Air Quality and Travel Choices

Bristol TransMorphics

The Problem
Poor air quality on roads in towns and cities Results in public health problems Partly due to sub - optimal travel choices Can we support travellers to make more informed decisions, improving air quality? Will better information influence travel behaviours?

Data Status
Disparate Sources
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Local Authorities DEFRA Devolved Administrations

Real time and passive Real time is online Annualised passive data online Consolidation and standardisation required

How can open data solve the problem?

Help support travel decision based on environmental quality data Other open data could also support decisions e.g. accidents (historic and real time)

What's the Solution?

Use consolidated, standardised air quality data to support travel choices on a range of platforms:
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Smartphone Sat Nav Web

Smartphone App
Possible integration of e.g AirText and WalkIt.com Targetted at people with respiratory health problems Forecast pollution and alert residents Plan low - pollution routes Subtle alerts while walking, e.g. Vibration. Calibration to user's health status

Sat Nav Feature

Select route by:
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Shortest Quickest Cleanest NOx PM10 CO2

Calculate emissions of:

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Sat Nav Feature

Simple pollution model
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Area of exceedence Time of day Real time traffic data Weather Healthier for car drivers Promoted by Local Authorities \ DEFRA

Marketing
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Sat Nav Feature

Active Route Guidance to Reduce Pollution Pilot to guide drivers to unpolluted routes in order to reduce pollution in hot - spots Could be triggered on e.g. high pollution days Careful marketing is needed to avoid negative messages, e.g. guilt, fear

Web Map API

Get directions to... Avoiding AQMA Minimising emissions of traffic pollutants

What is the technical solution?

weighting service to rank travel routes
based on aggregated air-pollution data user preferences to reduce risks e.g. avoid areas of (predicted) high pollution

web API
accessed by smartphone app, SatNav plugin etc proof-of-concept web service

first steps
data publication: standard vocabulary proof-of-concept web application user studies to road-test the idea

Sustainability
Data to be updated in sync with LA review and assessment cycle Could be extended to cover traffic noise Start with Bristol Pilot, extend UK and Europe