Outreach: AQVx and AirRater

June 5th, 2025

The Air Quality Visualisation System (AQVx)

AQVx is a web-based smoke visualisation system designed to support fire, air quality and health practitioners to make informed decisions on managing smoke.

AQVx integrates modelled data from joint Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO (AQFx), and international smoke forecasting systems with a wide range of observational data to provide the best possible range of information about current and forecast smoke movement. 

AQVx also provides researchers with a tool to assess the accuracy of smoke dispersion models. 

AQVx was originally developed for the Victorian Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning (DEWLP) as a collaboration between DEWLP, CSIRO, UTAS and the Bureau of Meteorology. The National Prototype Smoke Forecasting Project (funded by the Department of Home Affairs) has provided funding to substantially upgrade AQVx and expand its scope to the whole of Australia in 2021/22. 

Its main attributes are:

  • user-friendly and intuitive,
  • fit for purpose and optimised for stakeholder applications,
  • enabling reliable prediction of community air quality (and smoke) impacts using the most accurate data, and
  • national consistency.

AirRater 

AirRater is a free smartphone app developed in 2015 by the University of Tasmania. The app provides location-specific and near real-time air quality, pollen and temperature information, in addition to symptom tracking functionality.

AirRater experienced an upsurge in usage during the 2019/20 Black Summer, when many people were seeking trustworthy, close to real time air quality information. A survey of users after the fire shows that many people used AirRater to make decisions and take action to reduce their exposure to smoke [Campbell et al. 2020].

As part of the National Prototype Smoke Forecasting Project, AirRater will play two key roles:

1. AirRater will be the public-facing dissemination tool for AQVx. AirRater draws readings from air quality monitoring networks in all states and territories. For locations >20km from a monitoring station, AirRater uses an estimate from atmospheric modelling. From October 2021, this model will be AQFx.

2. AirRater will use crowd-sourced smoke observation and smoke-related symptom data to support AQFx validation and the AQVx visualisation system.

 

Smoke Event Over Hobart Visualised in AQVx

A smoke event on 13 February 2025 impacting Hobart, originating from fires in Northwest Tasmania, has been captured and visualised using the AQVx platform. The animation clearly shows the movement of the smoke plume as it travels across the Hobart region to northern Tasmania.

User-submitted smoke reports from the AirRater app are also displayed within AQVx, providing valuable ground-level insights that align closely with the observed plume trajectory. These community reports help validate and enrich the visual data, offering a more comprehensive picture of the smoke’s impact.