Jun.

2007

Journal of China University of Mining & Technology

Vol.17

No.2

J China Univ Mining & Technol 2007, 17(2): 01720178

A Framework of Environmental Modelling

and Information Sharing for Urban Air
Pollution Control and Management
LIU Gang-jun1, FU Er-jiang1, WANG Yun-jia2, ZHANG Ke-fei1, HAN Bao-ping2, ARROWSMITH Colin1
2

1
School of Mathematical and Geospatial Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining & Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221008, China

Abstract: More effective environmental pollution control and management are needed due to the increasing environmental impacts from a range of human activities and the growing public demands for a better living environment. Urban
air pollution is a serious environmental issue that poses adverse impacts on the health of people and the environment in
most metropolitan areas. In this paper, we propose a geoinformatics augmented framework of environmental modelling
and information sharing for supporting effective urban air pollution control and management. This framework is outlined in terms of its key components and processes including: 1) an integrated, adaptive network of sensors for environmental monitoring; 2) a set of distributed, interoperable databases for data management; 3) a set of intelligent, robust
algorithms and models for environmental modelling; 4) a set of flexible, efficient user interfaces for data access and information sharing; and 5) a reliable, high capacity, high performance computing and communication infrastructure for
integrating and supporting other framework components and processes.
Key words: environmental modelling; information sharing; urban air pollution; geoinformatics
CLC number: X 51

Introduction

Environmental pollution control and management

becomes more and more challenging due to the increasing environmental impacts imposed by human
activities and growing public demands for better living environments[12]. Many environmental problems
such as urban air pollution and processes such as the
spread of atmospheric pollutants in a 3D urban setting,
cannot be studied by experimentation and consequently call for modelling approaches. Environmental
modelling aims at improving our ability to characterise, understand, predict and manage the often complex
sources, fate and effects of chemical substances, including pollutants, in the environment. Environmental
modelling by means of mathematical models and
computer simulations, such as those for simulating air
pollution dispersion or assessing air pollution impact,
are being used to gain better understanding into these
problems and processes.
Environmental modelling is a multidimensional and

multidisciplinary challenge which requires expertise

in many disciplines such as mathematics, physics,
chemistry, meteorology and ecology [37]. It focuses on
the quantifiable relationships among multi-domain
environmental phenomena and requires multidimensional environmental observations for characterising
the spatially heterogeneous and dynamically environmental behaviour (processes, situations and scenarios).
Information and communication technologies (ICT)
have succeeded in developing useful tools for environmental modelling [89]. For example, intelligent
data mining algorithms and parallel computation
strategies support the efficient analysis of voluminous
environmental data, visualization techniques allow
comprehensive overviews and thus assist decision
support, simulation gives numerical insight into the
behaviour of complex environmental systems should
relevant background structures from the natural sciences be unavailable, and multi-criteria optimization
algorithms provide constructive approaches to resolving difficult situations that involve conflicts of interest

Received 16 September 2006; accepted 05 November 2006

Corresponding author. Tel: +61-3-99252425; E-mail address: gang-jun.liu@rmit.edu.au

LIU Gang-jun et al

A Framework of Environmental Modelling and Information Sharing for

between economy, society and the environment [1014].

Urban air pollution is a serious environmental issue
that poses adverse impacts on human and environmental health in most metropolitan areas and the air in
Asian cities is among the most polluted in the world
(Fig. 1). The amount of suspended particulate matter

Fig. 1

173

smaller than 10 microns in diameter (PM10), usually

measured in micrograms per cubic metre of air, is one
of the most important air quality indicators. High concentrations of PM10 provoke a wide range of respiratory diseases and exacerbate heart disease and other
conditions.

