By JEFF STITT
The Allegheny County Health Department has launched a new air quality online dashboard in an effort to provide more easily digestible and understandable data for area residents and other users.
The revamped dashboard was developed by the ACHD Air Quality program staff working with the CountyStat team, a collaboration that involved more 400 hours of work.
The dashboard can be found at alleghenycounty.us/airquality.
ACHD previously had an air quality dashboard, but users are now able to select the data they wish to see displayed — choosing from fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ozone, or sulfur dioxide (SO2). By toggling between pollutants, users can see where the monitors are located from which the data is collected and an hourly graph reflecting collected data.
“The dashboard has been a very useful tool in explaining air quality to the community, but over the past few years, we have also received many questions about the posted information emphasizing to us that there were better ways to present this information,” said Jim Kelly, Deputy Director of the Health Department’s Bureau of Environmental Health. “Our team worked diligently to improve the information displayed and changed how it was presented based on the public feedback.
“The new dashboard addresses those questions and allows us to build on what’s available now so that we may continue to provide more information to the community moving forward.”
In a quick glance, users can also see the highest, most recent Air Quality Index measurement for that pollutant. As the AQI is a multi-hour value dependent on the pollutant, the new design will show the various data based on those values. For instance, PM2.5 is a 24-hour value, ozone is an eight-hour value, and SO2 is a one-hour value.
“I firmly believe in transparency and ensuring that data be presented in ways that are easy to interpret and understand,” ACHD Director Dr. Debra Bogen said. “We all want and deserve clean air. Contributing to the greater collective understanding of air quality is an integral step in the process of improving everyone’s health.”
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