Thailand launches haze monitoring app

GovInsider takes a look inside the Thai Government’s Air4ASEAN app.

While the ASEAN haze monitoring system has come to a halt due to a lack of data, the Thai Government has built an app with up-to-date information on haze and pollution in ASEAN countries. Air4ASEAN displays air quality information measured at monitoring sites across the region. You can sort through a list of locations or view them on a map. It also provides a map of haze and fire hotspots supplied by the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre. Some pages on the app, however, only have ‘soon’ printed in big bold letters. These are the countries for which Thailand does not have data on pollution levels. So far, the app displays data for Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. Air4ASEAN is built by the Pollution Control Department, and is available for Android and iOS devices. The Thai government has built a useful service for its citizens. But without an agreement to share data across borders, neither the Thai app nor the joint haze monitoring system can go forward.