Sustainability Why Satnavs Could Soon Offer You The Route With The Cleanest Air Jamie Hailstone Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I write about air quality and the environment. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Sep 6, 2022, 04:09am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin A 2018 Porsche 991 Carrera T sports car driving on the narrow mountain roads of Col de Turini in . . . [+] south-east France, taken on January 15, 2018. (Photo by Rich Pearce/Total 911 Magazine/Future via Getty Images) Total 911 Magazine/Future via Getty Images Love them or loathe them, there’s no denying smart navigation systems like Google Maps play a massive part in all our lives. That winning combination of technology, sensors, and satellite tracking means everyone with a smart device can now get from A to B in the quickest time possible. And as the software that drives these systems develops, there are now a plethora of different options available. You can choose a route that avoids the main motorway, is the most scenic, or is the most fuel efficient. But what about the route with the least exposure to hazardous air quality and other pollutants? There are already a number of apps on the market, but many of them are limited to specific locations or areas. For example, Tenzing launched a clean air tracker in July 2019 for cyclists, pedestrians, and runners in London to reduce their air pollution intake during their daily exercise or commutes to work. But now the technology firm BreezoMeter has taken things to the next level and launched a new API platform Cleanest Route, which can be incorporated into smartphone apps and in-car systems in more than 100 different countries, including the USA. “Navigation technologies will typically default to the fastest route to a destination, without consideration for which route is the healthiest or the least polluted,” said Breezometer founder and CEO, Ran Korber. MORE FOR YOU Is Carbon Capture Another Fossil Fuel Industry Con? Sustainable Fashion Wants Brands To Redefine Business Growth Trouble With Predicting Future Of Transportation Is That Today Gets In The Way In order to remedy this, the company has developed a network of 54,000+ sensors and satellites from which it aggregates data up to 17 different pollutants, including those originating from traffic, dust storms and wildfires. And Cleanest Route will enable companies to provide users and consumers with navigation recommendations based on BreezoMeter’s environmental data to avoid the day-to-day impacts of poor air quality on their health and wellbeing. Korber said it will allow consumers to “take ‘road safety’ in a new direction”. Korber explained he concentrated on air quality solutions when he started the company in 2014 because according to the World Health Organization, air pollution is the biggest environmental health risk. “We want to improve the health and safety of billions of people,” he said. “According to the World Health Organization, air pollution accounts for more than 8 million deaths around the world every year. Air pollution causes and exacerbates a number of diseases, ranging from asthma to cancer, pulmonary illnesses and heart disease And, if you take pollen and other environmental hazards into account, it is going to be a much bigger number. ” Given the scale of the problem, he added it is important to reach as many people as possible and the best way to do that is through technological/software partnerships. For example, BreezoMeter hyperlocal air quality data is available the in Apple Weather App, and BreezoMeter recently announced its partnership with Volvo. “Every day more than 300 million people use our solution to make very small, but important decisions on how to avoid environmental hazards and improve the health of their loved ones,” said Korber. “In this day and age, every business solution, consumer application, and government decision needs to be both climate aware and climate resilient,” he added. Korber said that when he first founded the company and started pitching to investors, there was not much awareness about air quality and how it impacts a person’s health. But he adds it is now taking centre stage, especially when it is connected with the issue of climate change. “If you solve air pollution, you will also help to solve the climate crisis,” he said. “Most of the time, we're not able to see air pollution or smell air pollution. We can't hear pollution. We can’t touch it, but according to the World Bank, it’s a $5 trillion challenge, which impacts the health of billions of people. ” Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Check out some of my other work here . Jamie Hailstone Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.