Purpose and background

Environmental monitoring today is based on fixed measurement stations containing sophisticated analytical equipment to achieve a high data quality.

However, due to the high cost for investment and maintenance only a limited number of pollutants (typ. CO, NOx, SO2, ozone, PM10, PM2.5, BTX, tVOC) are monitored at very few locations.
Furthermore, not only is the spatial resolution limited but temporal resolution is coarse, with measurements typically providing hourly values at best.
Thus, the fundamental information available on air quality (AQ) today does not meet the needs of many citizens or the requirements of advanced environmental information (EI) services and city infrastructure management.

The current status does not reflect the increasing needs for well monitored ‘smart cities’, requiring e.g. real-time traffic management, identification of clean ‘green’ areas and routes in cities, specific information for children, elderly or citizens affected by certain pollutants or allergens, temporal air quality profiles for optimisation of ventilation strategies for improved indoor air quality, and, last but not least, for educating citizens about their local environment and the impact of their everyday life habits to their quality of life.

Read the invitation and the program here