- The R&D project will help improve the quality of life of people with cardiovascular or respiratory problems
- It will help establish the most effective environmental policies
- The initiative is within the framework of Virtual Spain project, funded by CDTI, for which Indra undertakes works for € 3 M
Indra, the premier IT company in Spain and a leading IT multinational, is developing an application which shows in internet urban air quality per district in 3D. The level of detail, internet access to the information in 3D and the possibility to check the forecast for the next days, makes it a cutting edge solution.
The R&D project aims at testing the first prototype on internet in 2011 and study its performance as well as how citizens use it. Once results are obtained, new solutions of the same type will be developed for further commercialisation.
The initiative is within the framework of the Virtual Spain project and is funded by CDTI. Virtual Spain is part of the INGENIO 2010 programme which is promoted by a consortium of companies, universities and research centres led by Deimos Space. As a member of the consortium, Indra is engaged in this project besides other three for a total of nearly € 3 M.
The 3D maps of air quality will show ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide levels, among other parameters. These substances may affect certain groups of the population such as children and elders and specially people who suffer from cardiovascular or respiratory problems.
Besides this, the maps will give support to authorities in decision-making when determining efficient environmental policies as they will provide accurate data about substances suspended in the air, higher polluted areas, possible causes and evolution of the parameters taking into account weather forecast, cloudiness, etc.
On the other hand, Indra is cooperating with the Environmental Software & Modeling Group of the Computer Science faculty of The Polytechnic University of Madrid with the objective of identifying other possible services based on the analysis of the quality of the air and its effect on health.
Technology of the spatial sector
In order to tackle the technological development of the first prototype, Indra is applying its knowledge and experience as a leading company in the spatial sector in Spain. The design of the solution requires teledetection techniques, treatment and generation of images obtained by satellites.
Those images are fused with others taken from the air or by any other means. By using different algorithms and calculations, each area will show accurate value of air quality. These figures are collected by stations distributed across the city. Improved CMAQ-based (Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System) estimation models have been used in order to increase significantly the level of detail.
In addition to the development of this application, Indra is involved in the improvement of new ways to store 3D data in order to facilitate use of this type of applications in internet. The company is also defining protocols to use these tools and establishing work flows for cartography generation and general geographic information.
Virtual Spain works on the design of technologies oriented to define architecture, protocols and standards of the future 3D internet. The consortium, led by Deimos Space, is comprised of Indra Espacio, Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica (IGN/CNIG), Grid Systems, GeoVirtual, Androme Iberica, GeoSpatiumLab, DNX and ten acclaimed research centres and universities.
Indra
Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the first European company in its sector according to investment in R&D and is the second Spanish company in absolute value investments in R&D. In 2009 revenues reached € 2,513 M of which a 40% came from the international market. The company employs more than 29,000 professionals and has clients in more than 100 countries.
For more information: http://www.españavirtual.org/