Real-time situation awareness of complaints previously checked manually by the Environment Department using IoT sensors

We will build an advanced smart city using the Internet of Things.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that they will promote a 'Smart Environment Monitoring Demonstration Project' utilizing IoT and smart city technologies to enable rapid identification of causes and response to situations arising from environmental pollution accidents such as odors and noise.

This demonstration project involves installing 10 IoT environmental sensors that detect various sources and origins of odors in Gangseo-gu, Busan, where large-scale industrial complexes are concentrated and odor complaints are rapidly increasing. The data collected through the sensors is transmitted to the Smart City Center in real-time, 24 hours a day, to identify pollution situations and to facilitate rapid response to environmental pollution through cooperation among relevant agencies, such as the environmental department.


Until now, in the case of environmental pollution accidents such as foul odors and hazardous gas leaks, it has been difficult to determine the cause because a considerable amount of time elapses between the local government receiving a complaint and visiting the site to identify the cause of the accident.

The 'smart environment monitoring service' is expected to contribute to resolving environmental blind spots by utilizing IoT sensors and nearby CCTVs to identify information such as pollution locations and concentrations in real time, thereby significantly reducing related disputes through the rapid identification of causes.

The new smart environment monitoring service is planned to be piloted in Gangseo-gu, Busan by the end of this year, and then expanded to local governments nationwide starting in 2018.

Science and TechnologyJang Seok-young, Director General of Internet Convergence Policy at the Ministry of Information and Communication, emphasized, “The new environmental monitoring method incorporating IoT and smart city technologies is expected to provide a new turning point in solving environmental problems for local governments struggling with issues such as odors and noise.” He further expressed his aspirations, stating, “IoT and smart cities are core fields leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We plan to expand inter-ministerial cooperation into various areas such as environment, transportation, energy, and water resources to create new convergence services and develop reference models that can be exported overseas.”