Let’s map together the odours of Europe

A pilot project involving 8 EU cities collects data on the odours at the local level

The European cities are fascinating – with their unique natural resources, attractive tourism sports and inexhaustible cultural heritage. But let us face it – developed settlements, where many people live and work have their issues, one of which is related to unpleasant smell. Many are the times that we have enjoyed a lovely day on the beaches of Barcelona only to get on the tube and be put off by the smell around us. Likewise, for literally any other inhabited place on Earth.

So, what better idea than to report and map what cities smell like and to create together a large odour map? This is what the authors of the online application OdourCollect thought. They have enabled every citizen owning a smart device to report the smells they observe at the local level. As the authors believe, their solution can be used by ordinary citizens, but also as a massive science experiment to build a collective map. Moreover, it can very well be used by local authorities, communities and other stakeholders to design together ways to protect citizens from the negative effect of annoying odours. And these can be huge, ranging from headache, stress, anxiety, lack of concentration, insomnia to respiratory problems, reads the website.

Finally, OdourCollect has the mission to empower communities using strict methodology, allowing to work with real time data. It was designed by Science for Change and developed thanks to the D-NOSES Project (Distributed Network for Odour Sensing, Empowerment and Sustainability).  The methodology is currently being tested in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, Chile, Italy, UK, Germany, Austria and Uganda.

Want to take part? Report your odours at https://odourcollect.eu/ - it only takes a minute to make the smell last forever.