1001 Smart Cities
🇩🇪 Berlin

BLUME Air-Quality Monitoring Network

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 12 sourced claims · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

12 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

About 15 stations report to a central hub every five minutes, on a network that has measured the air since 1975. The readings go out under an open licence and underpin the low-emission zone.

Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence🏛️ Official
what does this mean?The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run bySenatsverwaltung Berlin
Scale🏙️ City-wide

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,216 documented projects · 🏙️ 8 more in Berlin · 🌫️ Air quality guide · 🌱 Environment projects

BLUME, Berlin's air-quality measurement network, has tracked pollutants since 1975 and today runs about 15 automatic stations measuring NO2, particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide and more. Stations report to the central hub every five minutes, feeding an hourly air-quality index and real-time public data on luftdaten.berlin.de — downloadable as CSV or via a REST API under an open licence, and complemented by passive samplers. The measurements underpin the city's clean-air plan (Luftreinhalteplan) and its low-emission zone.

Live 📅 since 1975

📊 Impact

The Senate's own evaluation of the low-emission zone's second stage, written in June 2011, used BLUME's routine readings to show traffic-related soot at the measuring stations falling 33% against 2009 and 52% against 2007, and estimated that annual PM10 would have been about 7% higher in 2010 without the zone. These are the environment department's own figures for its own measure.

🎓 Lesson

A measurement series kept running since 1975 is what let Berlin put a number on its own low-emission zone. The same department runs the network and wrote the evaluation, so the grade is a self-assessment — the long, public data series is what lets anyone else check it.

🌱 EnvironmentAir qualitySensors & IoTOpen data

Sources

↗ Berliner Luftgüte-Messnetz BLUME — Berlin.deOfficial Senate description: BLUME measuring continuously since 1975, stations send values every 5 minutes, hourly/daily values and LQI calculated, EU-standard pollutants.
↗ Active stations overview — luftdaten.berlin.deOperator real-time portal; lists ~15 active automatic stations and per-station live measurement data (NO2, NO, NOx, PM10, PM2.5, O3, CO, SO2, benzene, toluene, EBC).
↗ Luftgütemessdaten — Berlin Open DataPublished 23 May 2022Open-data listing: REST API + CSV downloads, Datenlizenz Deutschland 2.0, published by SenMVKU Abt. II (Integrativer Umweltschutz).
↗ Senatsverwaltung für Mobilität, Verkehr, Klimaschutz und Umwelt — Beschreibung des MessnetzesSenate page: Berlin's air pollution has been measured continuously by BLUME since 1975, originally focused on sulphur dioxide; stations transmit to the Brückenstraße control centre; data serve limit-value assessment, source attribution and checking whether clean-air measures work.
↗ Berlin Environmental Atlas — Long-term Development of Air Quality 2022: Statistical base and methodologyPublished 2022Environmental Atlas (2022 edition): monitoring since 1975; 17 fixed stations as of December 2022; every five minutes each station measures and transfers results to the control centre on Brückenstrasse.
Show 2 more sourcesShow fewer
↗ Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz — Ein Jahr Umweltzone Stufe 2 in Berlin (Jun 2011)Published June 2011The Senate's own evaluation of stage 2 of the low-emission zone (editorial close June 2011): routine air-quality data show traffic-related soot down 33% on 2009 and 52% on 2007; PM10 estimated about 7% higher in 2010 without the zone.
↗ luftdaten.berlin.de — Der Luftqualitätsindex LQIDescribes the air-quality index LQI as an hourly indicator, graded in six classes, with the step from class 4 to 5 marking an exceeded EU limit or information value.

📅 How old is the evidence?

Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 1975. 3 of 7 sources carry a publication date, from June 2011 to 23 May 2022.

When the sources were published

  1. Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz — Ein Jahr Umweltzone Stufe 2 in Berlin (Jun 2011)
  2. Berlin Environmental Atlas — Long-term Development of Air Quality 2022: Statistical base and methodology
  3. Land Berlin · regional governmentLuftgütemessdaten — Berlin Open Data

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Entered the record
  2. Sources last read

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 12 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence file · public beta 12 addressable claims, 7 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The file is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 12