Estimated ambient concentration (g/m3) of PM10 in urban areas

On a global scale, 48 % of premature deaths are

due to exposure to particulate matter in both outdoor
and indoor environments, with potentially 500000
excess deaths annually due to particulate matter in
outdoor situations. In the early 1990s, 12 of the 15
cities in the world with the highest levels of particulate matter and six with the highest levels of SO2 in
the atmosphere were in Asia. The mean annual concentrations of SO2 in residential areas in several cities
in China have exceeded 100 g/m3. Urban air pollution in Asia is expected to increase considerably over
the next three decades due to rising levels of economic
growth and energy consumption [15].
Effective control of urban air pollution poses a challenge to both researchers and administrators around
the world, due to the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of urban environments. To improve urban air
quality and reduce the level of impact from urban air
pollution, concerted efforts are required to: 1) build
extensive inventories of polluting emissions, 2) determine the source, substance and dispersion rates of
these emissions, 3) develop computer-based numerical
models based on mass-conservation flows, wind fields
and in-air chemical and photochemical reactions, 4)
assess the levels of concentration of and exposure to
air pollution at every location over a particular urban
area (Fig. 2).
Clearly, effective urban air pollution control and
management requires an integrated approach to these
efforts, coupled with feasible health and environment
based standards, cost-effective pollution control
measures and adequate legislative power and resources for implementing and enforcing these standards and measures [7,13,1617].

Fig. 2

Key considerations for effective control of

urban air pollution

With recent developments in geoinformatics technology, including geographic information systems,

global positioning systems and remote sensing and
increased methods for spatially and temporally observing environmental parameters, urban air pollution
can be characterised, understood, predicted and therefore acted upon more effectively using integrated environmental modelling and information sharing.
Geoinfomatics facilitates an efficient capture and
management of voluminous environmental observations and supports effective spatial analysis and visualisation of the interrelationships among urban air pollution emissions, meteorological conditions, 3D urban
settings, pollution dispersion processes, ambient air
pollution concentration, environmental exposure and
the impact of urban air pollution on humans and the
environment.

174

Journal of China University of Mining & Technology

In this paper, we argue for a geoinfomatics augmented environmental modelling and information
sharing framework to support urban air pollution control and management.

Proposed Framework

The proposed geoinfomatics augmented environmental modelling and information sharing framework
focuses on urban air pollution problems and consists

No.2

of the following five key components (Fig. 3):

1) a network of advanced sensors for adaptive environmental monitoring, to collect timely and highquality environmental observations regularly and
automatically at specified spatial and temporal scales;
2) a set of distributed and interoperable spatial databases to enable efficient organization, storage, query
and report of voluminous spatial-temporal data, including environmental observations and estimated
environmental conditions;

(a) Structure

Fig. 3

Vol.17

(b) Processes

A geoinfomatics augmented framework for environmental modelling and information sharing

3) a set of intelligent and robust algorithms and

models to support effective data fusion, information
extraction, knowledge discovery and decision support
by means of data mining, environmental modelling
and spatial analysis and visualization;
4) a set of flexible and friendly multimedia user interfaces for easy and efficient data access and reporting, to support efficient query and effective display of
environmental observations, estimates and warnings
for specified locations, parameters, time intervals and
visualisation modes;
5) a reliable, high capacity, high performance computing and communication infrastructure that integrates and supports the other framework components,
i.e., the sensor network, the spatial databases, the analytical and modelling engines and the user interfaces.
In this framework, geoinfomatics augmented environmental modelling and information sharing play
central roles for supporting participatory decision
making processes for an efficient and effective urban
air pollution control and management. Such a framework can help for example to locate influential urban
air pollution emission sources and to estimate the contributions from each emission sources to pollutant
concentrations at specific locations. In doing so, the
framework can enable environmental managers to
characterise, understand and predict quantitatively the
pathways of urban air pollutant transport and the resulting exposure and to establish quantitative links
between these emissions, predict the dispersion
mechanisms, concentrations, exposures and therefore
predict their risk and impact. Ultimately this framework should enable managers to avoid both unaccept-

able contamination from excessive pollution sources

and uneconomic and unnecessary regulations.
2.1

Environmental monitoring

Environmental monitoring for assessing urban air

quality involves measuring a wide variety of airborne
hazardous materials including chemicals, radon and
bio-aerosols. The decision to perform air monitoring
for toxic exposures is based on either (a) a regulatory
standard that requires monitoring or (b) a hazard
evaluation that indicates monitoring is needed to identify or quantify exposures. Environmental phenomena
associated with urban air pollution are extremely variable over space and time. Proper spatial and temporal
frequencies of sampling are essential for gathering
useful environmental information for advancing our
understanding of the complex processes, mechanisms
and patterns related to urban air pollution. Characterisation of air pollutant dispersion through urban space
requires a detailed description of the location, type
and strength of source emissions, the meteorological
and topographical boundary conditions and the complex wind and turbulence fields in 3D urban settings.
Measured meteorologically, emission and background
concentration data are needed to drive and validate air
quality simulation models and the quality of such
measurements obviously influences the quality of the
simulation results. Air pollution dispersion is influenced significantly by a large number of dynamic meteorological factors. Therefore meteorological measurements at different elevations are required to characterise and verify the patterns of advection and turbu-

