Photo: Cowboy via TNW
E-bike maker Cowboy has released a new update for its mobile app, and this time the highlight is a feature that provides information on air quality.
In other words, the navigation feature bundled with the app is now supposed to provide customers with a new route specifically focused on avoiding air pollution, something that totally makes sense given the main target is the cycling userbase.
As per reports, the air quality data comes from Breezometer, which helps Cowboy determine the cleanest roads around, all with the purpose of providing users with more efficient routes.
While at first glance this is a feature that totally makes sense for cyclists, air quality data is something that should make its way to other navigation apps too, including Google Maps, Waze, and others, even if they are used in a car. Apple Maps too provides AQI information, only that the data only concerns the local region without actually taking air quality into account when generating a new route.
For the time being, however, the Cowboy navigation app is only available for those who previously purchased an electric bike from the Belgian company, so everyone else would just have to wait and hope other companies would integrate similar capabilities in their own applications.
According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is becoming a bigger concern all across the planet, with no less than 4.2 million people dying every year due to diseases caused by the poor quality of the air.
And unfortunately, the future certainly doesn’t look good, as WHO says most people currently live in areas where the air quality index is totally concerning. The official stats show 91 percent of the world’s population lives in regions where the official pollution limits are often exceeded, contributing to health problems like strokes, heart diseases, lung cancer, and chronic respiratory problems.
At this point, no other navigation app developer out there announced plans to integrate air pollution as a guideline used to generate routes for users worldwide.
As per reports, the air quality data comes from Breezometer, which helps Cowboy determine the cleanest roads around, all with the purpose of providing users with more efficient routes.
While at first glance this is a feature that totally makes sense for cyclists, air quality data is something that should make its way to other navigation apps too, including Google Maps, Waze, and others, even if they are used in a car. Apple Maps too provides AQI information, only that the data only concerns the local region without actually taking air quality into account when generating a new route.
For the time being, however, the Cowboy navigation app is only available for those who previously purchased an electric bike from the Belgian company, so everyone else would just have to wait and hope other companies would integrate similar capabilities in their own applications.
According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is becoming a bigger concern all across the planet, with no less than 4.2 million people dying every year due to diseases caused by the poor quality of the air.
And unfortunately, the future certainly doesn’t look good, as WHO says most people currently live in areas where the air quality index is totally concerning. The official stats show 91 percent of the world’s population lives in regions where the official pollution limits are often exceeded, contributing to health problems like strokes, heart diseases, lung cancer, and chronic respiratory problems.
At this point, no other navigation app developer out there announced plans to integrate air pollution as a guideline used to generate routes for users worldwide.
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