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IJESD 2014 Vol.5(1): 70-76 ISSN: 2010-0264
DOI: 10.7763/IJESD.2014.V5.453
DOI: 10.7763/IJESD.2014.V5.453
Citizen Assisted Environmental Pollution Measurement in Developing Cities
Md Yusuf Sarwar Uddin and Rezwana Rafiq
Abstract—Measuring pollution in a city is vital for
maintaining its living standard and healthy environment.
Pollution in land, water, and air of a city is attributed to
motorized vehicles, construction works, human and industrial
waste and so on. Measuring pollution is, however, expensive in
terms of human efforts, resources and costs. For cities in
developing countries, such as Dhaka where the authors live,
these challenges are severe because of lack of infrastructure and
financial capacity. As a functional alternative, in this paper we
propose citizen assisted pollution measurement techniques that
leverage voluntary participation of city dwellers in collecting
pollution-related data and evidence using their mobile phones
and other suitable digital gadgets. To this end, we propose
techniques for measuring three types of pollution: i)
sound/noise pollution, ii) solid waste pollution, and iii)
air/carbon emission pollution. We propose schematic system
architecture for these measurements and also put discussions on
relevant side issues, such as accuracy of these measurements,
willingness and incentives for people participation.
Index Terms—Environmental pollution, measuring pollution, mobile phones, participatory sensing.
Md Yusuf Sarwar Uddin is with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh (e-mail: yusufsarwar@cse.buet.ac.bd).
Rezwana Rafiq is with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh (e-mail: rezwana@urp.buet.ac.bd).
Index Terms—Environmental pollution, measuring pollution, mobile phones, participatory sensing.
Md Yusuf Sarwar Uddin is with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh (e-mail: yusufsarwar@cse.buet.ac.bd).
Rezwana Rafiq is with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh (e-mail: rezwana@urp.buet.ac.bd).
Cite:Md Yusuf Sarwar Uddin and Rezwana Rafiq, "Citizen Assisted Environmental Pollution Measurement in Developing Cities," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 70-76, 2014.