}

Help asthmatics via satellite

2006/02/19 Lasa Oiarbide, Aitzol - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

From the neighborhood of Indautxu, Joseba runs daily the access road to the seven streets. Sometimes you access the Circular Square by the Alameda de Urquijo to cross the bridge towards the Arenal. On other occasions it crosses Autonomy Street towards Zabalburu Square, then descends through the San Francisco neighborhood. However, these tours are not chosen at random.
Europe is examined from space by ESA satellites.

Joseba has asthma and receives a daily notice on her mobile phone. This message explains the expected levels of pollution and ozone in the streets and neighborhoods of Bilbao for the next day. Thanks to this information, Joseba can choose the most suitable route for the next day or decide which medication should be taken. In fact, high levels of pollution and ozone can greatly damage respiratory diseases such as that of Joseba.

The message that has reached Joseba's mobile phone is the service of the ESA – European Space Agency. They measure pollution and ozone levels in Europe via satellite, completing this information with the traffic and pollution levels measured in the streets of Bilbao.

Science fiction? The character of the Bilbaites? Well, this service is already in force, not in Euskal Herria, but in the London district of Croydon.

ESA Promote Project

Pollution in large cities increases respiratory diseases, such as asthma.

The project they have launched in the London district of Croydon is called PROMOTE and in which various European institutions collaborate. The database contains information received by ESA satellites. These satellites measure pollution and ozone levels across Europe.

Subsequently, they receive this information in the organization PREVIA’AIR of the French Ministry of Ecology, treat it by computer and create models. It can happen that at one point in Europe there is a cloud of pollution and that a stream of wind transport to the other end of the continent. Thanks to the models they are able to see it.

The English organization YourAir values the pollution expected to come from outside the Croydon neighborhood, and complements this assessment with local pollution and ozone measurements of Croydon. Thus, they form a map of this neighborhood of about 350,000 inhabitants in which it is possible to see street reviews.

Finally, this information must be sent to the interested public, which is handled by the private company AirText. Somehow, anyone who owns a phone or computer can become a user of the service, and there are about a thousand people registered right now. The user receives a message showing the levels of pollution and ozone expected for the next day in Croydon, through the streets. You can receive the message on your mobile phone, home answering machine or email.

Asthmatic Service

January 26 announcement in Croydon.

You know. If you are asthmatic and going to London, discover that you can be calm in Croydon. To do this we just have to go to the website of the City of Croydon and register for the AirText service. And if you are asthmatic but have no intention of traveling to London, we inform you that the PROMOTE project is a pilot project and that, before or after, they intend to extend it to all Europe.

Joseba will be able to calmly choose the road from Indautxu to the Old Town without worrying if you have breathing problems. To do this, in the future you will only need to register on the website of the City of Bilbao. Maybe yes.

Published in 7K.

eu es fr en ca gl