English: Ostrich egg-sized air quality sensors that can be mounted to a window were provided to 17 northwest Portland residents by Intel Labs to measure CO and NO2 emissions, temperature and humidity, allowing individuals to stream real-time data to the Internet, where people can see visualizations of toxicity levels the air around them.

See more: Big Data Makes Invisible Air Pollution Visible Sensors placed in a Portland neighborhood are sharing air quality data and helping people understand real-time pollution risks.

As the mother of an asthmatic, Mary Peveto has long been concerned about air pollution, but not until she stumbled across a USA Today report did she fully understand the threat to her daughter's health. Discovering data that revealed air quality around her child's elementary school in Portland, Ore. ranked among the worst in the nation transformed her into an activist. Now, Peveto is part of an experiment that is putting technology into the hands of individual residents so they help improve air quality monitoring.

Peveto and 16 other Portlanders are participating in a research experiment led by Intel Labs that uses common, low-cost sensors to gather air quality data. Data from the sensors feeds directly to websites that analyze and present visualizations of the data that are readily understandable.