Spain unveils air quality app that also offers forecasts

The tool builds upon the already available web version of the map

The Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has unveiled a new smartphone app that lets users consult the air quality in their city thanks to a real-live feed from the sensor stations of the National Air Quality Index (AQI). The aim of the tech upgrade is to provide public health awareness at one’s fingertips 24/7 so that residents can make decisions regarding their quality of life or travel plans.

The app itself builds up on the web map of the AQI, which is viewable through an internet browser.

The features of the app can be seen as an upgrade on the browser interactive map is the possibility to access forecasts on the air quality in the cities for up to two days ahead. What’s more, the app provides modelled data when measurements are not available due to technical or other issues with the sensor reporting.

Air quality categories

The air quality categories used in this new application, as well as their thresholds, are the same as those used on the current website.

The AQI defines 6 categories of air quality: good, reasonably good, fair, unfavourable, very unfavourable, and extremely unfavourable. Each station is assigned а category in terms of air quality for any of the pollutants taken into account for its estimation.

The pollutants considered in the index are: Suspended particulate matter (PM10), Suspended particulate matter (PM2.5), Tropospheric ozone (O3), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and Sulfur dioxide (SO2).

The AQI also includes health recommendations for the general population and the sensitive population and provides information on the evolution of air quality in recent months

The app can be downloaded from the common app stores for Android and iOS.