The Information Technology of the German Environmental Information Portal PortalU® as Tool for the European Level?

Abstract

Within the European Member States rich environmental data assets exist. Although a lot of these data have already been prepared digitally, the accessibility of the data is still extremely limited. So, a huge amount of environmental data is difficult to discover and exchange. Hence, within the Member States for both, environmental experts and citizens, environmental data are difficult to obtain, to understand, to merge and to use. Environmental information is thereby essential in particular for land use planning, environmental protection and impact analysis as well as for risk analysis. The changes of environmental parameters like soil, water or plant growth are important response agents to climate and land use.