Monitoring Sites Visualisation: Objectives Vs Time

This is a prototype visualisation of the annual objectives for monitoring sites, designed to be explored and to inspire comment. This graph shows the trend in the selected objective at the selected subset of sites since 1993 when the LAQN started. This view is particularly good for showing if some locations are getting better or worse, and the way that all sites can be impacted by the weather conditions in a specific year, e.g look at PM10 days >50ug/m3 for the heatwave year of 2003. This visualisation starts by showing information for all sites in the LAQN but it is likely you’ll want to filter down to a smaller set. Any data recorded since the start of the previous year may be provisional and subject to change. The information is calculated twice daily, so may not reflect the latest data. You can find more information on how to use this visualisation under Controls, below the graph. There is also another visualisation showing a Peak Vs Mean graph. Many thanks to Mehdi Khoury, who created this visualisation.

Data visualistion

Location
Site type
Objective vs Time
Capture rate


Objective
Local authority

Controls

Slider

The viewed period can be reduced by using the sliders on the year bar at the bottom. Select All data capture to see progress in the current year. The solid black line across the graph represents the limit value for the selected objective, and the dots turn from green to red if the site has failed the selected objective for that year. Hover over a specific dot to get detailed information for that site on that year. Hover over line to highlight the whole trend for that site.

Graph

The solid black line across the graph represents the limit value for the selected objective, and the dots turn from green to red if the site has failed the selected objective for that year. Hover over a specific dot to get detailed information for that site on that year. Hover over line to highlight the whole trend for that site.

Local Authorities

Activating any of the four filters at the top then reduces the list of local authorities, on the right, to only include those that have at least one site matching the filtered criteria. A single local authority can be selected by clicking on it, or multiples by holding down the shift key while selecting with the mouse.

Location

This enables you to choose the geographic area you want from any combination of

  • Inner London (criteria) within 10km of Westminster
  • Outer London within the boundary of London but outside 10km of Westminster
  • Outside London (The LAQN includes sites from areas surrounding London itself)

Site type

Not all monitoring sites are in the same type of location. Some are located to directly monitor emissions from specific roads, others are located away from roads to give a background level that the wider area and population is exposed to. This filter can be used to select any combination of types. The many official classification types have been simplified into 3 groups.

  • Background (These represent levels experienced by the general population and provide a baseline to compare roads to. Includes Background and Suburban classifications. At present there are no Rural classified sites within the LAQN)
  • Roadside (Sites positioned along side busy roads. Includes Kerbside (less than 1m from kerb) and Roadside (less then 5m from kerb) classifications
  • Industrial (sites influenced by industrial activity e.g close to waste transfer sites, quarry haul routes etc)
On the graphs the dot size also shows the site type for extra clarity; Large - Industrial, medium-Roadside, small – Background.

Data Capture

This represents the amount of valid data as a percentage of the year. As well as down time for routine maintenance and calibration many other things can result in data loss; power cuts, flooding, lightening strike, and faults from general wear as a result of running sensitive equipment 24 hours a day 365 days a year often in challenging polluted roadside locations.

  • 90%+ This is what is aimed for
  • 75%+ Even if a site achieves less than 90% it can still be reported above 75% as long as the loss does not represent a specific time period, e.g if all of 3 months of winter was lost.
  • All This should be used with caution since it will also show sites where there is insufficient data for the results to be reportable. This is included to allow the progress on the current year to be seen, and to show when sites were operational.
Hovering over any individual dot on the visualisations will give additional information regarding that site for the year, including the actual data capture rate.


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