This was presented at mySociety's TICTeC 2020 conference, which was held virtually on 24th and 25th March 2020. More details on the conference can be found here: https://tictec.mysociety.org/2020

1. Openly available air
quality data: not just
blue-sky thinking
Sruti Modekurty, Platform Lead, OpenAQ
Mar 25, 2020
sruti@openaq.org
@tuttifrutisruti

2. Air pollution causes
1 out of every 8
deaths on the planet.
It is one of the biggest public health and
human rights issues of our time.
sruti@openaq.org

3. 90% of the world
breathes unhealthy air
sruti@openaq.org

4. Average human hair (0.075 mm)
10 micron 2.5 micron 1 micron
sruti@openaq.org

5. BEIJING
sruti@openaq.org

6. BEIJING
Communities need basic access
to data to effect policy change.
sruti@openaq.org

7. Fighting air pollution with open data and community
sruti@openaq.org

8. Overview
● OpenAQ Platform
● Impact Examples
● OpenAQ Community
● Global Air Quality Data Assessment
sruti@openaq.org

9. The Challenge
1. Lack of access to air quality data in most polluted
places
+
2. Inconsistent or temporary air quality data formats
These prevent civil society from taking
adequate action to improve air quality in their
local communities
sruti@openaq.org

10. Our Mission
sruti@openaq.org

11. OpenAQ Platform
500M+ air quality measurements
133 data sources
87 countries sruti@openaq.org
openaq.org

12. sruti@openaq.org
github.com/openaq
Open Source Code

13. docs.openaq.org
Data Access
sruti@openaq.org

14. 200 million data
requests per year
sruti@openaq.org

15. OpenAQ Community
sruti@openaq.org

16. International Workshops
sruti@openaq.org

17. NASA GEOS Research Team at NASA used real-time data
only available on OpenAQ’s platform to conduct a
research study to develop global forecasts of three
major pollutant concentrations, ozone, PM2.5, and NO2
Key Impacts
- Model vs. observation air quality comparisons across
the globe
- PM2.5 emissions data comparisons between China
and Mongolia
- Identify gaps in data availability in NASA’s key priority
areas
Impact: Research
sruti@openaq.org

18. Bloomberg Green Data Dash
overlays OpenAQ data with
population data to inform the
public
Key Impacts:
- Easily visualize the magnitude
and severity of the problem
- Identify gaps in data, especially
in countries with large
populations
- Push for environmental policy
change
Impact: Media
sruti@openaq.org

19. The Accra, Ghana workshop sparked civil
society to take action and bring air quality
data to fight air inequality
Key Impacts:
- Community Statement demanding
increased coverage and frequency of air
quality monitoring in Ghana
- Publication in Clean Air Journal
- Columbia University donated air quality
monitoring equipment to the local network
- Goal to save 17,000 lives each year from air
pollution-exposure-related deaths
Impact: Civic Action
sruti@openaq.org

20. Worked with the Environmental Agency of
Iceland to add their data to the platform
via their new API
Key Impacts:
- Iceland government reached out
- Collaboratively developed API to enable
easier data ingestion
- Iceland’s AQ data is now openly and
easily accessible for anyone to access
Impact: Open Government
sruti@openaq.org

21. OpenAQ Community
sruti@openaq.org

22. United States
6% UK
5% Australia
India
4%
Mongolia
3%
Morocco
3%
Ghana
Where are they based?
sruti@openaq.org

23. India
Mongolia
Ghana
Australia
Spain
Netherlands
Canada
What countries does their work impact?
sruti@openaq.org

24. What sector?
sruti@openaq.org
Software Development
Education
Physical Sciences

25. Nonexistent Air Quality Data
Lack of Air Quality Data Access
Lack of public awareness
Interpreting data for action
Lack of coordinated management
Lack of HR on air quality
Other competing priorities
Lack of connections with
colleagues
Biggest Challenges?
sruti@openaq.org
Nonexistant Air Quality Data
Lack of Public Awareness
Lack of Coordinated Management

26. Global Air Quality Data Assessment
sruti@openaq.org

27. sruti@openaq.org
Greater Air Pollution, Less Data

28. Countries without Any Government Data
sruti@openaq.org
1.4 billion people affected

29. Countries without Real-Time Government Data
sruti@openaq.org
2.1 billion people affected

30. “Fully Open Data” Criteria
sruti@openaq.org
● Physical Data: raw concentrations, not AQI
● Station-Level Collection with Coordinates
● Fine-Scale Temporal Information: daily or sub-daily in
real time
● Programmatic Access: API, FTP server, direct download

31. Country
Population
(in millions)**
China 1439
India 1380
Indonesia 274
Brazil 213
Russian Federation 146
Countries without Fully Open Data
sruti@openaq.org
4.4 billion people affected

32. Countries without Data
sruti@openaq.org
Country Population (in millions)
Pakistan 221
Nigeria 206
Ethiopia 115
Congo, Dem. Rep. 90
Tanzania 60
Kenya 54
Uganda 46
Algeria 44
Sudan 44
Iraq 40
Afghanistan 39
Uzbekistan 33
Angola 33
1 billion people affected

33. What’s Next: Low Cost Sensor Platform
sruti@openaq.org
● Aggregate sources beyond government-grade:
consumer, medium cost
● Make air quality data available in regions lacking data

34. What’s Next: Averaging Tool
sruti@openaq.org
Delhi
Santiago
Denver
Richard’s Bay, South
Africa (PM10)
Jan
Dec
1 day
Bangalore
1 week
● Daily, Monthly,
Yearly
● Station, City,
Country

35. We want to hear from you!
Reach out
via email: info@openaq.org
via Slack: openaq-slackin.herokuapp.com
via Twitter: @open_aq