Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland

Example of implementation of the Airly Intelligent Air Quality Monitoring System on the example of the city of Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland.

Background:
There are 10 state air quality monitoring stations in the Łódź Voivodeship. There is one station per 1 822 km2. In Tomaszów Mazowiecki there have not been any State Monitoring of the Environment stations before. The nearest measurement point was in Piotrków Trybunalski, 30 km away, which resulted in a lack of reliable and accurate air pollution data for that town. Because of this, the city decided to install Airly sensors and create an innovative, accurate air quality monitoring system, which in 2017 was the densest sensor network in Poland.

Project:
A network consisting of 44 devices was created in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, which monitors the current concentration of particulate matter: PM1, PM2.5, PM10 as well as temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity. The sensors were installed mostly near public institutions in strategic places of the city. Thanks to such a dense network of sensors, the area of Tomaszów Mazowiecki has been covered by direct measurement (where each sensor separately shows the actual value of air pollution) and interpolated measurement (which is obtained from direct measurements from the closest sensors). Thanks to a special algorithm and such a dense network of sensors, the CAQI index value is calculated not only in the place where the device is installed, also in their surrounding area). In addition to current air quality measurements, residents can check the air quality forecast for the next 24 hours on the Airly map and mobile application.

Project Results:
– The dense network of sensors allowed the City Guard to intervene effectively during winter periods when people burn poor quality coal and garbage in their homes. Thanks to ongoing measurements, patrols were directed to those areas of the city with the highest concentrations of particulate matter.
– On the basis of data analysis, the city council gained knowledge about the areas of the city where the repair actions should be oriented and which districts have the biggest smog problems.
– Current information about the air quality has increased the comfort of living for residents. At any time it is now possible to verify whether the conditions outside are suitable for a walk, or whether an anti-smog mask is necessary.
– Building social responsibility and public awareness. The dense network of devices made residents aware of the bad air they breathe in the winter months. Thanks to the network, every citizen can monitor their neighborhood’s air quality, watch out for each other and self-police the burning of trash.