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of AirNow fire map Includes data from PurpleAir sensors (represented by small circles), and Watch Duty, a non-profit app to track firesAlso displays PurpleAir data. But possibly due to different calculations and processing delays, the air quality index reported by the same sensor can vary widely from map to map. For PM2.5 pollution, or tiny respirable particles of smoke and dust, a PurpleAir sensor located south of Los Angeles International Airport simultaneously returned an air quality index of 28 on AirNow’s website, 20 on WatchDuty and 5 on PurpleAir on Monday. Official page.
Each of these values generally indicates healthy air, but things can get more complicated when other types of data are added to the calculation. That’s exactly what companies like Bridgeometer and Amby do, hoping to provide what they describe as accurate “hyperlocal” estimates within many miles of some sensor locations.
BreezoMeter was founded in Israel and raised several million dollars in venture capital funding before being acquired by Google in 2022 for over $200 million. Israeli media. (Google declined to comment on the value of the deal.) It powers the air quality data seen in the Weather app on Apple devices and the Google Maps app. Indian startup Ambee, meanwhile, is responsible for air quality data in the Weatherbug app, one of the world’s most popular weather apps.
Yale Maguire, Google’s Vice President of Geo-Sustainability, told Bridgeometer. Estimates air quality hourly, across a wide range of pollutants and locations, generating more data than many government systems To make its calculations, the company not only uses data collected from the EPA and PurpleAir sensors, but also satellites and other sources such as weather and traffic reports. Similar information is incorporated into Ambee’s proprietary algorithm, according to its CEO Jaideep Singh Bach. “We want to give people the right data whenever, wherever they need it,” he says.
Volkens says he doesn’t believe in these systems. The low-cost PurpleAir sensors they draw on are partly unsuited to the situations in which they’re often deployed in the U.S., including during wildfires, he says. But he acknowledged that when they’re off in terms of raw numbers, these sensors can be accurate about 90 percent of the time in determining advisory levels — that green-to-maroon scale that’s often enough for humans to make decisions. About how to protect their health.
Andrew White, a representative for PurpleAir, said its censors found to be specific and does not control how other services use its data to perform calculations Google’s Maguire said the company “provides industry-leading, highly accurate air quality data,” including “even in areas with limited monitoring.”
Jennifer Richmond-Bryant, an associate professor of forestry and environmental resources at North Carolina State University who has researched the PurpleAir sensor, said the safest bet for anyone concerned about air quality is to trust the highest number or color level among different services. “I trust the AirNow numbers more because I understand them,” she says But “making an overly conservative decision to protect yourself can never hurt.”
