Regions: Tuscany, Rhone-Alpes, Fife, and Corfu. Each region exemplifies a different set of characteristics: a river basin, an agricultural area, an industrial area, and an island. The Public Authorities involved in the environmental management of these areas will be provided with a common set of tools for data analysis, synthesis, interpretation and simulation. The tools will be designed to enable them to undertake more accurate monitoring of the environmental indicators relevant to their region, and thereby ensure more effective and better targeted environmental planning and policy actions.
Major Validation Sites
Autorità Bacino Arno, IT
Regione Toscana, IT
Fife Regional Council, UK
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lyons, FR
Corfu Initiative, GR
Users
The users are environmental decision-makers within regional authorities, with different levels of responsibilities, tasks, and duties, and acting at directional, executive and operative level. The list includes the Arno River Basin Authority, Tuscany Regional Government, Fife Regional Council, Friends of the Earth, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lyon, and Corfu Initiative. These agencies will establish linkages and provide channels for E-MAIL to other appropriate agencies on a local, regional and national basis.
Approach
The approach is to integrate heterogeneous systems using standard protocols. They will be designed to provide simple and cost-effective information access and communication through a range of networks (Internet, PSTN, ISDN, etc.), offering the user a standard interface to distributed information sources and networks. This will be a multimedia application. Object-oriented methods will be used in the software development and integration.
Expected Benefits
- handling of issues crucial to the preservation, protection and improvement
of the quality of environment
- better co-ordination of natural resources, habitat protection and
risk prevention
- availability of powerful tools for environmental management
- simpler and more expeditious decision-making
- opportunities to make comparisons of environmental data and management
- considerable improvement in cost/benefit ratios of environment management
- potential for companies to address a much larger target market
- the advantages and benefits identified in the Bangemann Report and
Delors White Paper.
Contribution to EU Policies
The project fits in to the EU policies of promoting steady and sustainable growth and improving the quality of life of European citizens.
Contact Person
Dr. Emilio Bugli Innocenti
Analysis Automation Trading
Tel: +39 55 289 352
Fax: +39 55 289 341
e-mail: ebi@acm.org
Web site: http://prato2.ing.unifi.it/email
Project Participants
Analysis Automation Trading, IT
ALBAnet Ltd, UK
Arno River Basin Authority, IT
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lyon, FR
Corfu Initiative, GR
CYCNOS Systèmes ouverts, FR
Epsilon Software, GR
Fife Regional Council, UK
Friends of the Earth Ltd, UK
Geowise Ltd, UK
Olivetti Telemedia, IT
PIN Centro Studi Ingegneria, IT
S.M.A. Sistemi per la Meteorologia e l'Ambiente, IT
Tuscany Regional Government, IT
Project Summary
(European Environmental Information Services)
The EEIS project aims to provide a bridge between the European Environment
and Remote Sensing communities. To do so, it will link two Information
Systems developed within the frame of European initiatives: the Catalogue
of Data Sources (CDS) in the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the
Enabling Services (ES) in the Centre for Earth Observation (CEO).
The CDS is a locator system designed to find information resources
relevant for the Work Programme of the EEA, such as datasets, documents/projects
and organisations, for achieving significant improvement in Europe's environment.
In a complementary way, CEO's goal is to support the use of satellite data and products, from which publications and higher level documents can be derived later. CEO therefore expends a major effort on the Catalogue Interoperability Protocol (CIP) to connect Catalogues, containing both space and non-space data.
The interoperability brought by EEIS will enable, for instance, users of the Environment community to determine which remote sensing data sets are effectively available for their impact studies, or remote sensing users to assess the potential usefulness of some images for environmental applications.
EEIS relies upon interoperability standards like CIP and on existing components of the ES and CDS systems. It implements the most recent advances in Information Technology such as World Wide Web (WWW) and JAVA.
The results of the project will be a demonstrator of the EEIS system, user requirements consolidated by the feedback of a large sample of users, an increased awareness by both user communities of the type of information available and components which are reusable for operational systems.
Major Validation Sites
Joint Research Centre - Space Application Institute, Ispra, IT
Nidersächsiches Umweltministerium, Hannover, DE
Users
Core users of EEA/CDS and CEO/ES are involved in the project, for example: CEO/ES Development Team, Nansen Ice centre (Norway), UK Environmental. Agency, Danish Meteorological Institute, Mediterranean Forest Ecosystem (Greece), EEA/Environment Topic Center (Sweden), other partners of the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET), National Resources Centres.
Approach
CIP is an advanced Z39.50 V. 3.0 based protocol designed for spatial search. The Z39.50 profile - BIB is widely accepted for the access to all kinds of documents. Both these protocols insure that different levels of information can be exchanged. Users will access EEIS services with standard WWW clients.
Expected Benefits
To improve the use of the taxes paid by the citizen in avoiding double
development within the European Union (EU); to co-ordinate ongoing work
within the EU; to enhance environmental studies and awareness by improving
access to environmental and Earth Observation (EO) data.
To provide a seamless access to all information levels independent
of their physical location; to offer additional information levels to each-others
user communities; to provide unique access to all information with a homogeneous
user interface.
To improve the industry position in the fields of catalogues for EO and of distributed information systems; to promote the European technology and standards such as CIP and BIB; to reinforce the European leadership in the technology of remotely accessing distributed spatial databases; to stimulate EO data market.
Contribution to EU Policies
EEIS promotes European standards and eases release of applications in the field of EO and environment; CIP has been developed with E.U. funding and using it in different institutions is desired; the link between DG XIII, JRC/SAI and EEA is improved due to the commonalties in this project.
Contact Person
Yves Henaff
Matra Systèmes & Information
Tel: +33 1 34 63 72 72
Fax: +33 1 34 63 79 20
e-mail: yhenaff@matra-ms2i.fr
Project Participants
Joint Research Centre - Space Application Institut, IT
Niedersachsisches Umweltministerium, DE
Miljödatacentrum I KIRUNA AB, SE
Institute For Terrestrial Ecology, UK
Forschungszentrum Informatik, DE
Project Summary
(Integrated Environmental Monitoring, Forecasting and Warning systems in Metropolitan Areas)
The project aims at meeting users' needs in the field of air quality
monitoring, forecasting and warning by the introduction of innovative telematics
and integrated multimedia systems.
The work will be carried out in the following cities: Genoa, Leicester,
Madrid and Stockholm.
The final objective is to develop new approaches to the use of air
quality and meteorological data for the improvement of life in metropolitan
areas. This will involve the integration of existing technologies to enable
responses to be made at the most appropriate time and at the most appropriate
level. Particular emphasis is placed on forecasting over 24 and 48 hours
and providing information to general public.
The EMMA project is characterised by:
- Integration of existing networks covering a range of air quality and
meteorological parameters. This range of air quality and meteorological
networks is representative of many European urban areas.
- Improved data collection, assessment and forecasting, using common
system architectures for monitoring, forecasting and warning networks and
models, quality control procedures, expert software systems for the front-end
data validation from networks. Introduction of software and system improvements
will minimise the time-lag between network measurements and dissemination
to the public and media.
- Strong orientation to administrations in local environment, transport
and health: regions, provinces, municipalities, public hospitals and, most
importantly, citizens of metropolitan areas. A User Reference Group will
be established with responsibility for establishing objectives and monitoring
progress towards their implementation.
- Research into economic benefit for administrations and therefore
to citizens: integrated architectures and models, and other characteristics
of the project, make it possible to minimise the number of sensors and
instruments to be purchased. By building common understanding, this will
increase the information available to citizens, administrators and research
institutes.
- High attention to Air Quality Indicators; in this field this project
will have a direct impact on future harmonisation between national and
European approaches, consistently with the Commission Proposal of Directive
(94/0106) on Ambient Air Quality Assessment.
Major Validation Sites
Stockholm S L B (Air Quality Dept.), SE
Ayuntamiento de Madrid, ES
Provincia di Genova, IT
Leicestershire County Council, UK
Users
The users of the proposed system are of three types:
- Environment Administrations: Provincia di Genova, Stockholm Air Quality
Dept, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Agencia del Medio Ambiente de Madrid, Leicestershire
County Council, European Environment Agency
- Urban Traffic Administrations: Swedish Road Dept, Leicestershire
Transport Dept, Town Hall of Zaragoza
- Health & Research Organisations: World Health Organisation, Regional
Hospital of Madrid.
Approach
The technologies to be applied are primarily Geographic Information Systems, multimedia archiving systems, advanced local area networks, RDS/TMC (synthesised voice) and World Wide Web/Internet.
Expected Benefits
- easy access to local environmental information
- greater availability of meteorological information
- accurate forecasts (24 and 48 hours) of environmental situations
- optimised investments and the use of air quality and meteorological
sensors and instruments
- availability of more accurate environmental data
- quality control on real-time environmental data
- quicker standardisation of air quality measurements and forecasting
- improved performance of air quality monitoring and forecasting systems
- creation of a first-line software product.
