Benjamin Beaumont presented a poster at the 6th Belgian Geography Days. The poster, entitled “WEBGIS TOOLS FOR ENHANCED ENVIRONMENTAL DATA MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION IN WALLONIA”, details ISSeP’s expertise in developing WebGIS tools for visualizing and editing environmental geographic data. N. Stephenne, S. Eloy and F. Lenartz contributed to this poster.
According to the European directive INSPIRE (2007/2/CE 14/03/2007), the Walloon administration implemented a geoportal to improve the dissemination and management of environmental data. Using the API protocol chosen by regional services, ISSeP is developing WebGIS tools to represent and analyse the spatial distribution of environmental data relative to different thematic concerns, e.g. the exposure of the population towards multiple pollution sources, mining waste, sediments dredging, air quality, etc. The environmental data relative to the concerned topics are integrated in a GIS environment, overlaying existing geospatial datasets such as the official land use map, the cadastral map, and new dataset edited by restricted authorized users. Centralising geodatabases within a web interface clearly facilitate management of authorizations requests by the central administration but improve also the communication between various decision makers inside the administration. The prototype web applications are currently discussed with potential users in order to understand in which way this tool facilitate the communication, the management and the quality of the authorisation process. The experience of ISSeP allows setting up a list of limitations, errors and uncertainties for further developments of such tools, notably with open source applications.
Following the implementation of the European INSPIRE directive (2007/2 / EC 14/03/2007), the Walloon administration has set up a geoportal to improve the dissemination and management of environmental data on its territory. Based on the API protocol defined by the Region, ISSeP is developing WebGIS tools for representing and analyzing spatialized environmental data in a variety of fields, including population exposure to multiple sources of pollution, sediment and mining waste management, and air quality monitoring. These environmental data are integrated into a geographic information system (GIS), enabling them to be superimposed on reference data such as land use or land registry. Centralizing data in a web interface facilitates communication and decision-making. ISSeP’s experience enables us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to creating WebGIS applications, particularly via open source.
Abstract