1001 Smart Cities
🇨🇴 Bogotá

RMCAB Air Quality Network & IBOCA Alert Phases

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 1 sourced claim · 🔎 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.

1 sourced claim 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

The index bands are written into a resolution, yet a validation panel sits between the reading and the restriction. And what gets restricted is boilers and lorries, not the bus interiors where measured exposure is worst.

Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence🔬 Peer-reviewed
what does this mean?The strongest source behind this entry is an independent peer-reviewed or academic study. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run bySecretaría Distrital de Ambiente (SDA)
Scale🏙️ City-wide

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ 12 more in Bogotá · 🌫️ Air quality guide · 🌱 Environment projects

The district environment secretariat has run Bogotá's RMCAB network since 1997, today 20 automatic stations measuring PM10, PM2.5, ozone, SO2, NO2, CO, black carbon and weather, reporting hourly to a public portal and mirrored to OpenAQ. Readings feed the IBOCA index, whose five bands a joint environment-and-health resolution fixed in December 2023 — crossing into the orange band puts the city in Alert Phase 1. The threshold has legal force but not automatic force: a standing panel validates the reading first, then the secretariat issues a resolution, as it did on 25 January 2024 for the south-west, restricting solid- and liquid-fuel boilers on weekdays and barring maintenance of emission-control systems. Earlier declarations also restricted cargo vehicles. Peer-reviewed measurements inside TransMilenio buses run far above what the fixed stations record.

Live 📅 since 1997

📊 Impact

A peer-reviewed analysis of the network's first decade found only five stations held at least 50% valid PM10 data, with most gaps caused by equipment outages rather than unreliable readings. The network has since grown from 14 automatic stations to 20 (operator figure, 2026).

🎓 Lesson

A threshold can carry legal force without carrying automatic force. Bogotá writes its index bands into a resolution, but a validation panel sits between the reading and the restriction — and the restrictions reach boilers and lorries, not the bus interiors where measured exposure is worst.

🌱 EnvironmentAir qualitySensors & IoTOpen dataHealth & care

Sources

↗ Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente — RMCAB (authority)Operator page: 'veinte (20) estaciones', 'opera desde 1997', hourly collection, black carbon and meteorological variables, OpenAQ publication. Note the conflict on the start year — the Frontiers decade review below dates operation from 1998.
↗ Resolución Conjunta 2840 de 2023 — SDA & Secretaría Distrital de Salud (authority)Published 15 December 2023Establishes IBOCA and its five bands: green 0-50 and yellow 51-100 (prevention), orange 101-150 (Alert Phase 1), red 151-200 (Alert Phase 2), purple 201+ (Emergency). Issued 15 Dec 2023, in force 16 Dec 2023.
↗ Resolución 278 de 2024 — Alerta Fase 1, Zona Sur Occidente (trade press summary of the act)Published 29 January 2024A dated, real declaration triggered by IBOCA readings from RMCAB: restricts solid- and liquid-fuel boilers Mon-Sat 06:00-15:00 and bars preventive maintenance of emission-control systems. Only industrial measures are detailed here; no school or construction measures are claimed.
↗ Resolución declaratoria de Alerta Fase 1 (authority, primary text)Published 25 January 2024District publication of the declaring resolution. Earlier rounds (Resolución 0510 of 28 Mar 2019, Decreto Distrital 078 de 2020) added cargo-vehicle restrictions; those figures were only reachable via search snippets, so no tonnage or hours are asserted in the entry.
↗ A Decade of Air Quality in Bogotá — Frontiers in Environmental Science (peer-reviewed)Published 6 May 2020 archived copyCarries the impact figure: 'For PM10, only five monitoring stations have at least 50% of valid data', and 'most of the data unavailability is due to equipment outages rather than unreliable measurements'. Also describes 14 automatic stations at the time, and criticises access as 'still focused on the needs of the data owner'. Dates network operation from 1998, against the operator's 1997.
Show 3 more sourcesShow fewer
↗ Enriched spatial analysis of air pollution: Bogotá — Frontiers (peer-reviewed)Published 31 August 2022Spatial-coverage counterweight: stations near the geographic centre share the most information with each other, while outskirts stations are singular — redundancy in the centre, thinner coverage at the edges.
↗ Personal exposure in a Bus Rapid Transit System — Atmospheric Environment (peer-reviewed)Published April 2019Exposure counterweight: in-bus PM2.5 and black carbon inside TransMilenio far exceed ambient levels recorded by fixed stations, with a strong relationship between bus emission standard and in-vehicle concentration (Euro II/III roughly twice the stricter-standard buses).
↗ Datos Abiertos Bogotá — SDA air quality datasets (authority)Published 1 January 2023Licence check: the catalogue displays 'Creative Commons Attribution 4.0' for the secretariat's air-quality datasets. A named, irrevocable instrument — the same tier as Montreal and Vienna.

📅 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 1997. 7 of 8 sources carry a publication date, from April 2019 to 29 January 2024.