Contribution to EU Policies
- EU Directives 80/779, 89/427, 82/884 and 92/72
- 5th Action programme of the European Union, relating to the "need
to find a balance between the use of different tools: product standards,
emission limits and environmental quality objectives".
Contact Person
Prof. Dante Matteucci
Institut International pour l'Innovation
Tel: +32 2 640 24 85/+39 50 855 935
Fax: +32 2 647 65 93/+39 50 856 356
e-mail: d.matteucci@cnuce.cnr.it
Web site: http://www.mdx.ac.uk/emma
Project Participants
Italtel Telesis Spa, IT
Agencia del Medio Ambiente de la Comunidad de Madrid, ES
AQ System Stockholm, SE
Athens University for Economics and Business, GR
Ayuntamiento de Madrid, ES
Impetus Consultants Ltd, GR
INDIC AB, SE
Institut International pour l'Innovation, BE
Joint Research Centre, Ispra, IT
Leicester County Council, UK
Middlesex University, UK
National Observatory of Athens, GR
Provincia di Genova, IT
Royal Institute of Technology, SE
Sociedad Iberica de Construcciones Electrica, ES
Stockholm Air Quality Administration, SE
The University of Nottingham Charity, UK
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, ES
Project Summary(Ecological and Environmental monitoring and simulation system for management decision Support in Urban areas)
ECOSIM will be a support system to investigate and forecast pollution levels in urban areas. By allowing the effects of industrial developments or new roads to be quickly and easily examined, public authorities will be able to ensure that environmental impact is fully considered in their urban plans. They will also be able to forecast shorter-term pollution levels - typically over the next 24 hours.
ECOSIM will be based on sophisticated computer models such as those which calculate ozone levels from road traffic emissions. It combines these models with up-to-date measurements of current meteorological conditions and pollution by linking directly into local databases and pollution measurement stations. It also links the various factors such as surface water, coastal water and air to ensure that as complete a picture as possible can be predicted of environmental conditions.
The system makes use of very high-performance computers whenever it needs to, and it uses the latest methods in handling maps and similar data to ensure that its results can be easily translated into practical measures for pollution control.
ECOSIM will be developed and tested in close collaboration with three city authorities with differing environmental problems and current approaches to environmental management. It will assist the Berlin and Athens authorities to control ozone and air-borne pollutants. In the case of Athens it will also help the authorities to understand the environmental effects of its land-fill sites and any impact they may have on ground water quality. It will enable Gdansk, which has only limited pollution monitoring systems, to plan pollution control strategies for the future.
Major Validation Sites
Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umweltschutz, Berlin,
DE
Ministry of Environment, Athens, GR
City Board, Gdansk, PL
Users
Three public authorities at Berlin, Athens and Gdansk will provide day-to-day feedback to the ECOSIM developers and will use the system on their current environmental problems. A larger group of mainly urban authorities will be kept in close contact with the project to ensure its wider appeal.
Approach
ECOSIM makes use of high-performance computing technology where necessary to provide sufficient power to conduct its complex simulations. The wide range of data and results which ECOSIM will encompass will be managed by a multimedia tool-kit and a Geographic Information System.
Expected Benefits
- more effective environmental planning within urban areas resulting
in a cleaner environment
- more information on levels of pollution of general interest to the
public
- increased confidence and accuracy in evaluating the effects of industrial
and other developments
- more effective public investments, due to inclusion of costs of environmental
impact
- opportunities for European enterprises to develop advanced environmental
support systems applicable to a wide range of urban areas.
Contribution to EU Policies
ECOSIM will contribute to several projects within the multi-annual work programme of the European Environmental Agency. It is also in line with policy on urban areas within COM(92)23 "Towards Sustainability".
Contact Person
Kurt Fedra
Environmental Software & Services GmbH
Tel: +43 2252 633 050
Fax: +43 2252 633 059
e-mail: kurt@ess.co.at
Web site: http://www.ess.co.at/ecosim
Project Participants
Environmental Software & Services GmbH, AT
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR
City of Gdansk, PL
Gesellschaft für Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung, DE
Greek Ministry of Environment Public Works and Physical Planning, GR
Ingenieurbüro König, DE
Institute for Remote Sensing Applications, Centre for Earth Observation,
European Commission Joint Research Centre, IT
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, GR
National Technical University of Athens, GR
Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umweltschutz Berlin,
DE
Technical University of Gdansk, PL
Project Summary
(Environmental Forecasting for the Effective Control of Traffic)
The objective of the project is to predict poor local air quality in real time and then to initiate effective traffic demand management measures to reduce pollution levels in particular problem areas. This will be achieved through establishing Local Environmental Management Boards, and integrating air quality models with real-time information on traffic flows, pollutant concentrations and meteorological conditions, and thereby identifying pollution "hotspots". The traffic demand management strategies will be designed to reduce the pollution levels at the hotspot. The demand management tools include Variable Message Signs and traffic messages broadcast on FM radio digitally using RDS-TMC.
Major Validation Sites
Arena Test Site, Gothenburg, SE
Leicester, UK
Maidstone, UK
Volos , GR
Users
The users comprise traffic and environmental authorities, environmental consultative groups, and the public. Within the project they are:
- in the UK: Kent County Council, Maidstone Borough Council Environmental
Health, the Department of the Environment, Leicester County Council, and
the general public
- in Greece: Municipality of Volos, Car Free Cities Club
- in Sweden: Swedish National Road Administration, City of Gothenberg,
Environmental Protection Office, and the general public
- other cities which will be associated with the work.
Approach
The components of the project concern monitoring of traffic conditions, roadside air quality and weather, air quality modelling and prediction based on real-time and historic data, analysis and demonstration of traffic demand management.
Expected Benefits
- better information and knowledge of local air quality,
- near real-time improvement of air quality in "hotspot" locations
- improved capabilities to manage traffic demand and control traffic
- more strategy options available for controlling transport demand
- improved software for air quality monitoring and management
- demonstration of sensors for roadside air quality monitoring.
Contribution to EU Policies
Monitoring of traffic pollution improved development of tools to reduce traffic pollution at hotspot locations.
Contact Person
Nick Warren
Kent County Council
Tel: +44 1622 696 829
Fax: +44 1622 693 025
e-mail: nick.warren@kent.gov.uk
Web site: http://www.tol.hol.gr/business/effect
http://park.westnet.se/lufnet
Project Participants
Kent County Council, UK
Euro TRANS Consulting Ltd, UK
Halcrow Fox Limited, UK
The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SE
Leicester County Council, UK
Swedish National Roads Administration, SE
University of Leeds, UK
Volos Municipal Enterprise for Urban Studies Development and Innovation,
GR
City of Gothenberg, Environmental Protection Office, SE
Project Summary
(Eionet Telematics Application Development Group)
By April 1997 the hardware infrastructure for a European Environmental Information and Observation Network (EIONET) will have been installed by the IDA program (Interchange of Data between Administrations). In the first stage this network will connect EIONET National Focal Point (NFPS) in each Member State to the European Environment Agency. It will later on be extended to European Topic Centres and other EU Institutions.
The EIOAPP concerted action is to achieve the installation of useful and good-quality applications on the EIONET network and to facilitate the adoption of telematic services in close cooperation with EIONET users.
EIOAPP will thus pursue the following objectives:
o define, identify and evaluate telematic applications for the EIONET
o tackle questions of data and information management
o initiate and test procedures
o evaluate EIONET applications
o discuss issues concerning an extension of the telematic network to
national sites and CEE countries.
The main tools will be the development of guidelines and reports on issues related to the installation of applications and data management questions of the EIONET, and to perform tests of applications in cooperation with users.
Eventually EIOAPP efforts will result in:
o enhanced day-to-day communication within the EIONET
o exchange of documents and data based on agreed standards
o efficient reporting with enhanced procedures for request and delivery
of information
o ease of access to databases and resources at national (NFPs) and
thematic level (ETCs).
Major Validation Sites
As this is a concerted action the conventional definition of Major Validation Sites is not applicable.
Users
The EIOAPP project will include the following users of the EIONET telematic network: EIONET National Focal Points, EIONET European Topic Centres, ITTAG (Information Technology Advisory Group of EIONET), European Environment Agency (EEA).
Approach
The project uses regular meetings as well as the infrastructure of the telematic network for coordination on EIONET applications and network management.
Expected Benefits
Eventually the citizen will benefit from major project aims such as
better quality information about Europe's state of the environment, easier
access to timely, reliable and comparable data and thematic integration
of distributed environmental information (data warehouse).
EIONET users will benefit from the development of sound and standardised
telematics applications which facilitate reporting tasks at the national
and European levels and supports an operational EIONET.
From specifications of telematic services required in the EIONET, EIOAPP
will provide incentives for new telematics applications, determined by
users needs.
Contribution to EU Policies
EU-policies will benefit from EIOAPP results via:
- assistance in the provision of timely, reliable and comparable information
according to the EEA mandate
- improved efficiency of the European reporting processes
- enhanced day-to-day co-operation between national environmental administrations.
