Google and Aclima want to map global air pollution with Street View cars

Over the past three years, some of Google's famed Street View cars have been crossing Californian streets equipped with sensors from the Aclima environmental sensor network to capture data on air pollution. Today, the duo has announced the extension of this partnership on a global scale.

Google first announced that it was working with Aclima to help map the California air quality in 2015, even though it took place a few months after a program was launched. A similar test was unveiled in Denver. Over the last three years, Google Street View cars equipped with Aclima sensors have traveled more than 100,000 kilometers in California, including San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The Internet giant has also partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) for an initiative to map natural gas leaks on the streets of Boston, Indianapolis and Staten Island. impact on the global climate.

Big Data

The fact that Google is looking to officially launch its air pollution monitoring service outside of California and beyond the United States indicates that its data collection efforts have been successful. A peer-reviewed study was published in Environmental Science and Technology last year, showing how the air quality in Oakland could vary significantly within the same block.

"We have been working with Aclima to test the technology for years, and we are excited to be ready to take the next steps to begin this new phase: we will expand our Street View fleet to many locations around the world," he said. Karin Tuxen-Bettman, Program Manager for Google Earth Outreach, in a press release. "These measures can provide cities with new information at the neighborhood level to help cities accelerate their efforts to transition to smarter, healthier cities."

It should be noted that many cities already use "static" air quality sensors. however, these are generally not widespread and do not collect data at the street level, where people walk and breathe. That's why Google's Street View Roaming Vehicles are useful – they capture data at different times, at different times of the day, and at street level. Crucially, the program does not involve a lot of extra cost – Google Street View cars already roam the streets and lines of communication around the world.

Google's initial expansion of its air quality sensors will include 50 vehicles and will be launched later this year in the United States and in markets still undetermined. Google has already partnered with another environmental sensor network company, called Air Monitors, for a similar project involving Street View cars in London, which has one of the worst quality records in the world. air in Europe.

Aclima's sensors will capture data including carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and particles (PM2.5).

"Air pollution and climate emissions posing an urgent challenge to human and global health, partnering with Google to adapt Aclima's environmental intelligence platform to Street View cars will raise awareness the population to the quality of the local air. Added Davida Herzl, CEO of Aclima.

Looking to the future, Google has announced that it will make its results available via a public dataset via Google BigQuery, although it is available upon request from the scientific community of air quality.