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-ecd08c687c0fe693 quantitative
has tracked pollutants since 1975
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
'Die Luftverunreinigung Berlins wird seit 1975 durch das Berliner Luftgüte-Messnetz BLUME kontinuierlich gemessen.' The Environmental Atlas adds that monitoring started in the western half of the city.
Caveat
Until 1990 the network covered West Berlin only.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Senatsverwaltung für Mobilität, Verkehr, Klimaschutz und Umwelt — Beschreibung des Messnetzes
  2. Berlin Environmental Atlas — Long-term Development of Air Quality 2022: Statistical base and methodology
Claim 2 clm-d45c01ce1dfc1f82 quantitative
today runs about 15 automatic stations measuring NO2, particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide and more
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The operator's live overview lists 15 active stations (010 Wedding to 282 Karlshorst) and per-station components including PM10, PM2.5, NO2, NO, NOx, O3, CO, SO2, benzene, toluene and black carbon.
Caveat
The count moves: the Environmental Atlas gave 17 fixed stations in December 2022 and 16 in December 2024.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Active stations overview — luftdaten.berlin.de
Claim 3 clm-b3a55d636db7037a descriptive
Stations report to the central hub every five minutes
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
'Every five minutes, each station measures all air pollutants and transfers the results to the Control Centre on Brückenstrasse (borough of Mitte).'
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Berlin Environmental Atlas — Long-term Development of Air Quality 2022: Statistical base and methodology
Claim 4 clm-f12880161e4d8fc6 descriptive
feeding an hourly air-quality index and real-time public data on luftdaten.berlin.de
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The LQI is described as an hourly indicator ('stundenaktueller Indikator'); the Senate page says measured values are published online with hourly and daily updates.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. luftdaten.berlin.de — Der Luftqualitätsindex LQI
  2. Berliner Luftgüte-Messnetz BLUME — Berlin.de
Claim 5 clm-2a2dc56764cd4110 descriptive
downloadable as CSV or via a REST API under an open licence
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The open-data record says a REST API can be used for automated queries and data can be downloaded as CSV from luftdaten.berlin.de; licence Datenlizenz Deutschland – Namensnennung 2.0.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Luftgütemessdaten — Berlin Open Data
Claim 6 clm-f0183f0fa8d3c26a descriptive
complemented by passive samplers
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Since the mid-1990s the container network has been supplemented by small soot-and-benzene samplers (RUBIS) fixed to street lamps and by passive samplers, which do not transmit automatically.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Senatsverwaltung für Mobilität, Verkehr, Klimaschutz und Umwelt — Beschreibung des Messnetzes
Claim 7 clm-f6fdf511a5cb549a descriptive
The measurements underpin the city's clean-air plan (Luftreinhalteplan) and its low-emission zone
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The Senate page lists checking the effectiveness of clean-air measures among the network's purposes; the 2011 evaluation of the low-emission zone, introduced under the clean-air and action plan, is built on the routine measurement data.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Senatsverwaltung für Mobilität, Verkehr, Klimaschutz und Umwelt — Beschreibung des Messnetzes
  2. Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz — Ein Jahr Umweltzone Stufe 2 in Berlin (Jun 2011)
Claim 8 clm-4c38e21f9cc72fc3 quantitative
used BLUME's routine readings to show traffic-related soot at the measuring stations falling 33% against 2009 and 52% against 2007
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
'Anhand der routinemäßigen Luftgüte-Messdaten lässt sich ein Rückgang der verkehrsbedingten Rußbelastung um 33 % gegenüber 2009 und um 52 % gegenüber den Werten im Jahr 2007 nachweisen.'
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz — Ein Jahr Umweltzone Stufe 2 in Berlin (Jun 2011)
Claim 9 clm-5767689c990fb071 quantitative
estimated that annual PM10 would have been about 7% higher in 2010 without the zone
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The report estimates that, allowing for 2010's unfavourable weather, the annual mean particulate load would have been about 2 µg/m³ or 7% higher without the low-emission zone, with about ten more days over the 24-hour limit.
Caveat
This is a modelled counterfactual, not a direct measurement.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz — Ein Jahr Umweltzone Stufe 2 in Berlin (Jun 2011)
Claim 10 clm-cef9fc256d915cbd descriptive
These are the environment department's own figures for its own measure.
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The report is published by the Senate department responsible for the environment, which also introduced the zone; no independent evaluation is cited.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz — Ein Jahr Umweltzone Stufe 2 in Berlin (Jun 2011)
Claim 12 clm-312828db3e0c1038 descriptive
The same department runs the network and wrote the evaluation
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The 2011 report's publisher (Referat III D, Brückenstraße 6) is the same environment department whose BLUME control centre sits on Brückenstraße.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz — Ein Jahr Umweltzone Stufe 2 in Berlin (Jun 2011)
  2. Senatsverwaltung für Mobilität, Verkehr, Klimaschutz und Umwelt — Beschreibung des Messnetzes
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-10-05-baseline effective 2026-10-05 · created 2026-10-05

