A team of students from IIT Tirupati has created the AiR app to help users see the level of pollution in the air. Using Augmented Reality, users can visualize precisely how much pollution surrounds them at a given point in time. The app is super interactive and helps spread awareness about the various types of pollutants as well as their impact on our health.
This AR mobile app is based on Android phones. You can easily download it from Google Play Store. That said, it works only on devices that support AR Core. Dr. Sridhar Chimalakonda, who is the Assistant Professor from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the RISHA Lab of the institute, has led this research. Using the app, users can experience the air pollutants around them in real-time.
As shared by the institute, “We take the pollution data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and visualize various air pollutants present in the locality through GPS in the user’s surroundings. AiR also creates awareness in an interactive manner about the different pollutants, sources, and their impact on health. The app can be used to view air pollutants across 130 stations in India.”
This is a one-of-a-kind mobile application that aims to bring about awareness regarding environmental pollution so that users can then take steps to reduce the impact on the planet as well as their own health.
Dr. Chimalakonda further shares that the app collates data about pollution levels and pollutants from 130 stations across the country that are linked to CPCB. The institute also released an info-click on YouTube that helps users understand precisely how it can help in tracking pollution. The team responsible for the creation of this app also published a research paper on it with all their findings during the process of developing the app.
This is not the first mobile app that has been designed to measure air quality. Some other examples include Plume Air Report, AirVisual, Air Cognizer, and much more. However, the fact that it is based on augmented reality helps users experience their surroundings in a much more interactive, informative, engaging, and immersive manner.
