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I just went to Diwali. Like last few years, this year also the issue of pollution on Diwali was in discussion. Especially the air in and around the capital Delhi became toxic. Even now, the Supreme Court is facing a tough decision on this issue. Amidst all this, there is a good news on the issue of pollution. No, not from the government or the court, but from Google! Until now 'Google Map' used to tell us where to go or how to go. Now 'Google Map' will also tell if there is a place to go or not? To exit or not? It is about the new feature of 'Google Map', which is called 'Air Quality'. 'Air Quality' Recently a new feature called 'Air Quality' has been added within 'Google Maps'. This feature will give you real time data of pollution. That is, it will tell how the air quality is. Not just around you, but anywhere across the country, the air quality can be known in just a few seconds. Also, this feature has been rolled out not only in India but in 100 countries of the world. That means the air quality of any place in 100 countries can be known. How to use this feature? Á To use this feature, first you have to update the 'Google Map' app. Á After updating the app, click on the Layers icon in the upper right corner. Á So different options for Map type, Map details will open. In that, in the section of Map details, lastly the option of Air Quality will appear, click on it. If you click like Á, the color of the map will change immediately. Most likely it will be green or purple in color. A bar will appear below which numbers 0 – 500 will be written in different colors. which shows the Air Quality Index (AQI). Á Now you click on the AQI of the place you want to know, then the name of the place, pincode, air quality index and the level of pollution will be written below. A pointer will also appear in the Á bar and show how many minutes ago the data is. What is Air Quality Index (AQI)? Air Quality Index means air quality standard. The air quality of any place is measured by Air Quality Index (AQI). To find out the AQI, different types of pollutants are observed and their amounts are measured. There is a standard procedure for this. AQI levels indicate whether air pollution is increasing or decreasing. AQI ranges from 0 to 500. The lower the AQI, the better the air and as the AQI increases, the pollution is considered increased. Air quality index is divided into different stages. Also, each stage is given a special color code. So that one can easily know and understand how clean and how polluted the air is. Different levels of AQI, its associated color and its meaning are given in the chart here. In the same way you will get AQI information within 'Google Map'. According to 'Google', AQI information will be updated every hour on 'Google Map'. How useful is this feature? Until now, one had to use a third party app or a weather website to check the air quality index of any place. Apart from this, searching on 'Google' also gives information about it. However, due to this new feature of 'Google Map', there is no need to do anything like this. Now the AQI information of any place can be obtained very easily. Without the hassle of typing or searching, you will get the AQI information of the place you click. Air pollution is increasing day by day. Leave the capital Delhi or Uttar Pradesh, if you use this feature, you will realize that air pollution has reached harmful levels in many places in Gujarat too. Amidst such a situation, it is essential to have easy access to information about pollution. On the basis of which preparations can be made to avoid it. Just as you get into the habit of washing your hands after coming out, you also have to get into the habit of checking the pollution level while going out! One more feature: Wildfires In addition to the 'Air Quality' feature within 'Google Maps', another feature has been added, which is called Wildfires. Forests around the world are on fire. Then this feature will tell that there is a fire in the forests of the world right now. You may wonder where the forest fires in India occur? You are right, there are no fires in the forests of India, but there are fires in the forests of countries like America, Australia. And it also looks like a fierce and fierce fire. So this feature is also important for them. This feature can also be used like 'Air Quality'. Within Layers where there was an 'Air Quality' option, there will be an option for Wildfires next to it. Click on it and then 'zoom out' the map. Where there is a big fire in the forest, the symbol will appear. If there is a big fire, a big symbol will appear, otherwise a small dot will appear. If you click on this symbol, you will get all the information including where the fire has started, how much area has been burnt, when it started etc. Along with this, as many areas as there is fire in the map, the area will be highlighted with red color. That's it! So what are you waiting for open 'Google Maps' and try these two new features! }
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).