What is hackAIR?
“hackAIR, developed by DRAXIS, is an open online platform that provides credible environmental information to citizens so that they can protect their health and wellbeing.“
“Specifically, hackAIR presents information about the current and forecast air pollution levels and thermal comfort, as well as the probability of forest fires for the following 3 days,” says Panagiota Syropoulou.
“Most importantly, this information is personalized, meaning that it is accompanied with recommendations on how people can be protected from potential adverse effects of environmental risks according to each user’s needs.”
Panagiota Syropoulou is is part of the team in DRAXIS working with providing environmental information to citizens - hackAIR.
How does the platform work?
Syropoulou explains that hackAIR integrates environmental data from more than 10,000 official monitoring stations and low-cost sensors all around the world and from Earth Observation (e.g. Copernicus). DRAXIS aggregates this information and applies Artificial Intelligence modelling to forecast air pollution.
“In addition, meteorological information is used in a Neural Network model to predict thermal comfort and fire risk. Data fusion techniques are applied to provide information even in areas where no sensors exist.” says Syropoulou.
Are there specific countries that the app cover more in detail than others?
“Looking at the map of hackAIR, one will see that the collected data are mainly from Europe and North America. But our team is constantly trying to feed the app with additional data sources and cover the need of people all around the world. As regards to the models we have developed, currently they are applied for Europe and North Africa due to technical limitations and, if further interest is identified, we could scale up to other areas.”
The collected data come mainly from Europe and North America. TheDraxis team is working to feed the app with additional data sources from around the world.
What do you get to know when you use the app?
“When you enter hackAIR, you can see a world map with all the different layers of environmental information - e.g. current air quality, air quality forecasts, predicted thermal comfort and probability of forest fires. You can also select the location for which you want to receive environmental information and recommendations for vulnerabe population groups, such as people with heart and lung diseases, the elderly, children, pregnant women and athletes.”
“On top of that, you can see some tips on how you can reduce your own contribution to the local air pollution levels. There is also the possibility for you to report your perception on the current outdoor air quality and on the outdoor temperature for your current location, and see other people’s perception around you.”
hackAIR is offered through a web and a mobile application, both for Android and iOs. European citizens could advice hackAIR daily to receive personalized information on their everyday activities according to the local air quality levels and the forecasts on thermal comfort and forest fires. Thus, they could protect themselves and their beloved ones from potential health impairments and be better prepared in case of potential risks.
“For more personalized information, someone can connect their own air quality low-cost sensor to hackAIR, visualize in real time the measurements and receive analytics on these measurements” says Syropoulou.
The website of hackAIR was updated in March 2022. We recommend you to have a look, and dowload the app.
hackAIR launched new webpages in March 2022. Check it out!
