Air pollution risk is particularly high in urban areas in or near regions of rapid development, such as Hong Kong (HK) and other cities in the Pearl River Delta (PRD). Severe regional emissions, heavy traffic, high population density and packed city morphology with deep street canyons often combine to create a shroud of pollution over HK. An earlier study by Hong Kong University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKUST and Civic Exchange noted that air pollution was associated annually with over 1,600 deaths, 64,000 hospital bed-days, 6.8 million doctor visits and HK$20 billion in medical costs in HK (Loh et al., 2008). Unfortunately, for most people in Hong Kong, when asked what they think they can do in case of a severe air pollution episode, most people are resigned to the belief that there is not much the average person can do to protect themselves against exposure to harmful air pollutants.
To protect oneself in case of a severe air pollution episode, one must have good understanding of the pollution exposure during a typical day, including where and how does one get the largest dose of harmful air pollutants. Currently, such detailed air quality and exposure information is not readily available for the public, and hence it is difficult for them to consider taking appropriate actions or modifying their activities to reduce the exposure to the harmful air pollutants.
In this talk, we shall describe the development of a Personalized Real-time Air-quality Informatics System for Exposure in Hong Kong. By leveraging the rapid development of microenvironmental sensor technologies, computer modeling, big data analytics and widespread use of GPS-enable mobile devices, this system shall provide real-time air quality information down to street-level in Hong Kong, as well as quantitative estimates of air pollutant exposure for users in Hong Kong. We envision that residents and community groups can use the system to get quantitative information about the air quality variations in their neighbourhood. Information is power. People can make their own decisions in lifestyle or daily activities (e.g., time, routes and transport modes, and the ventilation system of their homes and offices) when they understand the differences in pollutant exposure depending on the choices they make.