Contact Person
Michaela Arndorfer
International Society for Environmental Protection
Tel: +43 1 715 28 28
Fax: +43 1 715 28 28 19
e-mail: michaela.arndorfer@cedar.univie.ac.at
Project Participants
International Society for Environmental Protection, AT
Institut Français de I'Environnement, FR
Regional Environment Centre, HU
Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij, BE
Project Summary
(Public environmental information services)
EnviroCity delivers environmental information to the urban public by
means of telematics. It aggregates and integrates different levels of heterogeneous
information into a synthetic picture, and delivers it to the public by
two methods: queries from public PC-terminals, and projection on to large
city information panels. The end product of this project will be a pre-demonstrator.
The system is based on existing Geographical Information System and
database query technologies and the Internet-WWW. Information for input
to the EnviroCity system is taken from existing municipal databases and
other sources. Any European city can join as a user of the system.
The project will deliver a users' requirements analysis, geographical
information system software in pre-prototype form, and pilot verifications
(pre-demonstrator). The pre-prototype will be developed on air quality
data and information from the city of Munich and will be further implemented
using air quality data from the cities of Antwerp, Piraeus and Vitoria.
In addition, verification of an ecology-related application will be undertaken
for the city of Lamia.
In the longer term, two types of users can be served: environmental
experts and the general public. However, all types of user are considered
in the User Requirements Analysis, which covers the categories of homes,
industry, schools, universities, administrations, planners, commuters,
and the European Environment Agency. It takes into account the air, land-soil,
water, and ecosystems components of the city environment.
EnviroCity is a one-year project. Results will be disseminated to the EUROCITIES network, to schools and to workshops to be identified, and one workshop to be organised by the city of Munich. The partners intend to form a network to commercialise the software and provide added-value services.
Major Validation Sites
City of Munich, DE
City of Lamia, GR
City of Vitoria, ES
City of Antwerp, BE
Prefecture of Piraeus, GR
Users
The users are the City of Munich, City of Lamia and Prefecture of Piraeus in Greece, City of Antwerp, and the City of Vitoria in Spain.
Approach
The project will develop Geographical Information System software to access city databases and public information, a WWW home page and interconnection software, and software for access and queries. Operational protocols will be established based on standard technologies.and demonstrate basic system functionalities.
Expected Benefits
- on-line, up-to-date and accurate information from various sources
- queries at public terminals and projection on to large city panels
or via the Internet-WWW
- presentation for a variety of users from user-specified synthetic
picture
- information offered free during development of the service
- economic price when market value established
- potential for added-value software and hardware products, based on
this project, tailored to environmental information distribution and dissemination
services.
Contribution to EU Policies
Based on the Freedom of Public Information Act, the European Environment Agency may have on-line access to information via the WWW, and thus, may access and assess cities' information in an effective and accurate manner.
Contact Person
Dr. Jörg Schaller
ESRI GmbH
Tel: +49 8166 3388
Fax: +49 8166 3838
e-mail: jschaller@esri.isar.de
Web site: http://www.envirocity.com
Project Participants
ESRI GmbH, DE
City of Antwerp, BE
City of Lamia, GR
City of Vitoria, ES
EPSILON International S.A., GR
ESRI-España Geosistemas S.A., ES
IMPETUS International S.A., BE
INTER*LEARN S.A., GR
INTERPAC, BE
Prefecture of Piraeus, GR
Stadt München, DE
Project Summary(Environmental Monitoring Warning & Emergency System)
ENVISYS' primary objective is to create a complete system for the early detection of oil-spills, the monitoring of sea pollution due to oil spills, and the provision of support to the responsible public authorities during clean-up operations. Other objectives include investigating the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of applying the ENVISYS system in the detection of other emergencies (e.g. forest fires and floods), and an overall evaluation of the proposed techniques. A demonstrator will be built integrating and developing existing remote sensing techniques, communication tools, GIS, databases and multimedia tools; its applicability will be tested and verified.
The main results of the project include demonstrations of the system at three different sites and an overall evaluation and assessment in the user-oriented context. This will be followed by dissemination of related information, in the first instance to the Envisys User Reference Group, and more widely to an international community directly or indirectly associated with this type of work.
ENVISYS will provide a management, monitoring and control system for various Public Authorities in Europe concerned with identification and alerts on oil spills. It will indicate the applicability of such a system to a harmonised emergency system for other natural disasters such as forest fires and floods.
Major Validation Sites
Cyclades Regional Development Company, Notio Aigaio, GR
Sistemas de Seguimento Informatico S.L., Valencia, ES
Sociedad Estatal de Sasemar Salvamento y Seguridad Maritimo, Galicia-Andalucia,
ES
Norsk Regnensentralen, NO
Users
The users involved are, AN.ET.KY - Affiliate of the Prefecture of Cyclades in Greece, INDI - marine environment information provider in Spain, and SASEMAR, the Spanish Maritime Salvage and Safety Company.
Approach
The technologies to be applied are primarily remote sensing based on synthetic-aperture radar imagery, integration of data, Geographical Information Systems, telecommunications, databases, and multimedia HMI presentation.
Expected Benefits
- protection of the marine environment
- improvement of the quality of life
- increase in awareness of protection of the marine environment
- aids in the management, monitoring and control of oil spills
- automatic detection of spills and automatic warning systems
- support for clean-up actions in the case of an incident or accident
- indirect benefits from these technologies for tourism, fishing and
transport
- particular benefit for expanding telecommunications and electronic
sectors.
Contribution to EU Policies
The project supports EU measures on emergency management of human inflicted or natural disasters, and overall policies on the environment and the quality of life.
Contact Person
Dr. Nick Theophilopoulos
IMPETUS Systems & Telecommunications S.A.
Tel: +30 1 483 36 73
Fax: +30 1 463 68 07
e-mail: impetus@compulink.gr
Web site: http://www.impetus.gr/envisys.htm
Project Participants
IMPETUS Systems & Telecommunications S.A., GR
APEX S.A., GR
Cyclades Regional Development Company, GR
EPSILON International S.A., GR
Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation S.A, GR
IMPETUS International S.A., BE
Spacetec Kongsberg, NO
Ingenieria de Sistemas para la Defensa de España, ES
Intellserve, Ltd, GR
Ministry of Aegean, GR
National Observatory of Athens, GR
Norsk Regnesentral Foundation, NO
Prefecture of Cyclades, GR
Sistemas de Seguimiento Informatico S.L., ES
Sociedad Estatal de Sasemar Salvamento y Seguridad Maritima, ES
Project Summary(Improved reporting of Environmental Information using the EIONET)
The project will demonstrate and evaluate the telematics options for
increasing the efficiency of flows of data and information at the local,
national and international levels and, ultimately, for providing European-wide
information services for the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its
customers such as the European Commission (EC), the environmental protection
authorities of the Member Countries of the EEA, and a wide range of Governmental
and Non-Governmental Organisations. The project builds upon the investments
already made in the European Environmental Information and Observation
Network (EIONET) by the EC and the EEA. The project is fully integrated
with the Work Programme of the EEA and the European Topic Centres on Air
Quality (ETC/AQ) and Inland Waters (ETC/IW) are collaborating by sharing
experiences on monitoring networks and at demonstrator sites. Staff from
the EEA, National Focal Point (NFP) representatives, and other ETCs are
also actively involved.
Experience gained by the ETC/AQ on developing a European-wide database
on air quality (AIRBASE) will be transferred to the ETC/IW which will develop
a WATERBASE. Development of international data-gathering networks based
on existing national networks of air and water quality will result in two
complementary systems known as AIRNET and WATERNET respectively.
Validation sites at Fredrikstad (NO), Athens (GR) and the River Thames (UK) will be used to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.
Major deliverables of the project will be a series of reports, available to the public, on: user requirements and scenario specifications; a Data Exchange Module, visualisation modules based on WWW technologies. There will also be a number of tools to be used locally by each demonstrator and facts sheets, brochures aimed at the broader public.
The demonstrator software (AIRBASE/ AIRNET/WATERBASE/WATERNET and the DEM and WWW applications should be applicable to other ETCs as well as in other countries of the EEA area and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (the Accession Countries).
Major Validation Sites
ETC/AQ-RIVM, Bilthoven, NL
NORGIT AS/NILU, Fredrikstad, NO
Aristotle Univ. Thessa, Athens, GR
ETC/IW-WRc, Marlow, UK
WRc/EA Thames region, Reading, UK
Users
A broad hierarchy of users from the general public and local environmental regulatory authorities (cities and municipalities for air, and river basin authorities for water), national regulatory organisations, and the European Environment Agency and European Commission.
Approach
State of the art WWW tools, including interactive web pages for retrieval and visualisation of data. Evaluation of database replication or mirroring technologies. Extensive use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and tools to ensure interoperability between systems.
Expected Benefits
Free access to up to date environmental information at the appropriate level giving improved knowledge on factors affecting the quality of life. Major contributions to the Information Society with consequent benefits for education and freedom of choice.
Implementation of the telematics functioning of EIONET will provide a basis for better implementation of the work programmes of EEA and its clients. Provide the basis for integrated assessments of the state of and pressures on the environment, measures to be taken, and their effect.
