Air Quality

Air Quality Theme:

Making the invisible visible

3 million deaths worldwide every year are attributed to ambient air pollution, and 92% of the world's population live in places exceeding WHO air quality guidelines (source). Google has been mapping air quality since 2014, and we are excited to explore with scientists and organizations in India what more we can do.

  • In June 2017, we announced, with our partners EDF and Aclima, the results of our mapping effort in the City of Oakland. This data is now available for scientists to use for research analysis. Read here for more.
  • In November 2017, we announced, with our partner Aclima, that we were beginning to share air quality data with scientists. Read here for more.

Some example areas where Google might be able to help are:

  • Scientific research and analysis of air quality measurements in India.
  • Visualization and communication of air quality information.

Who should attend the Air Quality track?

Ideal participants would:

  • Already be measuring and analyzing air quality
  • Interested in organizing air quality data for analysis
  • Able to work with open data, science, and development practices.

Black carbon particles come from burning fuel, especially diesel, wood and coal. High exposure is associated with heart attacks, stroke and some forms of cancer. Air quality data from Google/Aclima; analysis by Apte et al/EDF. Colors on the map do not correlate to colors on the Air Quality Index. See more at edf.org/airqualitymaps.