Thought I would share one of my latest projects with you all as most of you will not be aware of this ones existence.
I had followed the progress of two groups from New York and Amsterdam concerned re the ‘air that we breath’ for the last couple of years and finally decided at the end of last year to add my local environment.
To quote one of the developers:
‘Look outside your window — have you ever wondered what the quality of the air is out there? I mean RIGHT. OUT. THERE. 12 inches from your face. If so, you are out of luck. The air quality data collected by the government is likely sampled from far, far away and then applied to you on a regional level, almost completely useless from the standpoint of trying to understand or change the local dynamics of pollution that affect you. Not good.’

So they built an air quality system and called it ‘Air Quality Egg’ as that is what they look like.
Here is the blog re the history of the Open Air Quality Sensor Network:
http://blog.xively.com/2011/12/07/you-can-help-build-an-open-air-quality-sensor-network

The setup consists of a base which plugs straight into your modem/router and a wireless sensor.  No software or drivers to install. Easy.
The wireless sensor is hanging out my window at present as the sensor needs to be plugged into a power socket. They are bigger than they look, more the size of a coconut than an egg. They can be placed out in a shed, on a window sill, hung outside or inside. I have read some use them to help children with asthma, monitoring their bedrooms.

The sensors have the capability of reading the levels of Ozone, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Volatile Organics and Air Quality Particulates ( Dust ), Temperature and Humidity depending what you purchase. You can buy the base unit and then add to it as your pocket or husband/wife allows

My data, from the base is being fed up to London every minute or so and can be found live on their Map. Click on any egg for their data. As you will see New Zealand has 4 Sensors but only 1 that is currently live. Links are at the bottom of that page if you are interested in buying, plus links to wiki help and the Google forum group.
http://airqualityegg.com/

Data feeds are provided by xively.com owned by Logmein. Here is mine.
https://xively.com/feeds/1962124815

Needless to say I wanted to go one step further and add a page to my website. One has to have a project
With the usual help from a very patient beteljuice I drew up the page and he did the coding to extract my data from the xively feeds.

I am finding it really interesting moving the sensor around the place measuring the Ozone, Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide levels around me. One thing I have proven, it is safer to shut all doors and windows and stay inside.
Needless to say our rural levels are low but it sure would be interesting to compare levels say in the middle of Auckland or Wellington City.

Here is my page, it is a work in progress as I would like to add to the dashboard with more visual info regarding the levels and the health risk. Just don’t tell beteljuice as I am going to need more coding done
If anyone is interested it has been well worth the investment so go for it.

http://wairoa.net/weather/aqeDay.htm
Links to week and month graphs are at the bottom.

Cheers

Just don’t tell beteljuice as I am going to need more coding done

Time for a sabbatical in a hermitage, or perhaps the Tigers Nest methinks ........

Hmmmm!
It has certainly piqued my interest. I'm thinking more for my Christchurch base than the country residence. Interesting that the only other one in Chch hasn't been turned on since September. Probably belongs to ECAN. Most of the pollution stuff they release is politically motivated in their crusade against log burners.
It would be good to get a group of people all over the city involved which could dispel myths with good solid hard facts over long periods of time rather than snapshots released to the media when it suits the purpose.
Any idea of the wireless frequency and range Jenny? Likely interfere with the multitude of other wireless devices in the house? Any problems with customs with the importation?
cheers
TC

Thanks Jenny.
I see the base unit is $US185. What did it cost you in $NZ landed? Generally freight from the US is pretty high.
I sent the link to Chris Crowe of ChCh earthquake fame (a fellow wine enthusiast) who lives the other side of the city to me and he's shown interest.
The unit is Arduino based. I've built a couple of switches to control my water heater from Christchurch and can also turn the PC on and off over the internet. I've a spare board or two in the junk box. From what I paid for them and the cost of a wireless shield (plain ethernet shields are a lot cheaper than the wireless variety), the $185 doesn't look bad.
I guess the base station board sets itself up a web server and the remote board writes a file similar to clientraw to it. would that be right?
I can feel the coins rattling around in my pocket!!!
TC

Just a 'bump' Jenny ...

What's happening ?

Xively don't seem to be involved anymore, the wiki seems incomplete and the map doesn't work.
I can't see you anywhere although your web page appears to be updating and there are plenty of other NZ on the wicked devices site - but I can't see anyones data ?

Yep, me too Tony
was dated 14/08/2017 & about this . . .
Purple Air    https://www.purpleair.com/?utm_source=WU&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=PWS_Owners

weather display software now supports the purple air sensor
just a FYI

Ahh ......

Sometimes being a pie-on-ear results in egg-on-face 

... so spake the beteljuice.