In recent years, Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, has been working to improve its environment with the help of technology such as big data.

Air quality control

At the Xi'an Smart Environmental Protection Comprehensive Command Center, various environmental supervision data related to air quality and pollutant concentrations are displayed on a huge electronic screen.

The Xi'an Smart Environmental Protection Comprehensive Command Center can display environmental supervision data in real time. [Photo/Xi'an Daily]

Every sub-district, township, and industrial park in Xi'an has already built a national standard air quality supervision station, and the monitoring data is transmitted to the command center in real time. If the air quality index at any supervision site is out of the ordinary, an alarm will sound.

Through an "automatic alarm + manual screening” model, special tasks will be distributed to more than 1,200 grid members in the city. Grid members will arrive at the site as soon as possible and attempt to solve the issues as quickly as possible.

Protecting the Qinling Mountains

In 2021, with the installation of high-definition cameras in the forest area, the Qinling protection bureau of Chang'an district has integrated and upgraded the intelligent management and control system at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains.

A distant view of the picturesque Qinling Mountains. [Photo/Xi'an Daily]

The new platform's functions include internet of things detection, traffic big data, tourist big data, supervision analysis, emergency command and forest fire prevention.

It can also detect the meteorological conditions of the forest area in the Qinling section of Chang'an district and issue an alarm in areas where temperatures reach 60 C.

Water environment

Through the combination of satellite remote sensing pattern review, full-coverage unmanned aerial vehicle inspection and on-site inspection and identification, Xi’an has been able to investigate 51 key rivers.

The Qujiang Lake Relic Park in Xi'an boasts clear water and beautiful scenery. [Photo/Xi'an Daily]

This has greatly improved the city's river supervision capabilities, and the city's four centralized drinking water sources included in the national assessment have achieved a 100-percent water quality rating for three consecutive years.