Las Vegas is located in the southern tip of Nevada along the Colorado River. Situated in the desert environment, air, water, and visibility concerns arise in response to nature's extremes, as well as human activities. The local, state, and federal governments gathered together to form the Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) web site, an online guide for residences to stay informed of the latest news in air, water, and visibility concerns. The EMPACT site is published at www.empact-lv.org . Air quality concerns many residences across the United States, including the Las Vegas Valley. Situated in a basin, Las Vegas is geologically enclosed, preventing proper air circulation to maintain a healthy atmosphere. Air quality received the primary focus in the past because air pollution levels exceed EPA’s unhealthful daily standards. In response to the news, a web site was developed by the Clark County Health District’s Air Quality Division to display the latest news in air pollution readings, as well as access historical data. The development of the web site utilized the power of database to handle large quantities of data for easy access and reliability. CGIs were used as the interfacing medium to obtain the data when the user to the web site requested the specific data, as well as process new data that are updated every hour. The completed web site is located at http://air.cchd.org/ . Pollen counts, another issue more unique to the Las Vegas Valley, was also incorporated and updated frequently during peak pollen seasons in spring and early summer. In addition to the web site, the data collection systems were outdated and required an update. The data acquisition systems involving LabVIEW are also being developed with Visual Basic to complete the package.

 

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