Google expands its Street View clean air initiative to new city
Google's Project Air View is taking a closer look at the Netherlands.
- She received the Renau Writing Scholarship in 2016 from the University of Louisville's communication department.
If you're in Amsterdam, you might see Google Street View cars driving around.
Despite almost half of Amsterdam's population biking to get to their destinations, air pollution is still a problem. So Google is bringing two of Project Air View's Street View cars to get a better idea of the city's air quality, according to a blog post Thursday from Karin Tuxen-Bettman, program manager at Google Earth Outreach.
The cars are equipped with air sensors to measure nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, ultra-fine dust and soot (extremely small particles that are hardly ever measured), according to Google. Once the data in Amsterdam is analyzed, it'll be shared with the public, scientists and other organizations.
"This research can spread awareness about air pollution and help people take action," Tuxen-Bettman said. "Our hope is that small changes like this can help improve overall quality of life."
Google is building on its research in London, Copenhagen, Houston and Oakland. By using the Street View cars and tech developed by Aclima, Google released a map showing block-by-block air quality information for Oakland, California, in 2017. The map provided street-level insights to where pollution was coming from. As of September 2018, Google had expanded its air quality mapping to 50 more Street View cars in more places worldwide.