Google Street View Cars Are Collecting Pollution Data

Google is deploying its worldwide fleet of Street View Cars to catalog air pollution, allowing environmental testers to evaluate pollution block by block.

Google Street View regularly sends its cars throughout cities (and more remote locales) to photograph them for the popular Google Maps feature. Earlier this summer, Street View cars in Denver were also equipped with environmental sensors as part of a pilot program to gather data on nine pollutants. 

In the fall, Google and its environmental partner, a sensor company called Aclima, are expanding the pollution mapping project to San Francisco. The goal is to eventually be able to turn this data over to governments to help them improve air quality, and help people understand when and where air quality is the worst. 

[h/t: Wired]