Google aims to solve the air quality data gap in India with this AI tool
Google on Wednesday announced Air View+, an ecosystem-based solution to address air quality data gaps across India. The system uses the Mountain View-based tech giant’s artificial intelligence (AI) models to process a large amount of air quality data at a hyper-local level and provide actionable insights to Indian government agencies. To this end, the company is working with climate technology companies and researchers from various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to deploy specialized sensors to monitor air quality data across 150 Indian cities.
Google announces Air View+ to help collect air quality data in India
The rise of particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5 in the air of the Delhi NCR region to dangerous levels has highlighted the problem of lack of proactive measures in solving India’s air quality problems. It is believed that one of the reasons for this is the lack of consistent air quality data and the technology to convert such a large amount of data into actionable insights.
Googling claims that the AI-powered Air View+ system can solve both bottlenecks to help government agencies proactively combat air pollution. The tech giant claims that it is an ecosystem-based solution that both collects and processes air quality data from small places and environments.
To collect the data, Google partnered with climate tech companies Aurassure and Respirer Living Sciences and built air quality sensors that can measure various parameters including PM2.5, PM10, CO2, NO2, ozone and VOCs, as well as temperature and humidity. These sensors take measurements every minute for consistency.
A network of these sensors has been deployed in more than 150 Indian cities in high-traffic locations such as administrative institutions, commercial buildings, electricity poles and more. Google claimed that researchers from IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, state pollution boards and climate action groups have rigorously validated and calibrated these sensors.
The idea behind setting up this sensor network is to obtain consistent hyper-local data across the city and then use AI to process this information in real time. The company says its AI technology is used to power the Air View+ system.
Once processed, Google sends the insights and key highlights from this massive data set to local municipal corporations and other government agencies. The company claims this will allow them to better prepare action plans and proactive measures by observing patterns in air quality dips. This will also help fill data gaps by collecting air quality information from previously unmonitored areas.
This information will also be publicly available via Google Maps. Users of the platform can select the Air Quality layer via the Layer button on the home screen by choosing any location. The same information can also be checked on the weather widget under the Discover tab on the home screen.
