Microsoft hits the beach with Water Watch

Water Watch allows users to compare the cleanliness of bathing water

Microsoft and the European Environment Agency (EEA) today announced the launch of the Eye on Earth online environmental observatory.

The first resource to go live is Water Watch, which allows users to compare the cleanliness of bathing water at sites in 27 European countries.

Eye on Earth is part of a five-year collaboration between the EEA and Microsoft that will ultimately collate critical information, including water, soil, air and ozone indicators.

According to the EEA, bathing water cleanliness can be a major public health issue.

Untreated sewerage and chemicals present a variety of risks ranging from respiratory infections to stomach complaints and even serious diseases such as dysentery, hepatitis and encephalitis.

"As environmental problems become more evident and affect the lives of ordinary individuals, it is vitally important that we can access relevant and timely information on the impact of environmental change," said Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the EEA.

"Eye on Earth will bring complex strands of information together into a single, simple-to-use and easy-to-understand application.

"As more data and user findings are posted on the portal, we can see how climate change affects the way we live and how the way we live affects the environment."

The system is based on Microsoft's Virtual Earth mapping technology on the front end and SQL Server 2008 at the back end.

The system gathers data from 21,000 monitoring points across Europe, presenting recent water quality ratings for bathing sites in 27 countries, and historical ratings covering up to 18 years for some beaches.

Visitors are given a bird's-eye view of the beach they plan to visit along with information about the cleanliness of the water using a 'traffic light' interface.

"Using the application, people can now find out what is happening on the beach near them or the one they plan to visit on holiday," said Professor Geoffrey Lipman, a spokesman for the UN World Tourism Organization.

According to Microsoft this is just the first of several projects with the EEA to help tackle environmental issues.