Signal 3: Google Street View cars will be roaming around the planet to check our air quality with these sensors
More recently, particulate matter has been found to be hazardous to cardiovascular disease, and efforts have been made to identify source and reduce particulate matter. The New York City government is measuring PM2.5, but it is difficult to understand the situation of specific area at the pedestrian level due to its lack of measuring points and high sensor altitude. Although air pollutants measured at high altitudes can be useful in determining overall air quality, their properties limit the concentration of air pollutants at the pedestrian level. Therefore, It goes without saying that monitoring the air pollution at the pedestrian level is essential task to find out real air pollutants distribution.
According to the article, Google attaches Aclima’s air pollutant measurement sensor to a streetview car. The measured air pollutants are CO2, CO, NO, NO2, O3 and PM2.5 and the data will be opened to the public via Google BigQuery which can be used for identifying vulnerable area and statistical analysis to figure factors out.
In the urban planning field, I think that data can be used for finding relationship between urban planning such as urban form, land use and built environment and pedestrian-level air pollutants. The policy implication of the research are finding vulnerable area where the air pollutant concentrated and urban planning factors impacting concentration of air pollutants.
