An Investigation Into the Development of a Practical Gis Mapping tool Supporting Emissions Inventory Information

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations call for States to submit for EPA review and approval State Implementation Plans (SIPs) which establish goals and emission reduction strategies for improving air quality in national parks and wilderness areas. State and tribe air quality analysts therefore need the ability to display and analyze emissions inventory data in relation to geographic locations. However, due to budget and other constraints, traditional Graphical Information Systems (GIS) tools are often not available. Today, traditional GIS are being challenged in various domains by a variety of free or low-cost internet accessible services. Leveraging the availability of the Google Maps web service and published API combined with the built-in spatial capabilities of Oracle Database, this paper presents the research, design, development, instantiation and evaluation of an easy-to-use and feature-rich yet economical GIS mapping tool for the presentation of emissions inventory data