Globally, transportation is responsible for about 30% of air pollution, and in large cities, this is even higher. Between 20%-40% of deaths due to serious diseases are caused by air pollution (source). In Spain, 10.000 people die every year due to air pollution (almost tripling traffic deaths), and in Madrid alone, there are 5000 pollution deaths per year (14/day). 

Air pollution is thus a serious problem in most cities. European regulation requires cities to not exceeding thresholds of pollutants. However, often times measurements are taking place at the district level, ignoring the fact that air quality might be different for every street. Moreover, air quality has not the same importance in a residential area versus a more industrial area. And the type of use is also important such as schools, hospitals, sports facilities, et cetera.

We have created a prototype, in collaboration with the city of Madrid, that exploits both privately held data and publicly available (open) data to monitor air quality at street level. Data sources include mobility data (generated from anonymized and aggregated mobile phone data of the telecommunications sector), IoT pollution & climate sensor data from moving vehicles, traffic, vegetation, temperature/wind speed and demographics. The system allows authorities and policymakers to better measure, predict and manage cities’ mobility and pollution (evidence-based policy- and decision-making).

This micro project is strategically aligned with Europe’s Green Deal and the EU Data Strategy.