Implementation of telematics solutions will improve operational efficiency, eliminate low-grade, repetitive tasks and provide the basis for better assessments of the pressures on the environment and its resulting state at the local, national and European level.
Contribution to EU Policies
AIRBASE and WATERBASE will provide objective, reliable and comparable data on the air and water environments and supply the information needs of a number of policies such as the Exchange of Information Decisions (air and water), Reporting Directive (water) and Framework Directive (water).
Contact Person
Prof. Svein Haagenrud
Norwegian Institute for Air Research
Tel: +47 63 89 81 60
Fax: +47 63 89 80 50
e-mail: svein.haagenrud@nilu.no
Project Participants
Norwegian Institute for Air Research, NO
Aristotle University Thessaloniki, GR
Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM),
NL
NORGIT SENTERET AS, NO
PSB, NL
Water Research Centre plc, UK
Project Summary
(Integrated Telematics System for Administrations Environmental Management)
One of the main environmental problems that EU administrations face
is acquiring, managing and distributing environmental information to end-users
about their area of influence. The problem is common to local authorities
who want to have detailed knowledge of the state of the environment to
pass to their councils, and regional and even central administrations who
want to have a less detailed but clearer perspective of the environmental
characteristics of the areas they administer.
In order to solve such problems, ITSAEM will produce an integrated
set of software and associated procedures, which will help administrations
to acquire, store, analyse, interpret, interchange, and present end-users
with environmental data, mainly produced from environmental audits.
The consortium consists of leading information and engineering companies, one university and four administration authorities. They will use state-of-the-art technologies (client-server, advanced communications, Geographic Information Systems, multimedia and knowledge-based systems) to develop the system.
The project will deliver a working system ready for use by administrations. For the industrial developers the software will form an excellent basis for developing marketable products within a short time and at reasonable prices.
The benefits of the project will come from significant savings in access time needed for environmental data, accessibility of more data to a larger set of users, simpler interchange of environmental data between administrations, and opportunities to develop new and necessary environmental applications. Administrations and citizens alike will see these benefits.
Major Validation Sites
AMA, Environmental Agency of Madrid, ES
City of Groningen, NL
DGIEA, Ministry of Civil Work, Transport and Environment, Madrid, ES
Province of Utrecht, NL
Users
The users are Environmental Agency of Madrid (AMA) and Ministry of the Environment (DGPA) Spain, Council of Groningen, and Province of Utrecht, The Netherlands. Potentially there are others (EEA, city councils, administrations) who will collaborate in a User Group.
Approach
The project will apply Geographic Information Systems (GIS), multimedia compression, storage and presentation (MM), Knowledge Based Systems (KBS).
Expected Benefits
- access by any citizen to raw or processed environmental data
- opportunities for environmental education
- time savings in accessing and interchanging environmental data
- opportunities to get more material for impact assessments
- opportunities for developing new and necessary applications
- more tools for self auditing.
Contribution to EU Policies
In the context of EU policies, environment-related services will be simpler and cheaper, data interchange between administrations will be more flexible and secure, and access to environmental data by interested parties will be easier and faster.
Contact Person
Dr. Basagoiti Pedro
Software AG España
Tel: +34 1 807 94 85
Fax: +34 1 807 94 93
e-mail: pbasagoiti@sag.es
Project Participants
Software AG España, ES
Agencia del Medio Ambiente de la Comunidad de Madrid, ES
DGIEA, Ministry of Civil Work, Transport and Environment, ES
Groningen Council, NL
IBERINSA, ES
Sema Group France, FR
University of Leiden, NL
Utrecht Province, NL
Van Gelder Informatika N.V., NL
Project Summary(Rapid Damage Assessment Telematic Tool)
An overall methodology for rapid estimation of damage from natural disasters,
and support for decisions on response and recovery when they occur, involves
integrating several components within a single user interface. They comprise
remote sensing and earth-science database information, GIS technology,
analytical modelling and image processing techniques.
Integration of near real-time satellite imaging data with existing
databases and natural hazard models will provide rapid and reliable estimates
of damage. The results can be made immediately available via a network
such as the Internet.
After an earthquake, a great amount of money is always spent for the mitigation-rehabilitation process. Consequently, any improvement to the planning of mitigation-rehabilitation has a direct impact in terms of economic-technical benefits for EU.
The proposed effort will concentrate on analysing user requirements and defining the functional specification for a software system architecture to achieve the above goals.
Major Validation Sites
GNDT, Italian Group of Earthquake Disaster Prevention, Rome, IT
Municipality of Lisbon, PT
Region of Crete, GR
Users
The users are operative units of the Italian Group of Earthquake Disaster Prevention, the Portuguese National Civil Protection and Municipality of Lisbon, and the Region of Crete.
Approach
The technologies to be examined include Geographic Information Systems, multi-source information access methods, data integration and image processing techniques. An expert in loss estimation will take an important role in the project.
Expected Benefits
- rapid identification of the damage sources
- optimal response to emergency
- reduced reaction time - from days to a matter of hours after a disaster
- more efficient organisation of assistance and rehabilitation
- increased reliability of damage and loss estimates
- information from diverse data sources in common formats standardised
across the EU
- system directly available for use in seismic hazard applications
in Greece, Portugal and Italy
- subsequently exportable to other European countries
- also adaptable to other types of natural disaster: potential to be
investigated for the utilisation in various regions of North Africa, Middle
East and India.
Contribution to EU Policies
This is an opportunity to create a European system involving European experts, catering for the different geophysical characteristics in Europe, and accommodating large amounts of historical data whose availability is a feature of the European scene.
Contact Person
Prof. Fabio Casciati
Univerisità degli studi di Pavia
Tel: +39 382 505 458/0
Fax: +39 382 528 422
e-mail: fabio@dipmec.unipv.it
Project Participants
Univerisità degli studi di Pavia, IT
Computer Control Systems Engineering Research & Design S.A., GR
Informação Sistemas e Desenvolvimento, Lda., PT
Instituto Superior Tecnico, University Lisboa, PT
National Technical University of Athens, GR
Sistemi Informatici Analisi Rischio Territoriale e ambientale s.r.l.,
IT
Università di Genova, IT
Project Summary
(Regional Environmental Management Support Based on Telematics)
REMSSBOT aims to demonstrate environmental information services at the regional level. Participating in the project are public administrations from the regions Piedmont (IT), Attica (GR) and Zeeland (NL).
Many local and regional environmental management administrations, like those in the REMSSBOT regions, are faced with a transition from management by environmental topic and local area to integrated environmental management, or even cross-border management. Most public administrations already have some environmental management systems or subsystems in place. These are usually designed along the paradigms valid during the original conception of these systems, and this has resulted in the coexistence of incompatible systems and in many cases also of incompatible information. An obvious way to make this less of a patchwork of systems and information would be to redesign and re-implement a new IT system from scratch, taking all user requirements into account. However, apart from the complexity and costs involved in such an effort, this would imply writing off investments in data and existing systems, and it would inhibit the further use of current environmental management systems.
The REMSSBOT project aims at overcoming these problems by offering integral management using an innovative telematics solution. The approach is based on a catalogue which conforms to the guidelines of the Catalogue of Data Sources (CDS) of the European Environment Agency (EEA). This describes what information is available at what location and provides IT systems with the automated procedures to access the actual information. The supporting tools and building blocks allow users to navigate through the catalogue and explore information sources regardless of the environmental topic and location.
Based on such a design approach, within the project three demonstrators will be made in the participating regions:
- in Zeeland, water managers and policy makers, acting in the frame
of the International Scheldt Commission, will be informed about the situation
in the whole catchment area of river Scheldt
- in Piedmont, public officers of several administrations involved
in the management of the administrative and technical procedures of industrial
plants with relevant risk of accident (EEC Directive n. 82/501) will co-operate
during the assessment proceedings
- in Attica, several measurement points in the regional area will be
integrated into a single system to show conditions on air quality, solid
waste disposal and bathing waters.
These demonstrators would prove the feasibility of using a catalogue-driven approach to implement real applications at relative low cost and with low effort.
Major Validation Sites
Regione Piemonte, Torino, IT
Provincia di Torino, Torino, IT
Provincia di Alessandria, Alessandria, IT
Lab. Sanità Pubblica, Grugliasco (TO), IT
International Scheldt Committee, Brussels, BE
Rijkswaterstaat Directie Zeeland, Middelburg, NL
Rijks Instituut voor Kust en Zee, Middelburg, NL
Rijks Instituut voor Integraal Zoetwaterbeckeer, Lelystad, NL
Rijkswaterstaat Rjks Instituut voor Kust en Zee, Den Haag, NL
ITLD, Information and Training in Local Development, Athens, GR
Users
In the three Regions, historically, public administrations have targeted their efforts towards monitoring individual environmental topics. Today they themselves are focusing on achieving an integrated understanding of the environment and the multiple factors affecting environmental quality. In Zeeland the Rijkswaterstaat, the powerful Dutch Ministry for the Waters is involved in this process, along with its three associated directorates. In Piedmont the demonstrator will be used by the most important local Administrations (Regione Piemonte and Provincia di Torino). In Attica 23 municipal enterprises, within ITLD, and the Greek Ministry of the Environment will provide their efforts.
