USE OF GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN ANALYZING VEHICLE 
EMISSIONS: ISTANBUL AS A CASE STUDY 
M.Umit Gumusay a \ Alper Unal b , Rukiye Aydin c 
a YTU, Civil Engineering Faculty, Department of Geodesy and Photogrammetry Engineering, 
34349, Besiktas, Istanbul, Turkey, gumusay@yildiz.edu.tr 
b EMBARQ, WRI Center for Sustainable Transport, WASHINGTON, DC, USA 
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Department of Geographical Information System, 
34173, Gungoren, Istanbul, Turkey, rukiye.aydin@ibb.gov.tr 
Commission I, ICWG-I/V 
KEY WORDS: Analyze, Air Pollution, CO, C02, GIS, Query 
ABSTRACT: 
Air pollution is defined as the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more contaminants (pollutants) in quantities and duration 
that can injure human, plant, or animal life or property (materials) or which unreasonably interferes with the enjoyment of life or the 
conduct of business. Examples of traditional contaminants include sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, 
volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter, smoke, and haze. This list of air pollutants can be 
subdivided into pollutants that are gases or particulates. Mobile source emissions are the largest contributor to urban emission 
inventories in many locations. Ambient air quality standards have become increasingly stringent, and it is important to understand the 
role of mobile source emissions on air quality through well-designed studies. High air pollution load in Turkey metropolitan cities 
like Istanbul, izmir, Ankara, etc. has been a major leading to factor towards lowering the ambient air quality day by day. The 
lowering of air quality is a main environmental problem that affects many urban and industrial sites and the surrounding regions. On 
road vehicles are responsible for a significant and rapidly increasing portion of the air pollution in the urban areas of developing 
nations.Second by second emissions of CO, C02, HC, and NOx were measured in case study. Geographical Information System 
(GIS) is a computer based information system that enables capturing, modeling, manipulation, retrieval, analysis, and presentation of 
geographically referenced data. In this study, In order to compare measurements from the different vehicles, second by second 
vehicle speed and road altitude data was collected using GPS technology simultaneous with the emissions measurement. It is possible 
to analyze that increasing emission which various of vehicles sent out environment with GIS. The analysis of the amount of emission 
depending on the changes of the slopes, calculation of gases spread into air depending on traffic jam, the analysis of the amount of 
emission depending on the route selected in the city were applied. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Current estimates revealed that a quarter of the world’s 
population is exposed to unhealthy ambient air pollution levels, 
and more than 2 million premature deaths each year can be 
attributed the effects of urban outdoor air pollution and indoor 
air pollution, more than half occurring in developing countries 
(World Health Organization, WHO, 2005). A recent study by 
WHO concluded that, “One of the trends predicted to lead to 
increasing air pollution levels is the high rate of urbanization in 
countries where most of the population is on low income. It is 
expected that the rapid growth in urban populations will lead to 
a dramatic increase in vehicle numbers combined with 
inexpensive solutions for daily commuting, more frequent use 
of older and two-wheeled vehicles, poor car maintenance and 
other developments that increase air pollution” (WHO, 2005). 
Air pollutant sources can be categorized according to the type of 
source, their number and spatial distribution, and the type of 
emissions. Categorization by type includes natural and 
manmade sources. Natural air pollutant sources include plant 
pollens, wind-blown dust, volcanic eruptions, and lightning 
generated forest fires. Manmade sources include transportation 
vehicles, industrial processes, power plants, municipal 
incinerators, and others. 
Transportation makes at least 30 % of criteria pollutant (ie, CO, 
NO x , S0 2 ,PM, NH 3 ). 
Area 
Carbon 
monoxide 
Nitrogen 
oxide 
NM VOC 
Sulfur 
dioxide 
PM 10 PM,- PM, 
RT ! OT 
RT ! OT 
RT 
OT 
RT OT 
RT ! OT RT 
OT ! RT 
OT 
United Kingdom 
69 i 11 
42 11 
24 
4 
1 ! 3 i 18 ! 6 ! 24 
5 ! 30 
7 
EU15 
37 ; 7 
45 ! 18 
31 
6 
3 4 
28- 11* i 
6,1' 
ACS 
1 37 | 12 
37 
5 
2 ! 
United States 
51 ! 26 
34 :22 
29 
18 
2 j 3 
1,4> 2,2' ! 3,4' 
Austna 
24,2 
40,8 ! 
9,9 
7,1 ! 
12,8 
Belgium 
533 
48,8 
303 
3,3 
123 
Denmark 
56 
36,8 
34^2 
2,6 
1.9 0,9 
13 
Germany 
"53 1 
503 11,9 
20,4 
3,1 
16,1 
Finland 
48,6 
433 
31,7 
5 
11,7 
France 
413 
51,4 j 
253 
4,9 
113 
Italy 
68,1 
503 
43,6 
1 
14,7 
Luxembourg 
64 
43,8 9-19 
37,5 
25 
8,8 
Netherlands 
603 
41,8 6,5 
36 
5-12 
4,9 1-3 
14,7 
Spain 
53,8 
393 15 
15,2 
1.5 
16,1 
Sweden 
57.5 j 
44,9 
21,8 
1,6 
1,9 2,6 
133 : 
Delhi, India 
^53 i 
82,4 
84,! 
39 
15,6* 
a Emission of particulates assigned as primary and secondary fine 
particulates, of which 12% are considered primary PM 10. 
b Direct emissions (i.e does not include fugitive dust) 
c Based on inventory for total suspended particulates. 
Table 1. Contribution of Transportation to Emission in 
Different Countries 
GIS is an important tool for evaluating neighborhood level 
community health air pollution impacts. GIS allow us to more 
effectively display our results to the public and help them 
understand the types and sources of air pollution around them.