Test phase started: Google Maps now also shows air pollution
In future, the online map service Google Maps will offer users another way of viewing its maps and is testing the visualization of air pollution using the US city of Oakland as an example.
Similar to the Google display of traffic jams, the air pollution view uses colors to indicate the degree of air purity. Red stands for rather poor quality. Google collected the air data for the Californian city of Oakland using its Street View cars. For the new project, these were previously equipped with special sensors from the start-up Aclima equipped.
In a further partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund, Google wants to draw attention to problematic urban areas with very poor air quality. Environmental researchers are already benefiting from the map material for Oakland. In addition to the mere pollution of the air, it also shows where cars accelerate and when air pollution is at its highest in certain places.
Enormous amounts of data
According to Google, the data collection on air pollution is said to be the largest ever published. "Nearly three million measurements and 14,000 miles recorded in one year", Google reports in a Blog post. In future, the new view is to be made available for other cities and will also provide a better overview of air quality there. (pte)
