The AR mobile application DEVA created by Fraunhofer HHI as part of COMPAIR received the best poster award at GISTAM 2024.
Air pollution remains a serious health risk in Europe. With digital technologies, people can improve their awareness about the issue and take action to mitigate its negative impacts. Augmented Reality is a promising technology that offers a convenient, intuitive way of presenting air pollution data to individuals based on their location. However, despite its potential to deliver educational gains and behavior change, there is a noticeable lack of AR solutions in citizen-led air quality monitoring.
Determined to change that, COMPAIR developed DEVA. “We invented the first AR app that offers real-time visualisation of multi-source data coming from community-managed networks of air monitors and traffic sensors,” said Sylvain Renault of Fraunhoffer HHI at the award ceremony.
Sylvain Renault presenting the DEVA poster (left and middle); GISTAM 2024 best poster award certificate (right)
DEVA’s novel visualization techniques, built around the near-n-far concept, optimise the display of citizen science information in the augmented 3D space. “Using DEVA, citizens get a clearer picture of air quality in their immediate surroundings and are able to make more informed decisions when choosing a particular route to get to school, work, home etc.”, added Renault.
DEVA’s flexible architecture means that new functionalities and data sources can be added or extended based on need. Besides personal insights, DEVA results can be aggregated and integrated to inform local policies. For instance, a city may choose to connect data from other urban platforms to get a more holistic view of how residents experience urban measures (LEZ, traffic changes, school streets, speed limits etc.) in different neighbourhoods.
The poster is part of the paper titled Dynamic Exposure Visualisation of Air Quality Data with Augmented Reality.
About GISTAM: The International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management (GISTAM) celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024. Held in Angers 2-4 May, GISTAM 2024 showcased novel geospatial applications and their potential to push scientific boundaries and address societal challenges.