Google Straps Aclima Sensors to Street View Cars to Map Air Pollution

This is going to be interesting for many cities, but I can speak to the case of Madrid.<p>The Partido Popular government fixed the pollution problem by moving the sensors out of busy streets and into big parks that happen to be within the city limits[1,2].<p>The historical continuity of measurements has been lost, but Google will now provide data with more continuity. Or at least I hope it is provided.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;elpais.com&#x2F;diario&#x2F;2009&#x2F;05&#x2F;18&#x2F;madrid&#x2F;1242645857_850215.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;elpais.com&#x2F;diario&#x2F;2009&#x2F;05&#x2F;18&#x2F;madrid&#x2F;1242645857_850215...</a> [2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ft.com&#x2F;cms&#x2F;s&#x2F;0&#x2F;022cf59c-3091-11e0-9de3-00144feabdc0.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ft.com&#x2F;cms&#x2F;s&#x2F;0&#x2F;022cf59c-3091-11e0-9de3-00144feabd...</a>

As someone spending a large amount of time in India I am very concerned about the extreme pollution level there. This was the best country-wide data I could find on pollution: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;sPtkwDj" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;sPtkwDj</a><p>I would love it if Google could produce something more accurate!

This is the site I usually check:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;aqicn.org&#x2F;city&#x2F;beijing&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;aqicn.org&#x2F;city&#x2F;beijing&#x2F;</a><p>Also, if I needed it, I&#x27;d probably build one of these:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;smartairfilters.com&#x2F;en.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;smartairfilters.com&#x2F;en.html</a>

Sounds like something related to Sidewalk Labs[1]?<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.prnewswire.com&#x2F;news-releases&#x2F;dan-doctoroff-and-google-announce-sidewalk-labs-300097255.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.prnewswire.com&#x2F;news-releases&#x2F;dan-doctoroff-and-go...</a>

This is great to see. We are prototyping something similar - want to deploy static sensors instead of strapping the sensors to vehicles. We initially thought about the vehicle option by partnering with Uber&#x2F;Lyft. Definitely cost effective but getting relevant data from the same location at different time slices will become a function of the vehicle&#x27;s presence at that location and time. A bit difficult to manage with a vehicle fleet whose primary function is something else. Worth further exploration though.

Neat but doesn&#x27;t pollution vary significantly day to day and seasonally? It seems like one drive through at random time&#x2F;day&#x2F;season wouldn&#x27;t be enough data to be meaningful.

Now we&#x27;re getting to SimCity level of coolness.

Great. But I think Google will not show up where I live in a while so where can one buy these Aclima sensors?<p>Also I hope they expand measurements to other parameters like particle pollution.<p>Monitoring pollution is a taboo topic in our city because it would show that the port pollutes a lot and of course money is more important than public health.

I hope they find a way to add this to a portable device for end users. Here in DC I&#x27;ve suspected the air in the metro stations (underground train) is many times worse than the above ground sampling.

Possibly unrelated, but if you are interested in the geography of Chinese air pollution, check out aqicn.org

Why not just, I don&#x27;t know, install a permanent sensor. This doesn&#x27;t seem very useful unless these cars are driving the same route every day.