DES launches National Environment Information Center

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) has established the National Environment Information Center to facilitate the analysis and further development of open databases for environmental information. Particulate matter (PM), temperature, humidity, air pressure, and wind speed are all recorded in the data.

National Telecom Public Company Limited (NT) operates the center with funding from the Digital Economy and Society Development Fund (DE Fund).

DES Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn stated that the center will support big data analytics through the use of new integrated technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), sensor systems, cloud storage, and NT’s LoRaWAN network.

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The minister said 8,000 air quality monitoring stations have been installed across the country since 2021, adding that each station is capable of collecting a variety of data, including PM1, PM2.5, and PM10, temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed, and direction.

The center is being developed in collaboration with a number of government agencies, including the ministries of the interior, education, and public health, the National Office of Buddhism, the Royal Thai Police, and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

Additionally, the ministry developed the RGuard mobile app, which notifies the public of changes in air quality. It is available for download via the App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play Store for Android devices.

According to NT acting president Group Captain Somsak Khaosuwan, the center was developed with 200 million baht from the DE Fund and employs approximately 20 people. The development of the center is a model project for the DES Ministry’s goal of fostering a large database that can be accessed by educational institutions and private businesses.