The Making Sense project is funded by the European Commission and has the mission to make advances and experiments in participatory sensing. According to making-sense.eu Making Sense aims to explore how open source software, open source hardware, digital maker practices and open design can be effectively used by local communities to fabricate their own sensing tools, […]
Chicago is installing sensors throughout the city in a project called Array of Things (AoT) to collect a wide variety of data. The sensor data will be provided to the public for analysis via the city’s open data policy. This is an excellent example of sharing data so residents can use it to help improve […]
There are many new opportunities for people to help collect and analyse data and help improve cities. Here are a couple new resources I’ve just discovered: CleanSpace – personal air quality monitors; CITI-SENSE project – an EU funded research project designed to help facilitate creation of a “sensor-based Citizens’ Observatory Community for improving quality of life […]
AirTick is a project from Pan Xheng Xiang at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, that uses crowdsourced photos to analyse how hazy the environment looks. The app then combines this data with official air quality data using machine-learning to develop a method for predicting pollution levels based on the images alone. Here’s the project’s entry […]
AirVisual calls itself “the crowdsourced air quality community”. They have developed a home air quality monitor (measuring indoor and outdoor air quality) that’s currently on the crowdsourced funding platform Indigogo (AirVisual Node). According to AirVisual’s website, “The AirVisual community believes that education and awareness are the seeds of change. In order to realise a future […]
Crowdsourced air quality data is making news in China. According to Bloomberg News, “Besides facing hefty fines, criminal punishments and the possibility of closing, the worst emitters in China risk additional public anger as new smartphone applications and lower-cost monitoring devices widen access to data on pollution sources.” Read the story: China’s Biggest Polluters Face Wrath […]
The European Union project iSPEX recently asked residents in 11 European cities to participate in crowdsourcing air quality measurements using their smart phones. Participants used their smartphones, an app and a lens called a spectropolarimeter, to collect data about air quality across the continent, which will be used by iSPEX to make comprehensive maps. The […]
Interesting article from the Atlantic CityLab about Google adding air quality monitoring to its Street View cars.
The project BREATHE (European Research Council Grant Agreement number 268479) studied whether exposure of children in primary school to traffic-related air pollutants is associated with impaired cognitive development. As part of the study they gave mobile sensors to students to assess their exposure to black carbon on their trip to school. Results were published in Environmental […]
Citizen Sense is an European Research Council project investigating the relationship between technologies and practices of environmental sensing and citizen engagement. The project runs from 2013 – 2017 and is being led by Dr Jennifer Gabrys. According to the project’s home page: Practices of monitoring and sensing environments have migrated to a number of everyday participatory […]