5 applications to assess the environmental situation
alexander savina
Life in a big city imposes restrictions, and one of the main ones among them, perhaps, is the ecology: the quality of water and air, as a rule, leaves much to be desired. The good news is that there are a lot of resources that can help, if not solve the problem, then at least minimize the consequences - you can, for example, not go for a run on those days when the air leaves much to be desired. We talk about five useful applications - they will not give ideally accurate data for each specific situation, but they will help to keep track of what is happening around.
Air quality
AirVisual
iOS, Android
A nice looking app that helps you track how the air quality in your city changes during the week. It is based on the Air Quality Index (AQI): in addition to a specific number, the program uses a color — green, yellow, orange, or red, depending on the situation. In addition, there is a section with a map in which you can see the situation in different cities - of course, it is incomplete (for example, there is almost no data about Africa), but it can give an overall picture. The appendix also has a section with detailed information on what may affect air pollution (although in English only), and a rating of cities for air pollution — this can be useful, for example, to those who are planning a trip.
Ultraviolet radiation
UVLens
IOS, ANDROID
We do not get tired of reminding about the importance of sun protection - even if you live in a city in central Russia and spend quite a bit of time in the sun. This is a simple application in English that will be prompted by the index of ultraviolet radiation: to use it, you don’t need to know the language - everything is clear from the interface. Of course, you can watch the UV index in a standard weather app for a smartphone, but UVLens will give additional recommendations: it will tell you how the radiation level will change during the day today and tomorrow, and if you enter data about yourself, it will explain in how many minutes you burn (though we still do not recommend going outside without a skat) and what kind of protection you need - for example, advise you to wear a hat and sunglasses and, if possible, hide in the shadows.
Noise level
Sound meter
iOS, Android
A simple, nice and clear sound meter - perhaps it will not replace the corresponding device, but it will help to assess the situation as a whole, for example, to understand how noisy you are in the office. The interface is very simple (and completely in Russian): the central red button allows you to enable and stop recording to assess the noise level, the right one - to save it to the archive, the left one - to browse the available records. The noise level is displayed in numbers, but for those who are not aware of the values, there are clear analogies like “quiet street”, “office norm” or “loud street”.
In the paid version of the application (298 rubles) it is possible to take measurements for an unlimited time (for example, to understand the average picture per day), and also to export records from the application. If you need the application, just to measure noise from time to time, without serious study, the free version is enough.
Light pollution
Light Pollution Map
iOS, Android
Light pollution is a problem that every citizen of a large (and not so) city probably understands: just remember when you last managed to see the stars at night. To monitor the situation in your city, you can use applications for amateur astronomers. This application is just one of these - it has a large map (section "The Light Pollution Map"), with which you can assess the level of pollution or, for example, find places where you can watch the stars. In addition, the application has other functions - for example, a photo of the day NASA.
You can help scientists assess the scale of the problem with the help of another application - Loss of the Night, created with the participation of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Its authors note that it’s not only the stars in the sky, but also the resources that we spend on lighting the city; To understand what is happening where you live, you need to mark for several nights whether you can see the constellations that the application offers to see.
Earthquakes
Earthquake
iOS
This application does not relate to the ecological situation in the literal sense, but helps to track a very important problem. At first, the design may not seem obvious, but everything is simple: the map shows information about all recent earthquakes in the world and the boundaries of tectonic plates, and in the side menu you can open a list of all recent incidents and filter them, for example, by continent or country. You can see all the earthquakes or only incidents of a certain magnitude, for example, five points or more. In the paid version (169 rubles), push notifications can be set up: they will report an incident nearby or earthquakes of a certain magnitude when they become known officially - for example, you can learn about all earthquakes in Russia with a magnitude above three and a half points.