A WebGIS Prototype for Visualizing and Monitoring the Spatio-temporal Changes in Seawater Quality

Anthropogenic pressure on the coastal areas triggers a shoreline deep evolution, impacting the marine-coastal ecosystem. A specific fact-finding tool should be developed to detect the potential damages suffered by such an environment both qualitatively and quantitatively. Web Geographical Information Systems (WebGIS), developed to store, and handle geospatial big data, as well as disseminate information generated by processing raw data, appears as an optimal solution to address those needs. Indeed, they allow integrating own data with those ones provided by external sources into a single web application, easily accessible through an interactive and straightforward interface. This may interest several types of target audiences, such as local/national authorities and scientific communities. Therefore, this research is aimed at introducing a WebGIS prototype, developed to analyze and visualize seawater quality data in the Puglia region (Southern Italy). System features and capability was designed considering potential consumers’ requirements, and, in accordance with Open Geospatial Consortium and European directive INSPIRE, its infrastructure was developed using Free and Open-Source Software for Geographic information systems. Thus, after defining the end-users and capturing their needs, the platform was built using the three-tier configuration. The levels were devoted to presenting, analyzing, and storing the data, respectively. Additionally, a user-friendly interface, allowing two-dimensional data visualization, was also programmed to help the not-skilled consumers in consulting the stored data. The developed WebGIS allows both multi-temporal and multi-scale analysis to evaluate and monitor seawater quality permitting local authorities to plan the adequate remedial actions.