Safar allows you to monitor the air quality in Mumbai, Pune and Delhi in real time

System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) is showing a live display of air quality in three cities-Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. Users have to pick a city and select a location. An Automatic Weather System (AWS) installed at that location is the source of the data. An Air Quality Index, a UV Index and pollutants are shown, along with temperature, humidity and rainfall. Information about the other locations in the selected cities are also displayed, along with public interest messages to reduce pollution. [caption id=“attachment_338072” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  A comparison of air quality across locations in Mumbai.[/caption] A slideshow cycles through these various displays, and there are no controls to stop at the UV Index or the Air Quality Index. The Air Quality Index is a scale of 1 to 500 with five colour coded tiers of descriptions. These are green for good, yellow for modrate, orange for poor, red for very poor and maroon for severe. There is a slider on the landing page that shows how Indian cities compare to others in terms of pollution. Out of the cities monitored, Mumbai has the cleanest Air, followed by Pune while Delhi tends to be the most polluted. [caption id=“attachment_338073” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  A public interest message on reducing pollution.[/caption] The information can be monitored through a web browser here. There is also the Safar Air mobile app for Android and iOS. The Safar Air mobile app is slightly different from the realtime monitoring on the site. The levels of particulate matter and oxygen can be seen, and the indices shown are persistent and not interrupted by cycling graphics or public interest messages. There are options to share the information through the application on social networks. [caption id=“attachment_338074” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  The app shows the information continuously.[/caption] There are also health advisories to easily understand what the levels of any index may mean for the users. The web site also offers a pollution rose, which shows how pollution spreads from a particular source. Users can sign up for e-mail alerts in case there is a drastic change in the status. Right now there are 10 AWS locations available in each of the cities. [caption id=“attachment_338076” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  A pollution rose.[/caption] According to a report in Hindustan Times, 20 more AWS locations have been added in Mumbai. However, these locations are yet to be updated on the site. Suspended particulate matter is a major health concern in metropolitan cities. Appliances such as the Xiaomi Air Purifier 2  can help reduce the impact of pollution within a household.