LIU Gang-jun et al

A Framework of Environmental Modelling and Information Sharing for

lent diffusion that govern air pollution dynamics in a

particular area.
To ensure the samples collected reflect the changing environmental conditions [13,17], the environmental
monitoring system should consist of a set of advanced
sensors that are mounted on space-borne, air-borne
and ground-based platforms (stationary or mobile).
Technological advances have led to air sampling and
measurement instruments with greater portability, sensitivity and complexity [17]. The pocket-size direct
reading instruments with data-logging capability allow
them to collect, in the field, integrated exposure measurements i.e., the measured exposure level integrates
or averages all of the different concentrations and time
durations during the time period of interest. Sensor
technology, microprocessors and miniaturisation have
increased the range of direct-reading instruments
available and allow sophisticated instruments such as
GC/mass spectrometers and Fourier transform infrared
devices to be field portable. More sensitive detector
tubes that measure more chemicals and useful accessories such as battery-powered sampling pumps have

Fig. 4

2.2

175

been introduced to collect instantaneous samples over

a very short time period (usually < 5 min) to evaluate
a peak, ceiling or maximum exposure. Solid state gas
nano-sensors may be used in the monitoring networks
to collect much higher spatial resolution of air quality
sampling. The high (spatial, temporal and spectral)
resolution remote sensing images can be useful for
dynamic air quality observations. Air quality inspection video camera system may be set up in the central
business districts of urban areas to record changes in
visibility and measure parameters of pollution emission sources in real-time. Well-equipped mobile vehicles may be deployed to monitor the spatial variations
of specified parameters at specified time intervals.
These sensors and instruments could then be integrated into an adaptive network according to the spatial-temporal variability of the emissions, meteorological and topographical boundary conditions to collect (automatically, semi-automatically and manually)
environmental and pollution observations at specified
spatial and temporal scales (Fig. 4).

Monitoring urban air pollution situation and impact

Data management

Environmental conditions need to be derived from

environmental observations including pollutant concentrations, wind speed and direction, atmospheric
temperature and pressure, surface temperature and
relevant geographical data including land-use and the
3D urban configuration, of sufficient spatial and temporal resolution. This requires sufficient frequency in
observations to enable proper representation and characterisation of the complex and dynamic urban air

pollution situations or scenarios. Data volumes will

grow rapidly over time when these collected and derived datasets are accumulated. The data flux may
increase greatly as new data collectors (e.g. new monitoring stations, new monitoring devices for more air
quality indicators, inspection video recording system
and remote sensors) and users from different locations
are added to the system. These pose a real challenge in
terms of data management.
Although current main-stream commercial database
management systems (DBMSs) such as Oracle and

176

Journal of China University of Mining & Technology

IBM DB2 offer comprehensive support for geospatial

datasets, several issues need to be addressed before
they can be effectively deployed for supporting urban
air pollution modelling and information sharing. For
example, effective storage schemes and fast spatial
indexing methods need to be implemented to cope
first with the voluminous and complex spatial and
temporal datasets that relate to urban air pollution
modelling and secondly the need for timely and selective data access and information sharing that may involve many users across different organisations. Consequently, a set of distributed and interoperable spatial
databases containing relevant key datasets (Fig. 5) and
servers need to be established to enable effective derivation of environmental condition estimates by means
of environmental modelling, independent data management and database backup. Efficient data access
and information sharing across the network by different users and agencies may be located at different sites,
either locally or remotely.

