The Full Picture

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AIRNow-I contributes to bringing international equity

to the availability of public information regarding air

quality. This is especially important in developing coun-

tries where air quality can be an immense public health

issue.

By supporting existing real-time data efforts in other

countries, AIRNow-I will serve to bolster those estab-

lished systems, while also allowing less developed

countries to apply AIRNow technology. With established

standards for sharing data, AIRNow-I could interface

seamlessly with existing systems and allowing for world-

wide sharing of air quality data. This worldwide

availability of data would foster air quality research,

while also giving the public access to an important

health resource.

GEO societal benefits

AIRNow-I delivers the key GEO societal benefit of

‘understanding environmental factors affecting human

health and well-being’. Within that benefit area, two key

topics are air quality and the urban environment.

AIRNow-I supports both, with air quality as its primary

focus. As for the urban environment, AIRNow-I will

provide the data and tools needed to both measure air

quality in urban areas and, more importantly, inform the

residents in those areas. As such, AIRNow-I will deliver

great benefit to both key GEO topics.

AIRNow-I is a critical infrastructure and public infor-

mation piece within the larger GEO framework. Using

the AIRNow framework will allow GEO to measure and

report air quality on a global scale. Furthermore, the

AIRNow-I real-time data and reporting concept could

be extended to other media, such as water, and could

also be used as a basis for emergency environmental

alerts. This has already been done in parts of the US with

the EnviroFlash e-mail alert system.

In addition, the AIRNow-I project dovetails nicely

with several other GEO initiatives. In particular, the

AIRNow team plans to support the Common Alerting

Protocol (CAP) to integrate air quality alerts into CAP’s

all-hazards, all-media approach.

Call to action for GEO

In the GEOSS ten-year implementation plan, the health

societal benefit is described thus: “GEOSS will improve

the flow of appropriate environmental data and health

statistics to the health community, promoting a focus

on prevention and contributing to the continued

improvements in human health worldwide.”

This passage illustrates precisely the need for a system

such as AIRNow-I. In the air quality arena, the only

prevention available is through knowledge of when and

where poor air quality exists. In many developing

nations, that information is simply not available to the

people that so desperately need it.

GEO provides the necessary tools for countries around

the globe to measure, evaluate and distribute air quality

information – information that can be used to further

research, but more importantly, to protect public health.

bases that are not easily distributed. One way to address this distri-

bution issue is to provide a simpler, easier-to-install version of the

AIRNow software. It would include data processing, quality control,

system monitoring and mapping. This AIRNow-International

(AIRNow-I) software package would provide the basic features of

the AIRNow program based on AIRNow’s technology.

Benefits of AIRNow-I

The benefits of AIRNow-I are simple, yet far-reaching. AIRNow-I

will bring the immense experience EPA gained in real-time data gath-

ering, processing and distribution to the rest of the world. AIRNow-I

will offer air quality information to the public in areas across the

world that do not currently have such access.

Armed with this knowledge, the public can begin to make deci-

sions to protect themselves from harmful air quality. In addition, the

data sharing capabilities that AIRNow-I provides can be of tremen-

dous use to the air quality research community. As different local

entities begin to share air quality information, new discoveries can

be made about the behaviour and causes of regional air pollution.

Furthermore, AIRNow-I sets the stage for an international dialogue

on real-time data standards, methods, applications, and more.

AIRNow-I has the potential to become a catalyst for worldwide inte-

gration and standardization of real-time air quality data. In addition,

Real-time information about the quality of the air they breathe will enable

people to make decisions to protect themselves from harmful air quality

Photo: EPA

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