Google Maps is getting three new tools to help you visualize solar potential, air quality, and rooftop pollen. To provide more information about the environment, the tools use artificial intelligence, machine learning, environmental data and aerial imagery from Google.
In 2015, the company launched the Solar Techo Project to evaluate solar potential. Google introduced a new solar API on August 28 that maps sites to get accurate data on rooftop solar potential. According to a corporate press release, the new tool will reveal the solar potential of more than 320 million buildings in 40 countries.
Google’s Solar API was trained to extract data on the shape of roofs, trees and shade from aerial photographs, as well as weather patterns and energy expenditures. The program shows consumers potential energy savings and aims to make the solar panel installation process faster and easier.
“The Solar API is a key addition: it instantly gives us the data we need to analyze rooftops and determine how much sunlight they receive to create proposals for clients within the same workflow,” said Walid Halty, co-founder and CEO of Mona . Lee Solar, a solar installation company. “By doing this remotely and instantly, we save money and provide a better customer experience, allowing our company to grow rapidly in this space.”
In addition to the Solar API, Google launched the Air Quality API, which provides customers with detailed information about air quality. This project uses data from government monitoring stations, sensors, weather data, satellites, real-time traffic data and other sources to generate extremely comprehensive and location-specific air quality information.
The application shows the air quality index (AQI), the main pollutant, the hourly history of air quality in an area and even a breakdown of the main pollutants. According to Google, this information can help users make health-related decisions, such as identifying when it is safe to spend time outdoors and organizing a travel route with the best air quality.
Read more: Top 10 Google Maps features you should know
Pollen API, a third product released by the company, provides pollen count information for major pollen sources. To determine pollen levels and hazards, it uses land cover, climatological data, annual pollen production for different plants and other data. According to the World Health Organization, this could benefit the 400 million people worldwide who suffer from allergic rhinitis, as well as the 67 million adults in the United States who suffer from seasonal allergies.
According to Google, these new tools can help developers and companies develop sustainable solutions, as well as users reduce their environmental impact.
“Going forward, we hope to drive both short-term progress and long-term advancements.” “No company, no matter how ambitious, can solve a problem as big as climate change alone,” said Saleem Van Groenou, product manager for Google Maps Platform. “Creating technology that enables us, our customers, and people around the world to take meaningful action is one of the most powerful things we can do.” “We are excited about what the Solar API and our suite of environmental APIs can do.”
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Categories: Technology
Source: vtt.edu.vn