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:a21a4dcd1701662ee2bd04a7cc883608a9fcf1fb158d3740f4f3a5b344dac8f6
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
12
of 12 claims mapped
7
source dossiers
1
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
Senatsverwaltung Berlin
Actor types
city-government
Funding model
public
Funding description
Not recorded
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

7 source dossiers

Berliner Luftgüte-Messnetz BLUME — Berlin.de berlin.de · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-d628ecb208b778d8
Publisher
Name not classified · berlin.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-05
Dossier created
2026-10-05
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Official Senate description: BLUME measuring continuously since 1975, stations send values every 5 minutes, hourly/daily values and LQI calculated, EU-standard pollutants.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Active stations overview — luftdaten.berlin.de luftdaten.berlin.de · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-3cc415022331c262
Publisher
Name not classified · luftdaten.berlin.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-05
Dossier created
2026-10-05
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Operator real-time portal; lists ~15 active automatic stations and per-station live measurement data (NO2, NO, NOx, PM10, PM2.5, O3, CO, SO2, benzene, toluene, EBC).

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Luftgütemessdaten — Berlin Open Data daten.berlin.de · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-eb5ff0dadd7f5c91
Publisher
Name not classified · daten.berlin.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2022-05-23
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-05
Dossier created
2026-10-05
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Open-data listing: REST API + CSV downloads, Datenlizenz Deutschland 2.0, published by SenMVKU Abt. II (Integrativer Umweltschutz).

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Senatsverwaltung für Mobilität, Verkehr, Klimaschutz und Umwelt — Beschreibung des Messnetzes berlin.de · 5 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-40908f195daaf40e
Publisher
Name not classified · berlin.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-05
Dossier created
2026-10-05
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Senate page: Berlin's air pollution has been measured continuously by BLUME since 1975, originally focused on sulphur dioxide; stations transmit to the Brückenstraße control centre; data serve limit-value assessment, source attribution and checking whether clean-air measures work.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Berlin Environmental Atlas — Long-term Development of Air Quality 2022: Statistical base and methodology berlin.de · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-97d187f933ac135e
Publisher
Name not classified · berlin.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-05
Dossier created
2026-10-05
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Environmental Atlas (2022 edition): monitoring since 1975; 17 fixed stations as of December 2022; every five minutes each station measures and transfers results to the control centre on Brückenstrasse.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz — Ein Jahr Umweltzone Stufe 2 in Berlin (Jun 2011) berlin.de · 5 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-2bf999f5fac0d799
Publisher
Name not classified · berlin.de
Type / language
pdf · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-05
Dossier created
2026-10-05
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The Senate's own evaluation of stage 2 of the low-emission zone (editorial close June 2011): routine air-quality data show traffic-related soot down 33% on 2009 and 52% on 2007; PM10 estimated about 7% higher in 2010 without the zone.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
luftdaten.berlin.de — Der Luftqualitätsindex LQI luftdaten.berlin.de · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-f7756fb4657209ea
Publisher
Name not classified · luftdaten.berlin.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-05
Dossier created
2026-10-05
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Describes the air-quality index LQI as an hourly indicator, graded in six classes, with the step from class 4 to 5 marking an exceeded EU limit or information value.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this file
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇪🇸 Madrid Air-Quality Monitoring Network · Madrid Two official reference air networks feeding pollution protocols: Berlin's BLUME (since 1975) and Madrid's 24-station system. 🇩🇪 luftdaten.info / Sensor.Community citizen air sensors · Stuttgart Old official vs DIY citizen sensing: Berlin's BLUME network has run since 1975; Stuttgart's home-built Luftdaten kits since 2015. 🇬🇧 Breathe London Air-Quality Sensor Network · London Reference stations vs dense low-cost nodes: Berlin's 15 BLUME stations run since 1975; Breathe London hung 400+ sensors from 2021.

Explore the wider context

📟 A Reading Is Not a Decision📖 Air quality index (AQI)📖 Low-emission zone📖 Open data
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “BLUME Air-Quality Monitoring Network” — Berlin, Germany. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/berlin-blume-air-quality/ (last verified 2026-10-05). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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