The Manchester Urban Observatory (MUO) offers a unique service bringing data, sensors and expertise together to improve decision making in cities relating to air quality, urban infrastructure and wellbeing. Through partnership and big data, MUO provides an innovative new model for how Universities can create sustainable and scalable change.
We work with local authorities, private companies and NGOs to understand the impacts of schemes on traffic, mobility, health and air quality.
We deliver bespoke monitoring, data discovery, data driven analysis / forecasting / nowcasting services and expose existing data for wider use through our non-proprietary data visualisation platform, Manchester-I. This platform hosts data on the Greater Manchester area covering traffic, active travel, air quality, bioaerosols, met conditions, noise and river levels.
Our work has saved local authorities more than £60k in avoided sensor costs by discovering existing data, provided evidence for national guidelines for air purifiers in schools, as well as delivering >£250K of monitoring work with partners across UK, and establishing the first real time pollen monitoring in Europe.
Photo credit: William McCue via Unsplash
Find out more
Contact the Observatory muo@manchester.ac.uk
Watch the Urban Observatories presentation or download the slides as a PDF.