Cell phones can be good for you! Asthma sufferers in London are getting vital air quality reports via text message to their cell phones, thanks to a pilot program of the European Space Agency. The service, called YourAir, provides air quality updates on a highly localized level – down to a given intersection – so subscribers can avoid areas where the pollution is particularly bad at any given time.

This past June, a nasty cloud of ozone pollution formed over central Europe, carrying harmful air to England over a period of several days at the end of the month. Nearly 1000 asthmatics who subscribed to the YourAir service received text message alerts the day before the ozone reached their area.

The service currently covers an section of London that’s home to 330,000 people, and takes air pollution and other data from a wide variety of sources, including regional air quality forecasts (from satellites) and traffic reports.

Photo credit: European Space Agency

[via ScienceDaily 060106125617.htm]