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Google Maps Is Being Used To Track Air Pollution In Oakland and Other Cities (androidauthority.com)
The functionality of Google Maps is expanding to include air pollution levels. Depending on where you live, you will soon be able to see the specific air quality in your neighborhood. Oakland, California is the first city to have air quality information, but data should be released soon for the Los Angeles and Central Valley regions of California. Android Authority reports: In a blog post, Google says it has been working with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Aclima since 2015 on this project. Google Street View cars were equipped with devices from Aclima to monitor the levels of nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and black carbon in the city of Oakland, California. You can now see those modified Google Maps on the EDF website. The Google Maps that have this information show how pollution levels can change in Oakland based on specific locations, street activity, and more. The idea is that posting this data in an easy visual way will assist communities to campaign for better air quality standards in their neighborhoods to their local and state governments.
I read the article, browsed the maps, then still had time for this first post.
Guess everyone else got lost in the smog.
I liked that post however I did not like at all the focus on Google Maps. Yes of course Google maps is used but the important thing here is not the "platform" used. I mean for that kind of initiatives it is a prerequisite to have a platform that supports some kind of Geospatial data and of course Google maps is a really good candidate (and taken usability into account I would say the prime candidate). BUT, for this particular post excuse me for the language but who give a f*ck about using Google Maps and having Google being presented as a key part. NO it is not and after some point we might have to consider that these kind of platforms should be available without discussion for "social projects".
And the main reason for this "nasty" comment is that such a (socially / environmentally) interesting project is presented as an extension of Google Maps (wrong focus given on the platform) and on Google (just count the instances of the word) instead of focusing on the actual project (and other partners perhaps). To give a counter example (quite abstact) it is like having some kind of good initiative (e.g. health oriented) and just because it was deployed on some Microsoft platform with Microsoft's assistance (which is a significant but for MS, GOOGLE etc and I would considered this SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY) all the credits and focus for to MS and not on the actual project. Well, if this good initiative could be run on bananas who would talk about MS. It is the idea and project that matters most not the carrier.
The SF Bay Area housing prices are going up and up and everyone is happy with the weather and pollution seems relatively ok compared to other industrialized places. It will be interesting to see the impact on housing. I live in Sunnyvale and there is high density housing popping up near high traffic roads which means cities might be concentrating new inhabitants were there is more pollution. I live in a relatively quiet neighborhood but surrounded by major roads, and I got freaking planes from 5 airports flying over.
I'm hoping Google will map the area soon, after all a lot of their employees live around here.
Google's values do not correspond to the politically correct assumptions of the fanbois, or agree with the claimed source of the values.
You rich mother fucker. I know you. You fucking cunt. You rich fucking cunt. Fuck you. Fuck your entitled life. Fuck everything you stand for, sodul. I know you. Fuck you being unemployed on Slashdot. Your hatred of high density housing is your NIMBY ism. You hate that the plebs who have to break their backs dare have a place to live? You fuck! We work our ass off to serve your fatbody a latte! And you NIMBY us while working for companies that AUTOMATE our shit jobs? Fuck You cunt, fuck your NIMBY, and I hope you choke on some methyl tert butyl ether in your god damed food.
Isn't PM 2.5 one of the most important indicators of air quality? I mean whenever there's a news story about how bad the air quality is in Beijing (or more recently New Delhi), they're always citing the PM 2.5 level and how you can't trust the government readings but have to access the U.S. Embassy air monitoring stations there.
(For those who don't know PM 2.5 is the reading of the 2.5 micron particulate matter, particles so small they get deep into your lungs and cause bad things to happen like maybe cancer).
Why can't Google put a PM 2.5 sensor on their cars? Are they afraid they won't be able to get an accurate reading from a moving vehicle? (Doesn't seem to stop them with their other measurements). I've got a nice little sensor on my desk (Speck) that's small and low powered enough I've that about attaching it to a long distance drone to do a transect(?) mapping of the air quality of my city!
Unfortunately, this being Ho Chi Minh City, it would likely disappear in one fashion or another in short order :(
It'd also be interesting if they mapped sound pollution, and airborne contaminates like the sweet smell of crack cocaine on a Wednesday morning.
Don't have a cow man!
Now just think of the air quality map one could do if cell phones came with chemical sensors.
...and has since about 2012-ish, starting in China and expanding to other countries. Lots of people in Asia use it. When I lived in Beijing I used to check it every day to figure out if it was okay to bike to work that day. Glad that Americans are finally discovering the concept. :)
Google and their tracking are completely out of control. Air pollution has no privacy and it's not right. Google should not be allowed to track them like this. It's an outrage.
Instead, let's track hipster migration so we can tell when liberal douchenozzles from Oregon and California start invading the borders of other states. Upon interception you can tell them the state is out of craft beer so they turn around and head back to the places we have them confined to.
It seems google maps is really out of date on satellite views. Just hope reliable is this smog data going to be?
- Gronk!