Approach
Each data provider describes both the format and qualitative aspects of the data made available but leaves the data itself in its native format. The telematics technology provides the necessary tools to locate and access the information regardless of location or format. The catalogue plays a central role as it not only describes what information is available on the network but also describes the information characteristics and the way to access that information. It will be based on an object-oriented architecture.
Expected Benefits
- closer cooperation among public administrations
- possibility of convincing other administrations to join a cooperative
approach in dealing with environmental information and to save money using
resources that already exist, instead of expending further effort
- easier way for end-users to access to the environmental information
and enforce quality of information services
- multiple environmental topics addressed simultaneously
- reusability of the applications: any application can run anywhere
in the network, using any information available in the network
- facility for local and regional authorities to enhance their own
databases without affecting catalogue-based applications
- uniform access by applications and models to information on any topic
irrespective of it's location
- verification of integrated services in "pilot sites" in three regions.
Contribution to EU Policies
The project supports a number of the horizontal actions called for within the Fifth Action Programme, specifically improving the data provided (basic information, trends and indicators) and offering a platform for information, education and training of all economic actors including policy-makers, planners, managers, workers, consumers.
Additionally, as a result of its regional, modular approach, the project retains the principles of subsidiarity and the concept of shared responsibility which permeates the Fifth Action Programme.
Contact Person
Claudio Inguaggiato
CSI-PIEMONTE
Tel: +39 11 46 18 245
Fax: + 39 11 46 18 212
e-mail: inguaggiato@csi.it
Web site: http://www.metor.gr/remssbot/
Project Participants
Consorzio per il Sistema Informativo, CSI Piemonte, IT
Dienekis Information Systems S.A., GR
Directoraat Generaal Rijkswaterstaat, NL
Directoraat Generaal Rijkswaterstaat, Rijks Instituut voor Kust en
Zee, NL
Directoraat General Rijkswaterstaat - Directie Zeeland, NL
Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Nederland B.V., NL
Information Training Local Development (Local Authorities daughter
company), ITLD, GR
Provincia di Torino, IT
Regione Piemonte, Assessorato Ambiente, IT
Project Summary
(Risk of Inundation - Planning and Response Interactive User System)
The overall aim of the RIPARIUS project is to identify how telematics can be used to develop a practical, generic, pan-European method of flood risk assessment for non-tidal reaches of rivers. A strategy will be identified for fully developing and implementing this system to address the varied needs of user groups. The Concerted action will consist of five expert meetings and two workshops in two years. A steering group will be responsible for the delivery of the outputs from the concerted action.
Two major factors are creating a need for a better understanding of
which land is at risk from flooding and the nature of the risk. The first
is the need for building land, leading to demand to allow development on
flood plains. The second factor is a growing awareness by governments and
insurers that major floods could lead to claims on a scale they might not
be able to meet.
The RIPARIUS partners have identified regulatory authorities and the
insurance industry as the two main user communities which have a requirement
for flood risk assessment techniques in the following areas:
- assistance with flood warning, emergency planning and disaster relief
- provision of accurate information for flood control and flood alleviation
work
- provision of a quantitative evaluation of flood risk
- assistance with flood damage assessment
- a standardised method for assessing flood risk
- spatial quantification of flood risk to allow estimation of insurance
rates.
Major Validation Sites
As this is a concerted action the conventional definition of Major Validation Sites is not applicable.
Users
Regulatory authorities responsible for flood risk assessment and flood warning, and the insurance industry.
Approach
Identification of best practice guidelines for a pan-European system of flood risk assessment and design of appropriate system.
Expected Benefits
Better evaluation of flood risk in a given area, more accurate flood
warning systems, greater overall appreciation of the impact of floods.
More accurate spatial and temporal flood risk evaluation for emergency
planning, calculation of insurance costs, and planning future development.
Accurate flood risk information for building of industrial developments;
more accurate base for calculation of financial risk by the insurance industry.
Contribution to EU Policies
Fully compliant with objectives of 5th Action Programme on the Environment by contributing to avoidance of environmental damage, implementation of Risk Management and sustainable development.
Contact Person
Kenneth Blyth
Centre For Ecology And Hydrology
Tel: +44 1491 838 800
Fax: +44 1491 692 424
e-mail: K.Blyth@ioh.ac.uk
Project Participants
Centre For Ecology And Hydrology, UK
Cemagref, FR
Electricity Supply Board, IE
Environment Agency (Thames Region), UK
Irsa, IT
National Technical University Of Athens, GR
Office Of Public Works, IE
Po River Authority, IT
Project Summary(Integrated and global support system for Environmental management and monitoring)
Policy-makers, managers and quality controllers would be seriously handicapped
without reliable information systems to help them with their efforts in
protecting and improving the environment.
National and local authorities, public and private companies all have
a part to play in monitoring and managing the quality of air and water
in their particular countries, regions, cities and towns. That is where
the SIGMA project enters the picture.
SIGMA aims to provide an integrated management layer to run above a diverse range of environmental information systems. It is a major step forward towards providing a global and integrated system and a better access to environmental information.
The project has attracted the attention of public authorities as well as companies and technology suppliers. A group of representatives of these parties has been formed. The group's goal is to create an integrated and interactive system capable of monitoring and managing the three key environmental sub-domains: air, water and waste. This means that the final system will have to monitor the range of environmental topics from water systems to high-altitude air and from industrial waste to household refuse.
Their first task is to acquire the functional specifications and user requirements and then to develop a prototype showcase. This will not only demonstrate how such an integrated information system will work, but will show how SIGMA really can contribute to the quality of environmental management.
Major Validation Sites
Union Fenosa, Madrid, ES
Provincial Board of Noord-Brabant, NL
Environmental Protection Board of Sollentuna, SE
Xunta de Galicia, ES
Users
The prime users are the four validation sites: Union Fenosa, Provincial Board of Noord-Brabant, Environmental Protection Board of Sollentuna, and Xunta de Galicia..
Approach
The approach consists of studying existing documentation, conducting workshops and interviews, and visits to departments. An inventory will be collated of user requirements and system functionalities. A prototype system will be developed using state-of-the-art visualisation techniques (e.g. GIS, multimedia).
Expected Benefits
- access to up-to-date environmental information
- appealing and recognisable presentation
- an integrated overview of environmental issues such as air, water
and waste
- reliable data to support management decisions
- flexible access to the data for special reports and GIS pictures
- applications in line with European standards and based on the same
principles and development processes as governmental applications
- integrated overview of the environmental situations in various industries.
Contribution to EU Policies
The scope of environmental protection projects in the EU tends to be national and specific to a very particular situation. The standards used in this project will take another step in the standardisation of environmental monitoring and management systems.
Contact Person
Amalio Rodriguez
Union Electrica Fenosa
Tel: +34 1 57 13 700 (Ext. 7774)
Fax: +34 1 57 14 593
e-mail: UF615950@ufacex.cesatel.es
Project Participants
Union Electrica Fenosa S.A., ES
Environmental Protection Board of Sollentuna, SE
IBM Netherlands N.V., NL
NorSistemas S.A., ES
Provincial Board of Noord-Brabant, NL
TNO Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research; Institute
for applied Geoscience, NL
Xunta de Galicia, ES
Project Summary(Sustainable Telematics for Environmental Management)
This project is a one-year feasibility study for a full-scale project to develop a telematics system for environmental management (STEM) in remote and ecologically sensitive regions of Europe. Current decision support tools provide isolated support for environmental management sub-tasks but there is a lack of telematics applications which access relevant information resources for integration into existing sustainable resource management regimes. The STEM project aims to fill this gap.
The project will assess the feasibility of creating a telematics application for environmental managers, to improve their access to information which is relevant to their decision-making and to help them integrate and exploit that information. It is being driven by two user groups: a community of small farmers in north-west Scotland and a group of forest managers in Valencia, Spain. Both groups are responsible for environmental management decisions in Objective 1 areas of Europe of great natural heritage value. Their information and software needs will be assessed to produce an analysis of the user requirements, and an outline specification for a system to meet those user requirements will be produced. The factors affecting the implementation of such a system will be identified, and the feasibility of certain key tasks will be assessed, using demonstration and prototype software.
For the feasibility study, the Scottish users' focus is on the siting of a potential small hydro-electric power generation plant on a loch system, and related land-change decisions such as reforestation in the area. The Spanish users' focus is on restoration of vegetation on land which has been burnt by wildfires, which implies decisions about natural regeneration, and planting of appropriate tree species.
Major Validation Sites
Assynt Crofters Trust, ASSYNT, GB
CEAM, Centro des Estudios Ambientales del Mediterraneo, Valencia, ES
Users
Two partners in the consortium are user groups: the Assynt Crofters Trust (ACT), a community of Scottish small farmers who collectively own and manage their land, and the Centro de Estudios Ambintales del Mediterraneo (CEAM), a forest management group in Valencia.
