Urbanization induces significant atmospheric and surface alterations, leading to a modified thermal climate that is warmer than the surrounding non-urbanized areas. Urban Heat Island (UHI) has substantial impacts on human health, regional economies and environments.

Other adverse impacts and urban environmental problems associated with UHI effect include energy consumption, deterioration of air quality and stressful bioclimatic conditions. UHI effects become even more significant as the duration of Heat Waves (HWs) is expected to increase due to climate change. Several research results show that UHIs interact synergistically with HW episodes exacerbating their effects on urban residents. Especially over Europe, the Mediterranean region is projected among the areas most at risk regarding health impacts, in particular in densely populated urban centers.

GET on the occasion of its participation at the project “Implementation of a forecAsting System for urban heaT Island effect for the development of urban adaptation strategies – LIFE ASTI” under the LIFE 2014-2020 Programme / Subprogram Climate Action / LIFE 2017 Call. Grant agreement reference: LlFE17 CCA/GR/OOOI08, has developed the web platform for Urban Heat Island Forecasting System. In addition, a mobile app has been also developed which is available for Android devices.

The platform is designed to follow the n-tier architecture to provide maintainability, scalability, flexibility, and availability. It consists of:

• Central Database

It stores all the data produced during the project (forecasting models results as well as meteorological station data and other supporting datasets). It is developed using the most advanced open-source Relational DataBase Management System with spatial data support (PostgreSQL with PostGIS).

• Services

Access to data and information derived from project are performed using web services. Since the project generated spatial data several of the services are related to spatial data access and are based on standards defined by the OGC: WMS, WFS, WCS. In addition, custom services automate the ETL process as well as other functionalities of the provided applications.

• Applications

For the dissemination of the LIFE ASTI project results a web and a mobile application were developed. The web user interface was developed based on the GET SDI PORTAL. GET SDI PORTAL is a reach web GIS client offering advanced visualization and analysis capabilities. Concerning the mobile app, state-of-the-art technologies were applied so that the mobile app could be provided as a native app for both Android and iOS devices.