Multimedia mobile services with applications in environment

Increased public access to environmental information contributes to a greater awareness of environmental matters. However, there is no specific structure of public Environmental Information Systems (EIS) for institutions and other social partners to accomplish this goal. Multimedia has been largely used in EIS. Mobile services may play a new role within communicating multimedia environmental information in a citizenship framework. Furthermore, the use of mobile services may promote the development of Mobile Information Society (MIS). Hence, there are currently plenty of technologies to adopt in order to reach the public. This paper is focused on exploring whether Multimedia Mobile Services (MMS) can contribute to augmenting public environmental awareness. A platform of common mobile devices was successfully used to test mobile public access to environmental information in Portugal. This enabled the exploration of real environmental services in mobile contexts. Furthermore, an advanced interactive prototype was developed indoors to simulate a Location-Based Service (LBS) applied to coastal zones. Recommendations for future work are presented.