Approach
The project will assess the feasibility of accessing, combining and presenting remote and local datasets and knowledge sources using network protocols (e.g. WWW), data-and-knowledge integration by mediators, automated reasoning and multimedia interface tools.
Expected Benefits
- new opportunities for the user groups (including schools and tourists)
to use and learn about state-of-the-art technology
- better-informed environmental management and benefits arising from
that
- opportunity to assess and apply a variety of tools for manipulating,
combining and distributing information concerning decisions made
- access to a broader and more up-to-date range of information resources
- ability through SAGE and Implex Environmental Systems to assess the
potential of the environmental management market for their network and
information system products.
Contribution to EU Policies
Both user group sites are in Objective 1 areas of Europe, where economic opportunities are currently limited and the natural resources are sensitive. The project will assess the usefulness of telematics applications to support sustainable natural resource development.
Contact Person
Robert Inder
The University of Edinburgh
Tel: +44 131 650 4449
Fax: +44 131 650 4665
e-mail: robert@cogsci.ed.ac.uk
Web site: http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~stem
Project Participants
The University of Edinburgh, UK
Assynt Crofters Trust, UK
Centro de Estudios Ambientales del
Mediterraneo, ES
Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica, NL
Implex Environmental Systems Ltd, UK
Software AG España, ES
University of Karlsruhe, DE
Project Summary
(Telematics-Assisted Handling of flood Emergencies in Urban Areas)
The objective of this project is the development of a comprehensive operational system for handling urban flood emergencies which synthesises cutting edge telematics technology with advanced forecasting of meteorology and hydrology encapsulated in a Decision Support System (DSS). The utility of a validated, integrated system will be demonstrated in Athens and in Genova, Liguria. Substantial government support has been secured at both sites: Regione Liguria already operates a flood forecasting centre and is interested in enhancing its capability; the Water Company of Athens, which has the support of the Hellenic Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works, aspires to establish such a capability.
Floods in urban areas occur frequently. They can be catastrophic when the natural events are rapid and pronounced, which occurs in basins of steep, complex orography and short hydraulic response time. Several major Southern European urban centres such as Athens and Genova are located in such topographies and are exposed to severe storm-induced floods. The impact of urban flooding can be reduced if the authorities implement detailed and carefully devised emergency response plans. Essential for the effectiveness of such plans are sound forecasts of the evolving phenomena, from storm to flood. For this purpose, data must be collected in real-time from various sensors and platforms and transmitted to a command centre for use in meteorological and hydrologic/hydraulic models. Based on model forecasts and knowledge of the condition of the drainage system, the public authority can decide on how to allocate resources for optimal emergency control.
Major Validation Sites
Regione Liguria, Genova, IT
Water Corporation Of Athens, Athens, GR
Users
End users are: Regione Liguria, Italy; its flood forecasting Centro Meteo-Idrologico della Regione Liguria, comprises 3 nodes (weather forecasts, flood risk evaluation and statistical evaluation of data & results) and the Water Company of Athens, representing the Ministry of Environment, Planning and Public Works.
Approach
Telematics, advanced forecasting of storm events (tracks and intensity) and of hydrologic response through modelling and implementation of a Decision Support System at all phases of emergency life cycle (early watch, warning, alarm, restoration)
Expected Benefits
Better protection from the hazards of severe floods, which include loss
of life, material damages and loss of productivity for society as a whole,
and more efficient and rapid restoration of normality.
Improved discharge of Civil Protection obligations of the public authorities
to the citizens through better use of resources
This is a government activity. The benefits of European Industries
derive mainly from potential sales of telematics services and also from
avoidance of economic loss from flooding.
Contribution to EU Policies
If the utility of the proposed approach for handling urban flood emergencies is demonstrated successfully, the EU could adopt procedures developed in TELEFLEUR, not only in the area of flooding but, after modest modifications, for dealing with other urban emergencies (e.g. heat waves, urban pollution incidences).
Contact Person
Dr. Antonis Koussis
National Observatory of Athens
Tel: +30 1 3421 137 & 3463 803
Fax: +30 1 3422 875
e-mail: a.koussis@egelados.gein.noa.gr
Project Participants
National Observatory of Athens, GR
Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Genova, IT
G-Systems, GR
Ingenieurbuero Brand Gerdes Sitzmann Wasser-wirtschaft GmbH, DE
Intl. Inst. Infrastructure, Hydraulics & Envir. Eng, NL
Regione Liguria, IT
Water Corporation of Athens, GR
Project Summary
(Transnational Environmental Management Support and Information System)
The demonstration region for the TEMSIS project is the Saar-Rosselle Region, which consists of the urban agglomeration of Saarbrücken and Moselle Est.
The whole region shares a common industrial history. For over a century its industry was shaped by coal, iron and steel. For the past 25 years radical structural changes have been taking place. This has left the region with a number of serious environmental problems.
The communities on both sides of the border have been meeting for a number of years to discuss their common problems. Any decisions concerning new industrial development on one side of the traditional border, like a new public transportation systems or the SMART Car Production near Sarreguemines, will have environmental as well as social impact on the region as a whole, without respecting the national frontier. Environmental impact statements are usually necessary in preparing decisions by local authorities.
The participation of citizens is required by national laws and European guidelines. Local authorities will inform their citizens about the various projects and their impact. Because general interest in environmental problems has been increasing, the TEMSIS project will develop tools to help citizens as well as experts in administrations in their discussions about how sustainable development can be achieved. It will inform citizens about the day-to-day changes in their local environment, presenting it either in central places like the City Hall or in their homes through Internet if they have access to it.
These measures require efficient tools to gather information quickly from diverse sources, e.g. from local or regional environmental information systems. TEMSIS will provide a trans-national environmental information network, where environmental views can be introduced into decision processes at an early stage. Applying advanced telecommunication technology to environmental problems will increase the strength and quality of the decision-making process and have a considerable social impact as a result.
The demonstrator prepares the basis for a complex distributed support and information system which provides users with access to a large reservoir of environmental information backed by interpersonal desktop collaboration services. Thus the TEMSIS project will be a good starting-point for the communities in the user group to improve the environmental quality in the region.
Major Validation Sites
Stadtverband Saarbrücken, DE
Ville de Sarreguemines, FR
Users
The inter-communal work group managed by the Stadtverband Saarbrücken and Ville de Sarreguemines comprises over twenty Cities and local government associations ("Kreise" or "Districts"). In addition, organised citizen groups, regional and national authorities and industrial enterprises are represented.
Approach
Use will be made of existing standard GIS, standard market relational DBMS accessed via ODBC, UNIX based products like GDB-x to store Geo-Data on the server, viewer systems like WinCat for Geo Data visualisation, with a product like InfoDesk being customised for a common user interface.
Expected Benefits
- easier access to more up-to-date environmental information (knowing
about changes in environmental conditions in the shortest time is especially
important in regions with high levels of environmental pollution)
- help with administrative and political decisions, especially in regions
with environmental problems
- help in clarifying complicated facts, by means of multimedia presentation
in the form of maps, pictures etc.
- clearer comparisons between similar or different regions
- improved decision-making through greater cooperation between administrations
- use of Info.Kiosks to inform citizens, thus reaching a wide segment
of the public: there are more then 60,000 communities in the EU with this
potential, which enterprises are using increasingly.
Contribution to EU Policies
TEMSIS will be an exemplary implementation of the EU guideline concerning the access to environmental information.
Contact Person
Bernd Hoffmann
Stadtverband Saarbrücken
Tel: +49 681 506 533
Fax: +49 681 506 593
e-mail: behoffmann@aol.com
Web site: http://www-temsis.dfki.uni-sb.de/
Project Participants
Stadtverband Saarbrücken, DE
Argopol, FR
Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz, DE
Institut Superieur Franco-Allemand de Technique et d'Economie de Sarreguemines,
FR
Österreichisches Forschungszentrum Seibersdorf GmbH, AT
Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme, DE
Ville de Sarreguemines, FR
Project Summary(Distributed Water Quality Monitoring using Sensor Networks)
The quality of the water in our rivers and lakes is increasingly coming under threat, not only from industry but also from the general pollution of our environment. Since in many parts of Europe river water is the source for our drinking water, treatment plant operators are faced with the more and more difficult task of determining the quality and deciding whether to use the water or not. At the other end of the process, waste water treatment plants have to apply more scrutiny to the water quality of their outlets. Finally, increasing public awareness puts pressure on public authorities and administrations to provide comprehensive and timely information on the state of the rivers and expected developments.
Operators at treatment plants have to manage large amounts of data, obtained from on-line sensors and laboratory analyses. Distributed sensor networks covering a complete river basin add to the difficulty of this task. There is a strong need for appropriate methods and tools to achieve a clear assessment of the current state of the water quality, to detect major pollution events quickly and to assess trends of the water quality, in both the short and long term. Current control and supervision systems do not fulfil these needs.
