Mimaq Mobile Air Quality Assessment

Presentation about the MIMAQ.org project held at the symposium "Geo Matters, City Scatters" TU Delft / Geomatics and the State of Social Media Summit / Amsterdam.

1. Mobile Individual Measurements of Air Quality
State of Social Media Summit
Trouw Amsterdam, 28 Oct 2010

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDSk-sVP7hE

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDSk-sVP7hE

4. What is MIMAQ
•Real time air quality monitoring
•Mobile (personal) sensors
•Carried by volunteering participants
•Visualization on maps and mobile Augmented Reality

5. Project
•Dec. 2009: proof of concept during Copenhagen
Climate Summit
•Mar-Oct 2010: pilot in Leiden, The Netherlands
•Supported by Digitale Pioniers, ministry OCW

6. Purpose
•Create a real time air quality monitoring network.
•Make the invisible environment visible.
•Find out how hyper-local, personal measurements are
perceived by the audience (volunteers).
•Evaluation currently in progress.
•Increase involvement of civillians in this expert area.

7. How does it work
•The City Senspod device measures pollution levels.
•Data samples are transferred via Bluetooth.
•Results are displayed...
•on Google Maps
•on mobile devices (Augmented Reality view)
•
Internet

8. Measurements
•Every second a sample is taken, including:
•GPS location
•Levels of NOx and CO
•Temperature, Relative humidity
•Noise level in dBA
•We chose NOx as indicator for air quality, also for its
correlation with PM10 and PM2.5 levels*
* Source: ECN Petten

9. Map view
•Example plot
during morning
rush hour
•NOx levels
(red = high)
•Red track
corresponds
with traffic
congestion

10. •Layar Augmented Reality browser (iPhone, Android).
•NOx levels are rendered as “clouds” in the air.
Augmented Reality view

11. Results
•About a month worth of raw data, collected by five
City Senspods.
•Implemented map view and AR view.
•Approx. 60 volunteers
involved.
•Preliminary calibration
and interpretation, work
in progress...

12. Limitations
•Sensor calibration!
•Influence of temperature,
humidity and O3
•GPS accuracy
(no valid data acquisition
without GPS fix)

13. Highlights
•Feedback from volunteers and test users
•Wow this is impressive, “Is this for real?”
•Thought provoking and fun.
•Positive action, creates awareness, empowering.
•Excellent case for education.
•Interest from public services (e.g. fire brigade).
•Mixed reactions from established policy makers.

14. Conclusions
•Pollution measurement can be done on a qualitative
level with simple, low-cost components.
•Potentially provide real-time and early-warning
information.
•MIMAQ enables individuals to participate in
environmental monitoring and use the data to fuel the
public debate.
•Measurements can be used to enrich any geo data.

15. Thank you!
•Johannes la Poutré
•Email: [email protected]
•Web: http://mimaq.org
•Twitter: @mimaq
MIMAQ is supported by Kennisland, Digitale Pioniers