Use of geographical information systems in analyzing vehicle emissions: Istanbul as a case study

Air pollution is defined as the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more contaminants (pollutants) in quantities and duration that can injure human, plant, or animal life or property (materials) or which unreasonably interferes with the enjoyment of life or the conduct of business. Examples of traditional contaminants include sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter, smoke, and haze. This list of air pollutants can be subdivided into pollutants that are gases or particulates. Mobile source emissions are the largest contributor to urban emission inventories in many locations. Ambient air quality standards have become increasingly stringent, and it is important to understand the role of mobile source emissions on air quality through well-designed studies. High air pollution load in Turkey metropolitan cities like Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, etc. has been a major leading to factor towards lowering the ambient air quality day by day. The lowering of air quality is a main environmental problem that affects many urban and industrial sites and the surrounding regions. Onroad vehicles are responsible for a significant and rapidly increasing portion of the air pollution in the urban areas of developing nations.Second by second emissions of CO, CO2, HC, and NOx were measured in case study. Geographical Information System (GIS) is a computer based information system that enables capturing, modeling, manipulation, retrieval, analysis, and presentation of geographically referenced data. In this study, In order to compare measurements from the different vehicles, second by second vehicle speed and road altitude data was collected using GPS technology simultaneous with the emissions measurement. It is possible to analyze that increasing emission which various of vehicles sent out environment with GIS. The analysis of the amount of emission depending on the changes of the slopes, calculation of gases spread into air depending on traffic jam, the analysis of the amount of emission depending on the route selected in the city were applied.