Google teams up with Dublin City Council on air pollution project

Google has teamed up with Dublin City Council for a year-long project that will measure air quality across the city and help inform future clean air initiatives.

The Air View Dublin project will see one of Google's Street View cars capture air pollution and measure greenhouse gases across the city, developing maps of street-by-street air pollution. The Jaguar I-Pace electric car will be deployed on the streets of Dublin, the first time one of the vehicles has been used to monitor pollution data in addition to the Google Maps Street View imagery.

The car uses Aclima’s mobile air sensing platform to measure and analyse nitrogen dioxide, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide (CO), fine particulate matter and ozone.

Smart Dublin project

The project is part of Dublin City Council’s Smart Dublin programme which has seen the local authority partner with Google’s Environmental Insights Explorer, to inform smart transit programmes, cut emissions and increase the use of cleaner modes of travel.

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The initiative was launched by Lord Mayor of Dublin, Hazel Chu. "Dublin City Council is dedicated to fulfilling its commitment to the UN Breathe Life Campaign and it is projects like this that leverage innovation and forward thinking to allow us to make informed decisions for the benefit of our city and citizens," she said.

“Environmental air quality is an issue that affects everyone, especially people who live in cities and I look forward to learning more about how our city lives and breathes.”

The resulting data will be available for use by city authorities, other governments, scientists, non-profit organisations, and the public.

The UN Breathe Life Campaign, which Dublin City Council joined in 2020, involves a commitment to meeting World Health Organisation guide values for air quality by 2030.

Serious concern

"Air quality is a serious concern, especially for cities, but there is a gap in terms of localised data and insights available to decision-makers. As part of this project, we're using technology to capture this important data and make it accessible so that, together with Dublin City Council, we can gain a deeper understanding of air pollution locally and provide important data to help drive solution planning," said Paddy Flynn, vice-president of Google Geo operations.

"Mapping of street-by-street air pollution has never been captured or used in Ireland before, and our ultimate goal is that they will support new actions towards a cleaner, more sustainable Dublin."