It is the objective of WaterNet not only to provide the users with a suitable technology but to demonstrate the usability and appropriateness of newly developed methods in real-life applications. It aims to show that both operators and authorities will be helped by intelligent aggregation and simplification of the vast amount of environmental measurement data. These methods are the result of the research and development carried out in ESPRIT Project 6757 - EMS (Environmental Monitoring Systems). Together with the users of three validation sites, the emphasis in WaterNet will be on:
o aggregation (fusion) of sensor data to simplify their understanding
o assessment and interpretation of the river state and its evolution
o presentation of information, at different levels of abstraction,
to users of specific but widely varying classes.
Major Validation Sites
EBP, Suresnes, FR
Grupo Aguas de Barcelona, Barcelona, ES
Conseil Général (CG), Nanterre, FR
Users
There will be direct involvement of EBP (River Seine monitoring) and AGBAR (River Llobregat, Barcelona, monitoring), and, through the planned User Group, the public administrations responsible for these areas.
Approach
The project will use advanced data validation (e.g. Fuzzy) and fusion (e.g. Kohonen Maps) techniques and decision support embedded in an agent-type distributed architecture.
Expected Benefits
- readier availability and access to quality data on the environment
- improvement of the quality of the environment in the longer term
- earlier warnings of pollution events
- considerably faster reaction to pollution events
- avoidance of late and unnecessary or shut-downs of production
- increased throughput and the continuity of water production
- a lead in this field of technology for pollution control
- higher security for water industries in the production process
- competitive edge for system vendors through being able to offer advanced
systems.
Contribution to EU Policies
Enforcement of EU Directives, in particular the Council Directives 75/440/EEC (surface water for drinking water abstraction), 79/869/EEC (methods of measurement), 91/271/EEC (urban waste water treatment), and 78/659/EEC (fresh water).
Contact Person
Andrew Billington
Lyonnaise des Eaux CITI
Tel: +33 1 30 15 40 04
Fax: +33 1 39 76 02 93
e-mail: abillington@citi.suez-lyonnaise-eaux.fr
Project Participants
LIAC - Lyonnaise des Eaux S.A., FR
Conseil Général des Hauts de Seine, FR
Danfoss System Control, DK
Grupo Aguas de Barcelona, ES
VKI Water Quality Institute, DK
Project Summary(Added Support to Strategy, Cohesion and
Dissemination for Transport and Environment Projects)
ANIMATE is an accompanying measure for projects in the sectors of Transport and Environment.
The principal objective of ANIMATE is:
- to provide assistance, advice and expertise in all technical aspects
of transport and environment telematics to support projects in the achievement
of their objectives and quality assurance
- to facilitate sector-specific support actions by implementation of
specific measures.
ANIMATE project support includes
- administrative and technical support to specific actions such as
user forums, task forces and advisory groups
- quality assurance assistance to projects
- sector specific publications, promotion and dissemination material
and preparation of all appropriate media
- provision of a specialised "help desk" communications and enquiry
centre
- channel for co-ordination between the work of the transport and environment
sectors and of external bodies, through close cooperation with programme
level activities: ETHOS (technology and market watch) and CONCORDE (concertation
activities)
- specific activities in the topics of digital geographic road maps,
standardisation in the field of air transport, and user groups for freight
and fleet management.
It is expected that ANIMATE will help to produce better integrated,
wider and more effective dissemination of the results of transport and
environment projects, both as a result of specific consensus support and
also as a result of the ANIMATE task specifically dedicated to publication,
promotion and dissemination.
Major Validation Sites
As this is a support project, there are no validation sites. The project will nevertheless monitor results closely to identify the leaders and the advanced work, and promote the diffusion and exploitation of that element of the programme.
Users
Immediate users are the members of the projects and participants in the programme. End-user groups will be organised by the selected experts.
Approach
ANIMATE will help monitor progress of work for all projects in the sector, and will provide assistance advice and expertise to support projects in the achievement of objectives.
Expected Benefits
- broader involvement of users beyond the R&TD community
- input to the requirements of European citizens into the telematics
- positive influence on both user interfaces and user benefits
- greater industrial demand for the projects' results.
Contribution to EU Policies
The project will result in wider and more effective dissemination of the results of transport and environment projects, both as a result of concertation support and also as a result of the ANIMATE task specifically dedicated to publication, promotion and dissemination.
Contact Person
John M. Crompton
ARTTIC in Brussels
Tel: +32 2 672 33 39
Fax: +32 2 672 16 46
e-mail: animate@arttic.be
Project Participants
ARTTIC in Brussels, BE
Project Summary(Help at distance the SMEs in the development of their environmental management)
All organisations are affected in some way by environmental laws and regulations, irrespective of the size or nature of their business. New environmental legislation is making it increasingly important for businesses, large and small, to re-assess their environmental performance. Failure to comply, even through lack of understanding, may subject them to avoidable risks from financial penalties, loss of reputation and credibility.
"All business involves some environmental damages. The best we can do is clear up our own mess while searching hard for ways to reduce our impact on the environment." (extract from the Body Shop Environmental statement 1991/92).
The Ecomanagement project aims to facilitate the development of environmental management programmes in European SMEs. This aim will be achieved by the means of telematics methods, tools and supports. These will be applied to deliver distance services consisting of "off-the-self solutions amenable to computer-supported co-operative working".
The distance services to be delivered are as follows:
- multimedia training applications
- counselling
- pedagogical help desk
- tutors' and telecounsellors' teleworking.
The telematics infrastructure will be implemented over N-ISDN and comprise videoconferencing, remote access to environmental databases, and distance sharing of training applications. By implementing such an infrastructure, it will be possible to overcome the disadvantages which SMEs suffer in the EU not only of being widely scattered but also from being in rural or isolated locations. Ecomanagement will contribute momentum to the growth of telematics services and multimedia technologies.
Ecomanagement will initially be concerned with the Plastics Industry, implementing an environmental management programme which covers water, air, waste and soil pollution. Later it will move to other industrial sectors such as chemicals, steel, but in these cases it will only cover water pollution management.
The partner representatives with a strong involvement in evaluation, verification and demonstration phases are the French Federation of Plastics and FORMHEL, a Greek regional network consortium comprising steel, chemical, radio, education and university interests.
Major Validation Sites
CEDIPLAST, Lyon, FR
GTEX, Cholet, FR
EIA, Angoulème, FR
CNED, Poitier, FR
CMC, Gosselie, BE
CEBLL, Cornella, ES
CITA, Ripoll, ES
ALUMINIUM DE GRECE, Paralia Distomou, GR
IVEPE, Athenes, GR
PO, Belignat, FR
PROMIPLAST, Oyonnax, FR
GERFLOR, Lyon, FR
RECTICEL, Trilport, FR
CESI, Poitier, FR
CNED, Vanves, FR
FIAC, Angouleme, FR
CGE, Espagnac, FR
SAUR, Aigre, FR
CTB, Manreba, ES
CDEIT, Hospitalet, ES
PIVSAM, Vilanova, ES
HELLENIC STEEL Co, Thessaloniki, GR
IVEPE Co, Volos, GR
TITAN Co, Athens, GR
Users
End users are head managers, managers and operators of enterprises looking
for establishing an environmental management system.
They will be involved through direct interviews in the design of telecounselling
and teletraining services, and they will participate in the evaluation
of multimedia material. At two phases of the project it is planned that
end users conduct assessments on the extent to which the services provided
meet their requirements.
Intermediate users are both the teletrainers and the telecounsellors
who are involved in the development of the multimedia material. They will
also participate in the evaluation, and be the first to use telematics
infrastructure which is implemented in the framework of the project.
User groups will be organised by selected experts.
It is planned to use standard technologies which allow videotelephoning,
software sharing, and access to databases. Except for videotelephone this
will be done using low-rate ISDN and classical phone line. The user interfaces
and integration of software and hardware will be designed to be user-friendly.
Expected Benefits
- savings in energy costs through reducing travel, and reduced consumption
of paper
- promotion of environmental protection and consequently improvement
of citizens' well-being
- wider use of telematics services in general
- freedom of location for counsellors and trainers when working with
other experts and trainers
- geographical independence of location, and hence less isolation,
for the end user
- (a good level of probability that telematics applications, such as
videotelephoning and software sharing, do not have an adverse effect on
human interaction, especially as staff will participate in the development
work).
Contribution to EU Policies
The project will contribute to the EU's environmental policies. It will help SMEs which are seeking to establish environmental management systems and be registered under regulation 1836/93 on the voluntary participation in an Environmental Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). It will also favour rural and urban development by developing training and counselling at distance.
Contact Person
Isabelle Caradot
CESI Group
Tel: +33 1 46158545
Fax: +33 1 46158564
e-mail: europe@cefipa.asso.fr
Web site: http://www.ictnet.es/ecomanagement/
Project Participants
Centres d'Etudes Supérieures Industrielles CESI Group, FR
Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance, FR,
Fédération Française de la Plasturgie, FR
FORMHEL Consortium, GR
Institut Catala de Technologia, ES
International Office of Water Association, FR
Mari Northern Ireland LTD, UK
Tüv Akademie Rheinland GmbH, DE
Université de Mons-Hainaut, BE
Project Summary(Electronic Services for a better quality of life )
EQUAL's general objective is to create and validate integrated modular and inter-operable telematic systems for the management of different services in medium-size and highly developed urban contexts, in order to improve the quality of life of citizens.
