2019 ICSC Proceedings Page 1 Methodology for individual air pollution exposure estimation based on data from air pollution concentration maps, daily routes and activities Paulo Pereira (Speaker) Full Professor, University of Minho, Portugal, ppereira@civil.uminho.pt Bruno Mendes (Corresponding Author) phD Student, University of Minho, Portugal, id5264@alunos.uminho.pt Lígia Torres Silva Assistant Professor, University of Minho, Portugal, lsilva@civil.uminho.pt ABSTRACT: Air pollution epidemiological studies typically only estimate individual exposure at residence locations. However, people spend a large amount of time away from their homes during the day. Integrating mobility and time-activity data may reduce errors and improve individual air pollution exposure estimation. Using air pollution concentration maps (PM10 and NO2) data and with collecting individual data from each person using surveys (origin/destination location, travel mode used and the reasons for daily movements) it is possible to estimate individual daily exposure to air pollution , integrating all this data in a GIS platform. The methodology described in this work includes all these items and it was adopted in a Portuguese medium-sized city called Guimarães. The results of this methodology showed that there are significant variations in the values of individual exposure to air pollution, compared to the methodology that only considers residence information of the person to calculate individual exposure to air pollution. Moreover, the sociodemographic data of each individual also play an important role in estimating exposure to individual air pollution. KEY WORDS: Daily individual air pollution exposure, PM10, NO2, air pollution concentration maps, GIS. 1. INTRODUCTION Air pollution can lead to a variety of health problems, such as respiratory and cardiovascular issues, lung cancer, and even premature death and it is especially harmful to children, the elderly, people with cardiovascular or lung diseases, and people who work outdoors. To better assess the adverse health effects of air pollution on humans, it is important to estimate personal exposure more accurately [1-11]. The levels of air pollution concentrations are constantly changing over time and space, since people are in various places at the beginning of the day spending different periods of time in microenvironments (home, school, work or leisure) throughout the day. Both of these dynamic characteristics and their complex interactions should be considered in order to accurately assess personal exposure levels [12]. Traditional epidemiological studies only consider residence location information data as the sole indicator for estimating individual daily exposure to air pollution and the health risks associated with such exposure [13-17]. In this study, the authors developed a methodology to estimate daily individual air pollution exposure to PM10 and NO2 air pollutants integrating different types of data sources. The scientific toolbox adopted to develop the studies includes the air pollution dispersion model, a survey and a GIS platform. This combination was the basis for calculating daily individual air pollution exposure. The case study area of this study covers the entire municipality territory of the city of Guimarães in Portugal. Guimarães is a medium-sized city with 158124 inhabitants distributed throughout a territorial municipality area of 241.3 km². The principal air pollution sources in the municipality area are motorized traffic and 10 industrial areas with air pollution emission inventories.