Air quality
Air quality information is a top user need among people impacted by wildfires and residents of cities with high levels of air pollution. It’s a global health crisis - according to the WHO, 9 out of 10 people worldwide breathe air containing high levels of pollutants and 7 million deaths are caused by air pollution each year. For people with underlying health conditions, poor air quality affects their ability to go outside, attend work or school, as well as make critical decisions about evacuations during emergencies. Increased awareness is key - widely accessible and easy to understand air quality and pollution information can save many lives.
Users are searching for air quality information more than ever
New air quality experience
In 2018 a short-lived air quality product launched on Search, but it was unlaunched later that year due to quality issues. Also, the way it presented information could be somewhat misleading - it provided a single AQI reading per location, which was not an accurate representation since AQI values can change dramatically between monitoring stations even across a small area.
Air quality on Search in 2018
In 2021, the rising user interest and high life saving potential of air quality information drove the team’s decision to develop a new AQ feature on Search. I strategized with the team a new map-based UI that rather than show a single AQ reading, would provide all the readings from monitoring stations in the user or query location, so users can orient themselves in relation to the stations and compare data points across the area. We knew this would result in a more cluttered UI that takes up more significant screen real estate than a single reading, but preferred accuracy and the opportunity to drive user education about air quality behavior.
Air quality on Search in 2021
Key challenges
We prioritized trust by partnering with official government agencies whose data is the most reliable and high quality. However, authoritative sources tend to have fewer stations than private sector providers. To improve coverage, data from low-cost sensors such as PurpleAir was added as an additional information layer that can be toggled on and off, with disclaimers specifying that sensor quality is not comparable to official monitoring stations.
Another major challenge we encountered was the lack of a global standard for air quality indexes, so each local agency determines its own scale from color to terminology and health messaging. However, it is important for partners to maintain consistency across all risk communication channels so the public receives a consistent message regardless of where they are getting their information from. Therefore partner agreements required that their official colors be used in Google UIs without modification, rather than Google's Material Palette versions of the scales.
This meant there was no flexibility to adjust the colors, which posed a challenge for accessibility and dark mode. None of the partner agencies defined a dark mode palette, and when I stress tested the official scales for color vision deficiencies many colors became indistinguishable from one another. While we were unable to find a solution for dark mode, I addressed accessibility by ensuring all of the station information was also available in a list below the map, with alphabetical markers to help users connect between a station’s list item and map pin. There was a lot of information to provide for each station: name, location, AQ reading, category, health messaging and pollutant table, so I used progressive disclosure to minimize cognitive overload.
Air quality information in wildfire contexts
UXR and query analysis showed that air quality information is one of the top user needs during a wildfire. We wanted to meet users where they are and offer air quality information in context of fire information, so I designed a compact card based on the AQ box design to add to wildfire alerts. I also designed fire messaging that can be added to the AQ box, to provide context to users about poor air quality when there’s an active fire in the area.
Smoke is another major concern during wildfires as it can spread very far and wide, severely affecting air quality even in areas far from the fire. To increase helpfulness, I worked with PM and designers from Google Maps to design a smoke layer that shows when areas are affected by smoke and conveys the density of the smoke. This can provide more comprehensive and timely information during wildfires.
Air quality card in wildfire alert and smoke layer with fire messaging in the Air Quality box
Impact
The air quality launches on Search have had a significant impact, resulting in increased user engagement and expanded access to crucial environmental information. We saw an increase in query volume, improved user retention and highly positive helpfulness metrics.
In addition, the Search product led the way for other Google teams to integrate air quality information into their products and services, including Maps, Assistant, Nest, Pixel and the Google app. I co-authored with PM and eng leads guidelines on how to use and present air quality data across Google, and worked with teams’ designers on aligning visual treatments to the Search experience and ensuring a cohesive experience for users across different Google surfaces.