31–40 of 101 posts
I have never understood how to interpret AQI in iOS. Confusingly, the UI will (edit: or at least used to?) say "Air Quality: Low" when what it means is that the pollution level is low (ie. air quality is high). Somewhat disappointing coming from Apple.
Somewhat related, Apple’s Air Quality data source (breezometer) is now owned by Google. I wonder what Apple is going to do about it. Will it be just one of their data sources or are they going to acquire their own?
Is this really an issue? I bet Apple users use gmail too.
Unlike Google as their default search engine, accessing weather or air quality API costs money. (While they probably get paid for keeping Google as their default search engine)
Interesting. This seems like the reasonable way to do it. What global scale would you pick otherwise? And would it be sensitive enough to show gradients in the least/most polluted countries and cities or would it just fill them in with one color?
I think the problem is that the colors have different meaning. The values in the screenshot for Amsterdam using the NL scale translates to 'insufficient' and while the DE scale translates to 'good' for the same city at the same time. At the very least, it means that a user cannot use these scales for inference without knowing/understanding the technology behind them. This is probably not the intention behind showing…
The German LQI has associated colors, I know for sure the American does too, and I’ll bet the Dutch in the screenshots also comes directly from the definition of the scale.
And iOS defaulting to _local_ standards is a good thing! It means people get the same information they would from watching TV or reading newspaper, which is much more useful for most people than comparing their air quality to that of a neighboring country.
Somewhat related, Apple’s Air Quality data source (breezometer) is now owned by Google. I wonder what Apple is going to do about it. Will it be just one of their data sources or are they going to acquire their own?
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sycbrdpbi
This article says they are using “machine learning” and “AI”. Makes me think it is all fake.
https://www.breezometer.com/pdfs/Ultimate-Guide-to-BreezoMet...
Their own documentation indicates the air quality measures they provide are just guesses based on their models. Page 4 basically says actually measuring particulates in the air is very costly, and so their solution is to come up with models to predict what it might be.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The colors having different meanings shouldn't come up in typical cases, because who's looking at their air quality map from two different countries? There's also a key to the upper left. It's interesting and well designed IMO. I don't think this actually causes issues for any users.
The difficulty seems to be that depending on what country you are in, the colours you are used to will have different meanings. Hopefully the german definition of good air quality isn't too overly optimistic, or someone with actual health issues might get a surprise if they are used to being ok on days with a certain "colour" when traveling.
I guess you’re proposing that the AQ meter always use the scale of your home country. Doesn’t seem unreasonable but also seems like a quibble so tiny that it could be defeated if someone more knowledgeable offered a single reason against it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difficulty seems to be that depending on what country you are in, the colours you are used to will have different meanings. Hopefully the german definition of good air quality isn't too overly optimistic, or someone with actual health issues might get a surprise if they are used to being ok on days with a certain "colour" when traveling.
Well, they said the AQ for NL was “insufficient” but the same value was “good” according to Germany. So it’s not just different colors, it’s different standards for AQ. I guess you’re proposing that the AQ meter always use the scale of your home country. Doesn’t seem unreasonable but also seems like a quibble so tiny that it could be defeated if someone more knowledgeable offered a single reason against it.
And yes, I think a simple solution would be to use the colour of your home country that you are used to. Presumably if you moved, you could just learn the standards of your new country. A consistent standard that you can rely on in your phone when on a trip to another country definitely seems more useful if you are actually relying on this iOS app. It could be a simple app pref, a little toggle switch..
Somewhat related, Apple’s Air Quality data source (breezometer) is now owned by Google. I wonder what Apple is going to do about it. Will it be just one of their data sources or are they going to acquire their own?
I am curious how reliable that air quality data is in the first place. I cannot find anything about Breezometer having invested in installing air quality meters all around the world. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sycbrdpbi This article says they are using “machine learning” and “AI”. Makes me think it is all fake. https://www.breezometer.com/pdfs/Ultimate-Guide-to-BreezoMet... Their own documentation…
Data points may come from 2 places 100 mi apart, but what if someone lives between them?
Temperature or other weather data is often an extrapolation based on official weather data collection points, and AQI data is no different.
How that data gets extrapolated varies wildly by implementation.
edit: Also a fun fact, I live 2000ft above and 50mi from the nearest forecasting center in a valley. “Weather apps” are about as accurate as throwing darts at a board up here, because the models used to extrapolate known data completely fall apart with all the variables.
Our best source of data is the “short term weather discussion” by NOAA, which just gives some generalizations based on local weather knowledge.
It's a nice to have certainly but I wish it was more consistent.
I've never ever seen air quality in iOS. Probably not available where I live. You guys at least, well, have it.