An Environmental Information System Linking Time Series with GIS

Author: Rodrigo Proença Oliveira
Organization: Chiron Information Systems

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rpo@chiron.pt

Environmental management and, in particular, water resources planning and management require a large and diverse ensemble of data that includes time series of monitored environmental variables and geographical data sets. The properties of these two types of data sets are quite different, which has conditioned the generation of distinct analytical tools and information systems for each data type. Unfortunately, while each tool is very efficient in dealing with a specific data type there is a lack of systems creating a common workspace to deal with all kinds of data sets required in environmental management.

The paper presents an environmental system that links geographical data sets with time series of monitored environmental variables such as precipitation, temperature, or dissolved oxygen concentration. The system uses Esri software to manage geographical data sets and a specifically designed library, named TSF, to manage the Oracle database that stores the time series data. The system has been in use in Portugal for four years, and the experience of its usage has directed the permanent ongoing development effort. To demonstrate its capabilities, the paper describes the use of the system in the development of the watershed master plans for four major Portuguese rivers.