Interactive Cartography of Air Quality: A Method for Traffic Pollution Analysis

Abstract

This manuscript presents a study on calculating and visualizing air pollution resulting from traffic volume, a crucial aspect of environmental management. It begins with a comprehensive review of existing methodologies for estimating emissions from road traffic and models for pollutant dispersion. Next, the manuscript introduces an integration of selected algorithms of both emission and dispersion into a GIS environment. The manuscript's essential contribution is the development of advanced interactive visualizations. These visualizations are not only a means of representing data but also a crucial tool in understanding complex environmental phenomena that are changing over time. By employing principles of thematic cartography, the visualizations provide insightful, userfriendly interfaces that depict pollution levels through two-dimensional and three-dimensional visualizations. These visualizations are accessible online, enhancing their utility for a broader audience, including policymakers, researchers, and the general public (https://emissions-dp.glitch.me). The study's results offer insights into the spatial and temporal distribution of traffic-induced air pollutants. By combining calculation methods with dynamic visualizations, the manuscript provides tools allowing for a comprehensive understanding of the macro-level impact of road traffic on air quality in an area of interest.