The air outside may have reverted back to its usual levels of opacity, but at least the information about who, exactly, is responsible for emitting all the gunk Beijingers are breathing in is getting more transparent. Last week the Beijing-based Institute of Environmental and Public Affairs released a new pollution-tracking app that gives a more detailed picture of pollution sources in and around the city.
The aptly named Chinese-language ‘Pollution Map‘ app (available for both iOS and Android) provides real time emissions data from around 3,700 enterprises across the country on an hourly basis. The information is displayed on a map and pin-pointed in a color-coded system ranging from the green (‘excellent’) end of the scale to more serious levels of PM 2.5 indicated in red (‘heavily polluted’), maroon (‘seriously polluted’) and black (‘beyond the index’).