Best Practice Guide

This factsheet provides a high-level, non-technical introduction to smart air quality monitoring.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides a more detailed, non-technical introduction to smart air quality monitoring.

This Best Practice Guide chapter positions smart air quality monitoring as a smart city activity that should be guided by smart city best practice.

This factsheet presents an overview of the OPENAIR Impact Planning Cycle, a simple, practical framework designed to assist local governments with impact planning for a smart air quality monitoring project.

This Best Practice Guide chapter introduces the OPENAIR Impact Planning Cycle, a simple, practical framework designed to assist local governments with impact planning for a smart air quality monitoring project. The Impact Planning Cycle is a planning tool that can help to maximise the impact of a project, and address the needs of an organisation and community.

This resource is a detailed guide to using the OPENAIR Impact Planning Cycle, a simple, practical framework designed to assist local governments with impact planning for a smart air quality monitoring project. The Impact Planning Cycle is a planning tool that can help to maximise the impact of a project, and address the needs of an organisation and community.

This Best Practice Guide chapter introduces stakeholder mapping and engagement as a critical early step in designing a high-impact project. It helps you to start thinking about who the project’s stakeholders might be, and how you will engage with them.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides a process for identifying and prioritising a single, focused air quality issue that can be addressed using smart low-cost air quality sensing devices.

This template supports creation of a business plan and ‘data use action statement’ as strategic foundations for a smart low-cost sensing project.

This factsheet provides a high-level introduction to air quality as a local issue.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides a detailed introduction to air quality as a local issue. It explores sources and types of air pollution, impacts of air pollution, and why local action is needed.

This Best Practice Guide chapter introduces a range of emerging applications for smart low-cost air quality sensing technologies. The focus is on the data produced, and how it can be used to create impact.

This resource presents an extended list of emerging applications for smart low-cost air quality sensing technologies. The focus is on the data produced, and how it can be used to create impact. These more detailed examples may inspire local governments that wish to address air quality issues in their communities.

This factsheet provides an overview of considerations relating to the selection and procurement of smart low-cost air quality sensing devices.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on the selection and procurement of smart low-cost air quality sensing devices. It explores critical considerations relating to the design and functionality of devices and the quality of the data they produce, supporting procurement choices that are appropriate to the needs of a project and organisation.

This factsheet provides an overview of the platforms and digital services that a local government might require to support smart air quality monitoring activities. 

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance for the selection of appropriate platforms and digital services to support smart air quality monitoring.

This Best Practice Guide chapter introduces the OPENAIR reference architecture for smart air quality monitoring. The reference architecture is a framework that identifies the various components and data flows that make up a complete technical solution for smart air quality monitoring. It is a generic reference that can help local governments to design and implement their own technical solutions.

This resource is an extended, stand-alone guide to the OPENAIR reference architecture for smart air quality monitoring. The reference architecture is a framework that identifies the various technical components of a complete air quality sensing network, and shows how devices, communications, platforms, databases, and user interfaces integrate and support the flow and management of data. It is a generic reference that can help local governments to design and implement their own technical solutions.

This resource provides a model for local governments to assess the maturity of their existing air quality monitoring data infrastructure, relative to a broader maturity scale ranging from low to high sophistication, complexity, and functionality. The model helps organisations to position themselves on a pathway to technology maturity, providing guidance on next steps at each stage in the journey.

This resource presents a new framework for categorising air quality sensing devices in an Australian context. It identifies four tiers of device types, separated in terms of functionality, and the quality and usability of their data output. It is designed to assist with the selection of devices that are appropriate to meeting the needs of a project and an intended data use case.

This template is an extended, step-by-step tool that supports the development of technical requirements for a smart air quality monitoring project. These requirements define the details of technologies (sensing devices, platforms, and services) that can meet the specific needs of a project, and are intended to support procurement decision-making.

This resource is a companion guide to the technical requirements template.

This resource presents a methodology for evaluating the performance (and corresponding data quality) of smart low-cost air quality sensors.

This Best Practice Guide chapter explores the various communications technologies that can support smart low-cost air quality sensing, and provides advice on selecting technologies that are appropriate to a project and organisation.

This factsheet provides an overview of how local government data policy can support the effective, responsible, and strategic management and sharing of data associated with air quality monitoring.

This Best Practice Guide chapter explores how local government data policy can support the effective, responsible, and strategic management and sharing of data associated with air quality monitoring. It addresses critical considerations, and provides practical advice relating to the design and development of appropriate data policy.

This factsheet introduces a high-level design approach for a smart air quality monitoring network, including key considerations for planning where and how to deploy sensing devices.

This Best Practice Guide chapter explores the high-level design of a smart air quality monitoring network. It provides general guidance for selecting where to deploy devices, what to mount them on, how to mount them, and how to support their operation.

This Best Practice Guide chapter explores the detailed design of a smart air quality monitoring network. It builds upon high-level design activities, and provides guidance for planning and documenting the details of specific device deployments.

This resource is a practical, step-by-step template for undertaking the high-level design of a smart air quality monitoring network. It covers how to identify general device deployment locations; identify suitable device mounting infrastructure; identify power supply options; develop device mounting solutions; and plan access and permissions.

This factsheet provides an overview of the concept of participatory project design, where citizens can become active co-designers of an air quality monitoring project, and may take ownership of key aspects of its delivery.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance for inclusion of participatory design approaches in a smart air quality monitoring project. Participatory design is where citizens can become active co-designers of a project, and may take ownership of key aspects of its delivery. The chapter explores the benefits of participatory design for local governments in this context, practical approaches to implementation, and common challenges that may arise.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance relating to a type of citizen science known as ‘citizen sensing’. This is where citizens play an active role in the collection of air quality data using low-cost sensors. This chapter explores the benefits of this approach, practical considerations, and common challenges.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on the calibration of smart low-cost air quality sensing devices. It discusses calibration, co-location, decision-making, and developing and following a plan.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on activating and deploying smart low-cost air quality sensing devices.

