Short introduction
COMPAIR is a project for the monitoring and detection of air quality in cities and regions. To raise awareness and improve air quality, the project was initiated, with the Department of Immersive Media and Communication from the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute as a partner. The goal of the COMPAIR project is to detect air pollution at various locations using a tablet.
Description
The Department of Immersive Media and Communication from the Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institute is responsible for developing the Augmented Reality frontend for the COMPAIR project. This AR application allows users to check local air conditions and potentially change their behavior. Additionally, Fraunhofer HHI supports the design of the framework architecture and integration.
By involving the public in the research, vast amounts of data can be provided, commonly referred to as Citizen Science. In the COMPAIR research project, the Citizen Science data is used for detecting air pollution.
COMPAIR is presented in an AR app design to bring knowledge about local air quality closer to people and illustrate it. The online air maps and dashboards are equipped with easily understandable graphics to help illustrate the relationships between air quality and other local factors, such as traffic, for individual and group analyses. The app features a real-time visualization of air quality and traffic data for the first time. Augmented Reality is the suitable technology to represent large amounts of data in the most detailed manner for the user.
Use-Case
The app presents various visualization modes for the optimized representation of 3D sensor data in 3D space. An alarm is triggered when certain pollutant thresholds are reached, and detailed sensor information regarding various pollutants (CO2, NO2, BC, etc.), humidity, and temperature is provided. The app also includes detailed information from traffic sensors, such as the number of cars, trucks, or bicycles for a specific period.
The app aims to help change daily behavior while also providing data for environmental policy in urban settings.
At the Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institute, the project is demonstrated through the app. The app runs on a tablet that displays air pollution based on location.
The app is available for download as a test version in the Google Play Store.