Environmental Information Systems of Public Administration – Status and Trends

As a basis of political decisions and administrative measures for the long-term conservation of the natural resources of life, public administration acquires, processes, and supplies a variety of information on the environment. The environmental information systems used for this purpose are subject to constant further development. The present paper will focus on requirements made on environmental information systems in Europe, which essentially result from directives of the European Union, and outline some basic technical trends in the field of public environmental information systems. Furthermore, such systems will be classified roughly depending on the providers, target groups, intentions, etc. By way of example, selected public environmental information systems in Germany shall be described.