In July, Google took a step towards mapping yet another piece of our lives: air pollution.
As part of a partnership with Aclima, a startup that designs environmental sensor networks, Google launched a pilot program to outfit its Street View vehicles in Denver, Colorado with sensors that can detect a number of pollutants, including black carbon, nitric oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide.
Now the initiative is going big.
At this week's Clinton Global Initiative meeting, Aclima announced that Google Street View cars will map air pollution throughout California — in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Central Valley. The mapping starts immediately.
Aclima says it started with California because the state has some of the worst particulate pollution in the country.
If you live in these areas, brace yourself: Once the data collection starts, you'll be able to see street-level air quality maps on both Google Maps and Google Earth. You will, in other words, be able to see exactly how polluted your city, neighborhood, and street are at various points in time. No word yet on exactly how often the maps will update.
The data will also be uploaded and shared on Google Earth Engine, where researchers, NGOs, and government officials can use it to study air pollution and its effects on cities.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has its own environmental sensors, but Google and Aclima can now provide more in-depth pollution monitoring on the hyperlocal level.
And since it will be accessible in Google Maps, non-scientists will actually see the data.
On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.
