Providing multi-modal access to environmental data—customizable information services for disseminating urban air quality information in APNEE

APNEE (Air Pollution Network for Early warning and online information Exchange in Europe) is establishing a uniform information portal on air quality in different European regions. Rather than elaborating sophisticated air quality management and forecasting approaches, APNEE is striving to develop a technical umbrella for the distribution and customization of existing air quality management systems. It employs several communication channels—including short message services, mobile communication protocols, and street panels—to transmit information on air quality to selected citizens in urban regions in a customized fashion, tailoring the information content (i.e. the kind of warnings or recommendations for further actions) to the user group registered, to the technical capabilities of the end-user devices targeted, and of course to the geographic location. APNEE will study the feasibility of different broadcasting methods and evaluate them with regard to acceptability, potential impact on citizen behaviour, future markets for online environmental information services for city authorities, telecommunication service providers and other entrepreneurs in the information society. Overall, APNEE will provide an enabling technology to implement European directives and national legislation for online dissemination of air quality information.