Air-View collaboration on air pollution
A mother of an asthmatic child getting to know the best way to get to the playground. Bike commuters and outdoor athletes finding the healthiest route for their trip. City planners with a better knowledge to design smart solutions. And politicians better equipped for clean air decision-making. These are the purposes of the Air View project, which is a partnership between Google and Copenhagen Municipality – anchored by Copenhagen Solutions Lab.
New measurements, new knowledge
The Air-View car, which has been prepared by Utrecht University in the Netherlands, will be measuring air pollutants like Ultrafine Particles and Black Carbon at street level and hereby provide new insights into air pollution and the health effects hereof. When a large amount of information has been analysed and validated – with help from universities like Copenhagen and Aarhus – the data will be made publicly available for both politicians and the scientific community.
The project runs from October 2018 until the end of 2019, where a hyperlocal map will showcase the air pollution of Copenhagen. The results will hereafter be provided to the Municipality, scientists and citizens.
"This collaboration is unique, because it allows us to use actual measurements at street level to map air pollution at an unprecedented resolution in an entire city. This wealth of data will help us to better understand what drives air quality in Copenhagen and what improvements we can make."
Dr. Roel Vermeulen, Professor of Environmental Epidemiology and Exposome Science at Utrecht University
"The very close mapping of air pollution will provide whole new opportunities for showing the combination to health damage. It will also provide new opportunities for prevention both in regards to how the city and traffic is constructed as well as for the single person as they are being given better knowledge of where and when it is best to go and live."
Steffen Loft, Head of the Department of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen
Facts about the Air View project and the Street View car
- This is the next phase of Google’s efforts to map air quality, after mapping the City of Oakland and other California cities with EDF and Aclima in 2015-2018.
- London and Copenhagen are the first Air View cities outside the U.S.
- The Google Street View car has been equipped by Utrecht University with sensors for black carbon (soot), fine and ultrafine particulate matter, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen dioxides.
- There will be one Google Street View car operating in Copenhagen for the rest of 2018 and all of 2019.
