North Partners with City of Edinburgh Council for Live Data Project
North has partnered with City of Edinburgh Council to offer a bespoke approach to how the city tackles air pollution using Internet of Things (IoT) technology.
City of Edinburgh Council will use the IoT Scotland network and fully funded IoT Accelerator packs to undertake the unique live data project, which The Scotsman will report upon in their regular Sustainable Scotland pages and online.
Air quality sensors will be installed around the city to monitor pollution levels in real-time helping the Council to understand how pollution levels are changing as people return to the city following the easing of lockdown restrictions.
The project is a result of the IoT Scotland Accelerator Pack programme, where North offered Scottish Councils the opportunity to trial and evaluate IoT technology and to use data to tackle a host of real-world challenges.
IoT Scotland is the UK's largest and Scotland’s National IoT network. Funded by the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and North, the £6m IoT Scotland network provides the infrastructure for businesses and organisations to tap into smart sensor applications.
Sensors will be installed across Edinburgh in areas where the Council has limited information on air quality and will monitor factors such as nitrogen oxide levels, temperature and particulate matter sizes. The affordable, real-time nature of IoT means the Council will be provided with alerts if spikes in pollution are detected and will have access to data trends.
Gareth Barwell, Director of Operational Services at Edinburgh City Council, says the sensors will be placed in areas that the organisation does not have a wealth of air quality information for.
“What we want to do is use the sensors in the accelerator packs and put them into areas that we don’t have much data on. IoT technology makes it a lot more affordable to do this.
“The project will run over 12 months and will help us understand changes in air quality as the city recovers from Covid.
“We will also be able to understand the type of pollutants that are causing the issues, and we can then align that data with other data we hold as a council and then start to understand the cause and effect between the two.
“We hold data on building warrants, so we can overlay this data with information from the sensors to see if pollution has increased in that area.”
The Scotsman will be following the progress of the collaboration and will report on how Edinburgh’s air quality is being affected by the easing of Covid restrictions. Key insights and updates from the project will be shared on The Scotsman’s Sustainable Scotland pages in print every Thursday and covered online.
Sign up for updates on the live data project.
Date
30 September 2021