Environmental modelling in urban areas with Geographical Information System (GIS)

More accurate spatio-temporal predictions of urban environment are needed as a basis for assessing exposures as a part of environmental studies, and to inform urban protection policy and management. This paper is focused on modelling in the GIS to estimate air, water and soil pollution in urban areas. The basic environmental components are complemented by bio-monitoring, waste management and noise exposure. The models, which use data from long-time monitoring, are developed using correlation, regression and factor analysis; simulation of dynamic relation and spatio-temporal phenomena. Integration of a wide range of relatively independent factors enables more complex analysis of environment in urban areas. GIS, which can integrate a wide range of spatial and temporal data, is used for data management, input and output of data, visualization and development of programming modules that extend GIS with other statistical analysis and dynamic modelling. The analysis and models were built in ArcGIS with ArcObjects. In spite of the fact that the models are calibrated and tested by application in the urban areas of Prague, the structure of the GIS project is applicable on other similar areas. The fundamental part of the environmental models is focused on modelling of surface-water quality, soil pollution and their relation to human activities and air pollution. The models use data measured during decades, which are collected from manually and automatic pollution monitoring networks. The map layers are divided into a few classes that represent basic maps of urban areas in the scale 1:500, thematic maps, aerial photographs, monitoring networks, and outputs of environmental models. The spatio-temporal analysis and dynamic environmental models are accessible through the user interface of the GIS project.