London News: Pigeon Air Patrol Helps Monitor London's Air Pollution
As the number of deaths caused by air pollution is on the constant rise, a flock of 10 pigeons is out on a mission to help monitor the amount of nitrogen dioxide present in the air of London, which, incidentally, has one of the most polluted atmospheres in the world. Dubbed as "Pigeon Air Patrol," the air pollution-monitoring birds carry a "birdie" backpack that contain a technology meant to monitor the extent of air pollution in the city.
Pigeon Air Patrol is an idea conceived by DigitasLBi, a marketing company. Certainly, with its intent of helping monitor air pollution, it is no bird-brain idea at all. In fact, the once-a-concept-now-a-reality project clinched Twitter's #PoweredByTweets challenge last year.
On the other hand, the technology used by Pigeon Air Patrol is a brainchild of Plume Labs. The Paris-based company released apps for both iOS and Android last year so that smartphone users can be in the know of how dangerous air pollution is in the places where they are. The technology consists of lightweight sensors secured in mesh vests that are attached to the birds' bodies.
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It goes without saying that the pigeons don't take it upon themselves to report the status of the air pollution in the area that they fly over. Rather, a person needs to tweet his specific area in London via @PigeonAir Twitter. Once location is tweeted, the user then gets a reply that informs him of the extent of air pollution in his declared location. In order to prove that the data sent to the user is valid, a live map showing the flight courses of the pigeons are shown on the Pigeon Air Patrol website.
However, Pigeon Air Patrol is not permanent and pigeons carry the technology with them for just a total of three days.
"Putting air sensors on the back of pigeons goes beyond raising awareness of this problem and helps Londoners understand the impact of pollution in an accessible, tangible and immediate way," said Plume Labs CEO Romain Lacombe.
It was reported by King's College London last year that almost 9,500 people in the English capital die every year because of reasons that can be linked with prolonged exposure to air pollution.