This resource provides extended guidance on activating and deploying smart low-cost air quality sensing devices. The process begins with onboarding and configuration of devices, includes testing and installation, and ends with commissioning.

This Best Practice Guide chapter introduces a framework of common problems that can arise with smart low-cost air quality sensors and the provision of useful data. It includes some practical information to help diagnose issues, fix them, and mitigate against reoccurrence.

This resource presents an extended, systematic list of problems that can arise with smart low-cost air quality sensors and the provision of useful data. It includes practical information to help diagnose, fix, and mitigate each type of issue.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on the technical operation of an air quality monitoring network as a complete IoT system (comprising multiple devices, communications systems, software/platforms, databases, and digital services). Effective operation of these systems ensures a reliable supply of air quality data, and ensures that data is stored, accessed, and used in accordance with the needs of a project and organisation.

This factsheet provides an overview of key cybersecurity considerations for local governments establishing smart low-cost sensor networks and supporting platforms and services.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on key cybersecurity considerations for local governments establishing smart low-cost sensor networks and supporting platforms and services.

This factsheet provides an overview of the process for interpreting data produced by smart low-cost air quality sensors. The process includes data correction and harmonisation, data quality control, and data analysis.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on interpreting data produced by smart low-cost air quality sensors. It outlines the three main stages of the process (data correction and harmonisation; data quality control; and data analysis), explores the relationship between data interpretation and impact creation, and supports the planning of a data interpretation strategy.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on correction and harmonisation of data produced by smart low-cost air quality sensors. It introduces several types of correction factor that may need to be applied to raw sensor data, and explores how data formatting and labelling should be harmonised with a project data schema to support effective data management and sharing.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on the quality control of data produced by smart low-cost air quality sensors. Data quality control helps to isolate trusted data that can then be used to support chosen activities. This chapter explores approaches to cleaning static data sets to prepare them for analysis, and approaches to operational verification and quality control of live data streams.

This Best Practice Guide chapter introduces common analytical approaches that can be applied to data produced by smart low-cost air quality sensors. These include statistical analysis; temporal interpolation; spatial aggregation and interpolation; complex geospatial system modelling; and AI and machine learning applications.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on data labelling for smart air quality monitoring. It provides advice on developing and implementing a project data schema (which defines all of the telemetry and metadata that will be used in a project).

This factsheet provides an overview of how to share air quality data, including how to decide which data to share, and how to ensure that data is shared appropriately and effectively.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on the sharing of air quality data. It explores the process by which a local government might assess data to determine its shareability, and presents a series of practical options for implementing data sharing.

This factsheet provides an overview of activities that can be undertaken by a local government to create impact relating to an air quality issue. It frames data as an enabler of these activities.

This Best Practice Guide chapter introduces a range of activities that can be undertaken by a local government to create impact relating to an air quality issue. Activities are categorised into four impact areas: transport; built environment; green infrastructure; and community engagement.

This resource presents a detailed compendium of activities that can be undertaken by a local government to create impact relating to an air quality issue. Activities are categorised into four impact areas: transport; built environment; green infrastructure; and community engagement.

This factsheet provides an overview of effective activities for proactive engagement with air quality data within a local government context. It provides a rationale for engagement, and high-level guidance for getting started.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on designing and delivering effective activities for engagement with air quality data within a local government context, addressing the common issue of underutilisation of data assets.

This factsheet provides an overview of approaches to community engagement with air quality data. It introduces some of the benefits to local government, and some of the more common community engagement approaches that a local government might choose to adopt.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance on engaging communities with air quality data. It explores the benefits of community data activation, provides tips on how to get started, and presents an extensive range of community engagement approaches that a local government might choose to adopt. It also considers how to mitigate against common risks associated with data release and community engagement with data.

This Best Practice Guide chapter introduces some of the key tools and strategies that can be used to communicate air quality data to stakeholders and collaborators in meaningful and useful ways. The chapter focuses on the design and functionality of user interfaces, including dashboards, data portals, and a variety of live data integrations. It also explores communication strategies, and the use of ‘data stories’ for effective engagement.

This Best Practice Guide chapter introduces the idea of a community of practice for smart air quality monitoring. By connecting with others, knowledge and insights can be shared, collaborations can be created, new funding can be accessed, and increased value and impact for communities can be leveraged. This resource provides guidance on three domains of community building: within one’s own organisation; within the local community; and at a larger scale (state/national/global).

This factsheet provides an overview of impact measurement, evaluation, and reporting for local government air quality monitoring projects.

This Best Practice Guide chapter provides guidance to assist with the measurement, evaluation, and reporting of impact created through a local government air quality monitoring project.

This Best Practice Guide chapter explores the evaluation of a local government business case for smart air quality monitoring, and outlines a high-level approach to future planning. This chapter is concerned with reviewing the success of a project relative to an original business case, and evaluating the success of the business case itself (in terms of how well it was executed, how realistic it was, and how practically achievable its aims were). It also considers how well the existing business case is suited to ongoing project activity, and offers guidance on planning a sustainable future roadmap.

This template is intended as a practical tool for local governments to evaluate and characterise the quality and usability of data produced by smart low-cost air quality sensors. The template supports a meta-analysis to establish what data has been collected; the quality and reliability of the data; how data is being shared; what associated metadata is available; and the potential uses and limitations of the data.