Fig. 5

2.3

Data management for environmental modelling

and information sharing

Environmental modelling

Environmental modelling uses observed emission

data collected at source locations, concentration data
measured at selected sampling sites and monitored
environmental (meteorological, topographical and
geographical) parameters to establish, for a given area,
a dynamic relationship between source emissions and
concentrations of air pollutants at locations where air
sampling is not performed.
Depending on what is known, assumed or wanted,
different modelling strategies for characterising urban
air pollution situations can be adopted [18]. If the distribution and the emission rate of pollutant sources are
known, the generally explanatory source-oriented
models that involve causal relationships between the
pollutant emissions and concentrations may be used to
calculate from this source distribution the pollutant
concentrations at every location over the entire region
of the model. Source-oriented models are used to

Vol.17

No.2

quantify the effect of different sources on specific locations in the urban area by establishing a cause and
effect chain between the emissions from a number of
sources and the ambient concentration at given locations. This involves a good knowledge of the source
strength, an adequate definition of the meteorological
parameters, a reliable method for the calculation of
pollutant dispersion according to the source strength
and the meteorological parameters and an adequate
knowledge of the pollutant losses (or formation) by inair chemical or photochemical reactions. If no assumptions are made about emissions and only ambient
concentration is monitored at a number of receptor
sites, the generally descriptive receptor-oriented models may be used to draw statistical or other inferences,
which may or may not be linked to meteorological
information. With assumed meteorological parameters,
concentration values are often given as a function of
geographic coordinates of the plume and volumeelement models. In this case, the results from the
models are only as good as the input data.
Meteorological parameters, such as wind parameters (direction, velocity and turbulence) and thermal
properties (stability), have an overwhelming influence
on the behaviour of pollutants in the urban air; all the
dynamic and thermal properties associated with the
wind (known as wind field) are presumed to be the
causal link between source and receptor [18]. But expected air pollution situations can only be established
with emission data from all significant sources, including emission conditions and with sufficient information on spatial and temporal variation. In addition, measured concentrations for relevant averaging
times (hourly, daily, and seasonal) with information
on site classification and meteorological and topographical data relevant to dispersion of the emissions
also need to be determined.
Many algorithms and models have been developed
for urban air pollution modelling [11,14,19]. Typical examples of models include statistical, inter-site and
inter-domain validation process models, the reactiondiffusion-advection equations relating to air pollution
formation, transport and deposition, a 3D chemistrytransport model for forecasting the air pollution in
urban areas, a neural network predictor and a dynamic
regression model for air quality forecasting and an
operational data assimilation system for air quality
prediction. No matter which model is used, it is important that simulated dispersion results are checked
against measurements of pollutant surface concentrations over the impact areas and followed by an analysis of the cause-effect relation between the emission
source and the ground-level concentration.
Clearly, robust models are needed to implement key
dispersion mechanisms such as mass-conservation
flows and wind fields that are operating in and constrained by a given geographic space with its unique
dynamic layout of various thematic features and to

LIU Gang-jun et al

A Framework of Environmental Modelling and Information Sharing for

characterise likely situations and scenarios of urban

air pollution and its impact. Intelligent algorithms are
required for data transformation, data transfer, data
fusion, data mining, knowledge discovery, visualization, user collaboration, communication and system
control (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6

2.4

177

specified locations, parameters, time intervals and

visualisation modes and likely what if scenarios.
2.5

Computing and communication infrastructure

As indicated in Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, the proposed

framework hinges on a reliable, high capacity and
high performance computing and communication infrastructure (Fig. 8) for supporting and connecting the
sensor networks, the distributed databases, the analytical and modelling engines and the user interfaces. Recent advances in information and communication
technologies and geographical information sciences
have made it feasible to establish such an infrastructure to support effective environmental modelling and
information sharing.

