MARS makes environmental data mobile
Current ozone levels, data on air pollution and information on pollutants will soon be available directly via the Internet. The research system MARS offers online access to measured values and interesting information on the subject of the environment. Measuring stations provide hourly current data on the pollution of air, soil and water. This interesting information is usually not published until months later in environmental reports that hardly anyone reads. The federal state of Hesse now wants to remedy this deficiency by presenting this environmental data on the Internet. A click of the mouse should suffice, and ozone values, information about air pollution or interesting facts about groundwater extraction can be called up in the multimedia information and research system for environmental data MARS.
The Center for Graphic Data Processing ZGDV at the Fraunhofer Institute for Graphic Data Processing IGD set up MARS on behalf of the Hessian Ministry of the Environment. "In Hesse, 40 stations regularly measure the air pollution with pollutants and radioactivity. This data is optically processed and placed on the Internet," explains Dipl.-Inform. Klaus M. Bauer a focus of the system. Anyone who would like to know how high the ozone concentration is in Kassel, how warm it was in Wiesbaden at 12 noon or how heavily the air in Darmstadt is contaminated with sulfur dioxide will soon be able to simply call up the data online. With the help of a Java applet, even the values stored in the environmental databases can be displayed graphically. A push of a button is enough - and the user finds out how badly the air in Bebra was polluted with soot in the past year or at what speed the wind swept through downtown Frankfurt in November 1997.
MARS not only offers processed measurement data, but also background information. The system explains the composition of pollutants, shows how groundwater is obtained and describes the geology of the federal state. In addition, the research system presents the work of the Ministry of Environment, Energy, Youth, Family and He alth.
"The aim of MARS is to provide citizens, the press and experts with as much information as possible on the subject of the environment," emphasizes Bauer. "The project is the beginning of an even more detailed and always up-to-date environmental database, which we are realizing together with partners from industry."
The system is currently being demonstrated at CeBIT '98 from March 19th to 25th, 1998 in Hanover in Hall 22, Stand A31.
