Two Google Street View cars, equipped with reference-type air quality monitors, are measuring air pollution over approximately 600 eight-hour shifts between autumn 2018 and autumn 2019. The cars use fast-response, research-grade instruments to precisely measure pollution concentrations approximately every 1-10 seconds. Pollutants measured include black carbon (BC), CO₂, NO, NO₂, O3, PM2.5 (and other PM size ranges) on a variety of London roadways. The National Physical Laboratory is responsible for regular checks of instrument performance and periodic calibrations.
The cars are collecting data from early morning to late evening, Monday to Friday – providing a representative view of on-road air pollution during these hours. The mobile monitoring routes are sampled at different times of day, days of week and time of year – with a target of achieving a minimum of approximately 15 passes of each route over the course of the study (however, traffic congestion and other factors may reduce this number).
More information can be found on the Breathe London website.