Google, Aclima to scale hyperlocal air quality mapping worldwide
Aclima’s sensing platform measures and maps hyperlocal air quality and climate emissions at a block-by-block resolution. The company’s mobile sensing platform has been tested on Aclima-equipped Google Street View cars in California since 2015, and previously in Denver, Colorado, and the latest announcement, say the companies, builds on this past research.
Initially the plan calls for equipping 50 Google Maps Street View vehicles with Aclima’s mobile sensor node, which will generate snapshots of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and particulate matter (PM2.5) in the local air environment while the cars routinely collect Street View imagery in cities and regions around the world. This snapshot data will be aggregated and designated with a representativeness indicator and will be made available as a public dataset on Google BigQuery.
The complete dataset will be available upon request to advance air quality science and research. The first such Aclima-equipped Street View cars will hit the road this fall both in the U.S. and elsewhere, the companies say.
“As air pollution and climate emissions pose an urgent challenge to human and planetary health,” says Aclima CEO Davida Herzl, “partnering with Google to scale Aclima’s environmental intelligence platform in Street View cars will activate awareness about local air quality in communities around the world where this information doesn’t currently exist. We’re thrilled to expand our years-long effort with Google to provide snapshots of hyperlocal air quality and emissions at the street level and global scale.”
Aclima-equipped Google Street View cars have driven over 100,000 miles in the state of California collecting over one billion data points to map air quality in Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, and Central Valley communities. The result, say the companies, is one of the largest data sets of urban air pollution of its kind ever assembled, and produced a peer-reviewed, scientific study in Oakland, CA revealing how air pollution levels can vary five to eight times along a city street.
Karin Tuxen-Bettman, Program Manager for Google Earth Outreach adds, “We’ve been working with Aclima to test the technology for years, and we’re excited that we are ready to take the next steps to begin this new phase: expanding to more places around the world with the Street View fleet. These measurements can provide cities with new neighborhood-level insights to help cities accelerate efforts in their transition to smarter, healthier cities.”
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