Here’s one I missed on Earth Day.

The EPA MyEnvironment web application, featuring the Microsoft Virtual Earth mapping platform, was released on  Earth Day, April 22, 2009 to replace its “Window to My Environment” application that has provided public access to environmental information since 2001. MyEnvironment is designed to allow the public to obtain a significantly granular level of environmental information pertaining to personally relevant locations such as where they live, where their kids go to school, where they hope to retire to, etc.

Environmental information available on the site includes ecological indicator reports, UV index, particulate matter and ozone daily forecasts, and data relevant to cancer risk, water quality, low birth weight rate, as well as facility and site information as reported to the EPA, such as emission and compliance information. All this data is available around the user’s location of interest and search.

This is another great example of Virtual Earth’s ability to allow GIS data—particularly ArcGIS data—to be rapidly and easily shared and visualized by a vast audience through “cloud computing.”  MyEnvironment was developed inhouse by the EPA using Web 2.0 technology, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and ESRI ArcGIS Server. It searches information from EPA, USGS, HRSA, CDC, and USA.gov in the “cloud” and offers the public an integrated view on the environment.  

What I also love about this new EPA implementation of Virtual Earth is that once you type in the zip code of interest from the EPA home page, the Virtual Earth interactive map page then serves as the front-end user interface, allowing you to visualize environmental data relevant to that location, georeferenced on the map of course, but also through charts and other diagrams below the map. Click and drag the map to display a different location, and all this data—on the map as well as below—refreshes to provide appropriate information for the newly searched region. Very intuitive, easy to use and the beauty of the technologies behind the Virtual Earth platform. Screenshots below illustrate.

(Note the “Learn More” link in the screenshot above. This links off to a “How to Use” page that provides very detailed and easy to understand information on using the site.)

You can refine your search to get information on a specific facility, or filter by pollutant—yielding a map with only those facilities emitting that pollutant plus a federated search of materials pertinent to that pollutant—or by industry, yielding a map with only facilities in that industry (e.g., manufacturing). You can also specify a new location to search which can be easier than dragging the map if that location would require too much dragging of the map to locate.

There’s more. Just below the map in the left corner are what I like to think of as bonus features. I couldn’t get the “Shapefile” feature to work—a user problem, I am sure—so I can’t really speak to it. I guess I was expecting a polygon for the area of interest to be drawn on the map, but not sure. Meanwhile, clicking on the spreadsheet button exports your data for your region of search to a spreadsheet. Very slick. The GeoRSS button allows you to subscribe to a feed so that as information for your area of interest changes, you receive automatic updates. The KML button allows you to export your search data as a KML file so you can share a static, locked down map with others. (I would be more apt to copy the page URL and share that so recipients can also experience the interactive, dynamic maps and related data for my search location.) The Metadata button provides more granular (tabular) information about facilities including descriptions, spatial details, and attributes. Much of this information is even hyperlinked for even further details. A wealth of information here folks.

As if all this isn’t enough, the EPA has enabled the Virtual Earth 3D mode to allow you to visualize locations from all vantage points and perspectives!

This is a terrific, fully functional web application and a great example of what makes Virtual Earth so powerful: it leverages detailed basemaps and flexible, straight forward development tools to provide a dynamic, interactive means of getting a lot of data to any user that has an Internet-enabled PC and a browser. For the enduser, the application is intuitive and easy to use and can be accessed from home, the office, public library or hotel.

‘Nuff said!

-=Virtual Jerry