Environmental modelling: algorithms and models

User interface

Flexible and user-friendly interfaces are needed to

serve the needs of researchers, administrators and the
general public who want to be informed on the state of
the environment [20]. The user interfaces should make
use of various information channels, including mobile
technology, interactive portals for the Internet and
street panels, to enable flexible and efficient data access and information sharing and to allow selective
dissemination of specific environmental warnings (e.g.
air pollution information) only to those living within
an affected area (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7

User interface for data access and information sharing

The user interface not only connects databases and

users, but also provides a platform of communication,
information sharing and collaboration among participatory users. The user interface should be adaptive
and multimediar, with the capability to support efficient query and effective display of air quality and air
pollution observations, estimates and warnings for

Fig. 8 A reliable and high performance computing and

communication infrastructure for effective environmental
modelling and efficient information sharing

Conclusion

In this paper, a geoinfomatics augmented environmental modelling and information sharing framework
is presented in terms of its key components and processes. These components and processes include:
1) an integrated, adaptive network of sensors for
environmental monitoring;
2) a set of distributed, interoperable databases for
data management;
3) a set of intelligent, robust algorithms and models
for environmental modelling;
4) a set of flexible, efficient user interfaces for data
access and information sharing;
5) a reliable, high capacity, high performance computing and communication infrastructure that integrates and supports the other framework components
and processes.
In this framework, environmental modelling and information sharing play important roles for participatory decision-making. The framework can be implemented by integrating state-of-the-art geoinformatics,
a unique fusion of relevant information and communication technologies and geographical information sci-

178

Journal of China University of Mining & Technology

ences. Such a modelling and information sharing

framework can help, for example, to locate the influential urban air pollution sources, to estimate the contributions from each pollution source to pollutant concentrations at specific locations, to characterise, understand and predict quantitatively the pathways of

Vol.17

No.2

urban air pollutant transport and the resulting exposure, to establish quantitative links between sources,
exposure and risk of effects and to avoid both unacceptable contamination from excessive pollution
sources and uneconomic and unnecessary regulations.

References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]

Argent R M. An overview of model integration for environmental applicationscomponents, frameworks and semantics. Environmental Modelling & Software, 2004, 19: 219234.
Denzer R. Generic integration of environmental decision support systems: state-of-the-art. Environmental Modelling & Software, 2005, 20: 12171223.
Goodchild M. Integrating GIS and spatial data analysis: problems and possibilities. International Journal of Geographical
Information Science, 1992, 6: 407423.
Michael B. DANUBIA: an integrative simulation system for global change research in the upper danube basin. Cybemetics and
Systems: an International Journal, 2004, 35: 639666.
Watson F G R, Rahman J M. TARSIER: a practical software framework for model development, testing and deployment. Environmental Modelling & Software, 2004, 19: 245260.
Denzer R. GIMMI: geographic information and mathematical models inter-operability. Environmental Modelling & Software,
2005, 20: 14781485.
Wang X. Integrating GIS, simulation models, and visualization in traffic impact analysis. Computers, Environment and Urban
Systems, 2005, 29: 471496.
David A B. A framework for the integration of geographical information systems and modelbase management. International
Journal of Geographical Information Science, 1997, 11: 337357.
Bernard L. Managing, modelling, and visualizing high-dimensional spatio-temporal data in an integrated system. Geoinformatica, 1998, 2: 5977.
Fedra K. Urban environmental management: monitoring, GIS, and modelling. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems,
1999, 23: 443457.
Li S T, Shue L Y. Data mining to aid policy making in air pollution management. Expert Systems with Applications, 2004, 27:
331340.
Brindley P. The effect of alternative representations of population location on the areal interpolation of air pollution exposure.
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 2005, 9(2): 455469.
Richards M. Grid-based analysis of air pollution data. Ecological Modelling, 2006, 194: 274286.
Shanmuganathan S. Self-organising map methods in integrated modelling of environmental and economic systems. Environmental Modelling & Software, 2006, 21: 12471256.
UNEP. Global Environment Outlook 3. United Nations Environment Programme. London: Earthscan Publications, 2002.
Elsom D. Smog Alert: Managing Urban Air Quality. London: Earthscan, 1996.
Pummakarnchana O. Air pollution monitoring and GIS modelling: a new use of nanotechnology based solid state gas sensors.
Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2005, 6: 251255.
Benarie M. Urban Air Pollution Modelling. US: The MIT Press, 1980.
Ashok K L, Peter J H. Evaluation of TAPM, a prognostic meteorological and air pollution model, using urban and rural pointsource data. Atmospheric Environment, 2003, 37: 27952810.
Susan M L. Future directions and challenges for quantitative environmental visualization. Landscape and Urban Planning,
1992, 21: 297299.