EQUAL will supply common tools for different kinds of local services, mainly :
- public information services (information about public offices' hours,
the forms to be used in local public offices, school and pre-school services,
etc.)
- urban management applications, focusing on traffic management related
to air pollution monitoring and forecasting and information to citizens
about traffic and public transport.
- public transaction services, for a smoother on-line handling of complex
procedures involving administrations and citizens, including the validation
of multi-functional smart cards
- cultural services, such as virtual access to museums and libraries,
for which EQUAL has planned a close technical co-operation with other international
initiatives, such as G8 working groups.
One of the most remarkable working methods adopted by EQUAL is the enhancement of the "best practice approach", based on the creation of "Centres of Excellence" for specific applications and the consequent transfer of know-how and technologies (e.g. software components) to other sites.
A high degree of inter-operability is obtained thanks to common guidelines for advanced system architectures and friendly users interfaces, which facilitate the exploitation of common technologies for a wide range of applications and the integration of other future services.
Major Validation Sites
Leicester, UK
Metz, FR
Brescia, IT
Linz, AT
Bilbao, ES
Ronneby, SE
Bornholm, DK
Users
City Administrations, Municipal Service Providers, Telecom Operators, ICT industries, Local service providers, System Integrators, ICT Research Centres.
Approach
Common System Architecture, Common Application Program Interfaces, Common Users Interfaces, LAN, WAN, GIS, Internet servers, High definition terminals, mobile RDS and SWIFT servers, Multi-purpose Smart Cards.
Expected Benefits
New public services access, easier and more friendly access to different
services, possibility to have access to many services through only one
access point, possibility to perform on-line transaction with local Administrations,
higher quality of public services, cost savings in terms of travel time
and stress: improvement of quality of life.
Definition of users driven integrated applications, creation and upgrading
of software products, improvement of system integration capabilities, exploitation
of the growing market of public services, participation in European standardisation
activities.
Contribution to creation of Information Society, inter-operability
of tools among different European Cities, common European approaches and
methodologies, transfer of know-how from one site to another through EQUAL's
Centres of Excellence.
Major characteristics of the present digital site
Medium urban size, actual availability of on-line public services, "manageable dimension of urban problems", high commitment from sites (they all participate as full contractors), good general infrastructure, available advanced telematic networks and tools, high diffusion of ICT tools among the population, presence in all Sites of advanced ICT research centres.
Cross-sectorial integration aspects
Focus on inter-operability of applications, integration of applications in different fields: transport, environment, administration and libraries, integration of applications and services by means of common system architectures, common users interfaces, common networks servers.
Contact Person
Dr. Federica Staccoli Castracane
Finsiel Consulenza e Applicazioni Informatiche S.p.A.
Tel: +39 6 22 71 43 56
Fax:+39 6 22 71 44 33/22 71 26 94
e-mail: f.staccoli@finsiel.it
Project Participants
Finsiel - Consulenza e Applicazioni Informatiche S.p.A., IT
Ayuntamiento de Bilbao, ES
Azienda Servizi Municipalizzati Brescia, IT
Cete de l'EST, FR
County Council of Bornholm, DK
District de l'Agglomération Messine, FR
Etnoteam, IT
Forschungsinstitut fuer Anwendungsorientierte Wissensverarbeitung,
AT
Gruppo Impresa Finance Srl, IT
Jasmin Simtec Ltd, UK
Leicester City Council, UK
Magistrat Linz, AT
Ronneby Kommun, SE
Royal Institute of Technology, SE
Sociedad de Construction Iberica, ES
Softec, IT
Telecom Italia, IT
TéléDiffusion de France, FR
University of Leeds, UK
Ville de Metz, FR
Project Summary(Tactical Integration of Telematics Applications across Intelligent Networks)
TITAN is a pan-European consortium of Regional Service Providers (including public administrations, local authorities and regional development agencies) and Industrial Partners (telematics Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and national Public Network Operators) who are building on previous collaborative work to initiate a series of innovative regional and trans-national service integration activities to improve the quality of life for citizens and SMEs within rural areas through the application of telematics.
Within the TITAN project, these organisations will co-ordinate and network their activities to improve ease of access to and use of their services within rural areas by developing standard means for the presentation and delivery of information and accompanying interactive services. TITAN will integrate current and previous TAP applications developed by the Consortium partners with the specific objectives of verifying and demonstrating an innovative TITAN Integrated Service Application in each of the consortium's four regions through:
- a methodological focus on organisational integration in parallel with
technical integration
- specification and implementation of open-systems platforms for Integrated
Service delivery in each Digital Site
- integration of advanced tools for search and retrieval and application
of map-based paradigms to provide versatile end-user service
- implementation of Regional Service Access Points (kiosks, home-PC,
mobile, Service Centres)
- development and dissemination of a TITAN Regional Service Integration
Architecture, incorporating a Core Service Model and Common Service Catalogue,
through the pan-European TITAN User Group
- the establishment of Regional Service Integration and Validation
Groups [provider and end-user domains] as key organisational structures
to achieve integration of regional service provision.
- wide-scale demonstrations across each Digital Site using providers'
own public infrastructure as well as the consortium's existing network
of Regional Telematics Support Centres and support teams.
The key goal is to provide citizens and SMEs in these communities with advanced tools to enable efficient navigation to public information and interactive services. Key application areas will be SME and business support, local and public services, education, training and lifelong learning, and community networking and information. The concrete results of the project will be evaluated and assessed during the project, to allow their development and structuring for self-funding operation within the four individual regions after the project is complete and for roll-out and implementation in further regions of the community in the year 2000 and beyond.
Major Validation Sites
Hermansverk/Sogndal, NO
Shannon, IE
Florence, IT
Inverness, Scotland, UK
Users
The Consortium includes Regional Development Agencies, Public Administrations and SMEs (technology integrators). User groups consisting of representatives of Public Administrations and intermediate users), citizens and SMEs (end-users) will be established from the outset across the five Regions to inform, validate and evaluate the project as it progresses.
Approach
Best practice methodologies will be used for the Regional Service Integration Plans and TITAN Support Centres will include various low-cost standard open telematics equipment and facilities that citizens and SMEs can understand and afford to into the operations of their businesses.
Expected Benefits
Faster and more efficient access to services by citizens and SMEs in
rural areas and a substantial increase in the availability of telematics
services from Regional and Public Administrations.
The benefits for the citizens and SMEs (end-users) will be to reduce
the hidden constraints on mobility and improve the quality and competitiveness
and hence employment prospects. Regional Agencies and Administrations (as
intermediate-users) will be more effective in their role as regional developers.
Increased responsiveness to SMEs and citizens' needs, helping regions to
maintain and improve their employment and rural communities.
Benefits for industries, and regionally-based SMEs in particular, will
include simplification of services and standardisation of diverse procedures,
thereby enabling more effective purposeful adoption and use of telematics
within businesses and work processes leading to increased competitiveness.
Contribution to EU Policies
TITAN's collaboration of Regional Agencies and Public Administrations will contribute to and influence the standardisation of services across Europe, thereby contributing to the EU's regional policies for SMEs and regional development using telematics. It will further assist in the implementation of applications listed in the Bangemann report as being fundamental to the Information Society in Europe.
Major characteristics of the present digital site
Each of the present sites are characterised by their rurality and their significant use of telematics and past involvement in EU RTD projects. Each has substantially investment in telecommunications infrastructure and are strongly committed to the importance of telematics for the sustainable development of rural areas.
Cross-sectoral integration aspects
TITAN is integrating applications from the administrations, environment and urban and rural area sectors.
Contact Person
Mr. Jostein Fondenes
Fylkesmannen i Sogn og Fjordane
Tel: +47 57 65 50 00
Fax: +47 57 65 50 55
e-mail: jostein.fondenes@fm-sf.sri.telemax.no
Project Participants
Fylkesmannen i Sogn og Fjordane, NO
Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale della Toscana, IT
Albanet Limited, UK
Associazione Minorati Gravi, IT
Automation Analysis Trading Srl, IT
British Telecom plc, UK
County Limerick Vocational Education Committee, IE
EURADA, BE
Foras Aiseann Saothair, IE
Highland Council, UK
Highlands and Islands Enterprise, UK
Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board, UK
Høgskulen i Sogn og Fjordane, NO
Limerick County Council, IE
Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, NO
National Microelectronics Applications Centre Ltd., IE
Northern Constabulary, UK
Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri - Dipartimento della Protezione
Civile, IT
Shannon Free Airport Development Company Ltd., IE
Sogn og Fjordane Fylkeskommunen, NO
South West Regional Authority, IE
Southern Health Board, IE
Stiftinga Vestlandsforsking, NO
Telecom Eirann, IE
Università di Firenze - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettronica,
IT
University College Cork, IE
University of the Highlands and Islands, UK