When the sources were published

  1. ScienceDirect (Elsevier) · researchPersonal exposure in a Bus Rapid Transit System — Atmospheric Environment (peer-reviewed)
  2. Frontiers · researchA Decade of Air Quality in Bogotá — Frontiers in Environmental Science (peer-reviewed)
  3. Frontiers · researchEnriched spatial analysis of air pollution: Bogotá — Frontiers (peer-reviewed)
  4. Datos Abiertos Bogotá · city governmentDatos Abiertos Bogotá — SDA air quality datasets (authority)
  5. Régimen Legal de Bogotá (Secretaría Jurídica Distrital) · city governmentResolución Conjunta 2840 de 2023 — SDA & Secretaría Distrital de Salud (authority)
  6. Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá · city governmentResolución declaratoria de Alerta Fase 1 (authority, primary text)
  7. Fenalco · industry associationResolución 278 de 2024 — Alerta Fase 1, Zona Sur Occidente (trade press summary of the act)

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Sources last read
  2. Entered the record

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 1 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence Passport · public beta 1 addressable claim, 8 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport 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 1

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-364a7b01665eca6d quantitative
A peer-reviewed analysis of the network's first decade found only five stations held at least 50% valid PM10 data, with most gaps caused by equipment outages rather than unreliable readings
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
No support note recorded
Caveat
The network has since grown from 14 automatic stations to 20, an operator figure from 2026.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. A Decade of Air Quality in Bogotá — Frontiers in Environmental Science (peer-reviewed)
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 2026-08-20-source-dates effective 2026-07-26 · created 2026-08-20

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

sha256:e334bbf18a04082c890e84bd91949af8476cb1db2bcc31996ba720f6f40d4253
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
1
of 1 claims mapped
8
source dossiers
6
publication dates recorded
1
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente (SDA)
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

8 source dossiers

Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente — RMCAB (authority) ambientebogota.gov.co · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-888cf1e04781b986
Publisher
Name not classified · ambientebogota.gov.co
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Operator page: 'veinte (20) estaciones', 'opera desde 1997', hourly collection, black carbon and meteorological variables, OpenAQ publication. Note the conflict on the start year — the Frontiers decade review below dates operation from 1998.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Resolución Conjunta 2840 de 2023 — SDA & Secretaría Distrital de Salud (authority) alcaldiabogota.gov.co · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-ae210ce29aedd9f0
Publisher
Name not classified · alcaldiabogota.gov.co
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2023-12-15
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Establishes IBOCA and its five bands: green 0-50 and yellow 51-100 (prevention), orange 101-150 (Alert Phase 1), red 151-200 (Alert Phase 2), purple 201+ (Emergency). Issued 15 Dec 2023, in force 16 Dec 2023.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Resolución 278 de 2024 — Alerta Fase 1, Zona Sur Occidente (trade press summary of the act) fenalco.com.co · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-8c3ce53ea3022f0e
Publisher
Name not classified · fenalco.com.co
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2024-01-29
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

A dated, real declaration triggered by IBOCA readings from RMCAB: restricts solid- and liquid-fuel boilers Mon-Sat 06:00-15:00 and bars preventive maintenance of emission-control systems. Only industrial measures are detailed here; no school or construction measures are claimed.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Resolución declaratoria de Alerta Fase 1 (authority, primary text) bogota.gov.co · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-52581cce058a0649
Publisher
Name not classified · bogota.gov.co
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2024-01-25
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

District publication of the declaring resolution. Earlier rounds (Resolución 0510 of 28 Mar 2019, Decreto Distrital 078 de 2020) added cargo-vehicle restrictions; those figures were only reachable via search snippets, so no tonnage or hours are asserted in the entry.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
A Decade of Air Quality in Bogotá — Frontiers in Environmental Science (peer-reviewed) frontiersin.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-f333a6692386d0f4
Publisher
Name not classified · frontiersin.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2020-05-06
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-05-14
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Carries the impact figure: 'For PM10, only five monitoring stations have at least 50% of valid data', and 'most of the data unavailability is due to equipment outages rather than unreliable measurements'. Also describes 14 automatic stations at the time, and criticises access as 'still focused on the needs of the data owner'. Dates network operation from 1998, against the operator's 1997.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Enriched spatial analysis of air pollution: Bogotá — Frontiers (peer-reviewed) frontiersin.org · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-99eb4c2875fd601f
Publisher
Name not classified · frontiersin.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2022-08-31
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Spatial-coverage counterweight: stations near the geographic centre share the most information with each other, while outskirts stations are singular — redundancy in the centre, thinner coverage at the edges.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Personal exposure in a Bus Rapid Transit System — Atmospheric Environment (peer-reviewed) sciencedirect.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-9c3205840619f764
Publisher
Name not classified · sciencedirect.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Exposure counterweight: in-bus PM2.5 and black carbon inside TransMilenio far exceed ambient levels recorded by fixed stations, with a strong relationship between bus emission standard and in-vehicle concentration (Euro II/III roughly twice the stricter-standard buses).

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Datos Abiertos Bogotá — SDA air quality datasets (authority) datosabiertos.bogota.gov.co · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-1b97870a5ea48624
Publisher
Name not classified · datosabiertos.bogota.gov.co
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2023-01-01
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Licence check: the catalogue displays 'Creative Commons Attribution 4.0' for the secretariat's air-quality datasets. A named, irrevocable instrument — the same tier as Montreal and Vienna.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Known limits of this passport
  • 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

🇮🇳 GRAP: Air Quality Readings as a Legal Trigger · New Delhi Delhi's AQI bands fire restrictions automatically; Bogotá's IBOCA bands have legal force but wait for a validation panel and a resolution. 🇲🇽 SIMAT Air Monitoring and the Valley of Mexico Contingency Programme · Mexico City Mexico City's 155 ppb ozone reading binds industry by itself; Bogotá's orange band binds too, but only after a panel validates the data. 🇹🇭 Bangkok PM2.5 Monitoring & Graduated Response · Bangkok Both stop short of the worst exposure: Bangkok can only ask employers; Bogotá restricts boilers and lorries, not the bus air it measures.

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). “RMCAB Air Quality Network & IBOCA Alert Phases” — Bogotá, Colombia. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/bogota-rmcab-air-quality/ (last verified 2026-07-26). Data: CC BY 4.0.

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

🚩 Report an error · 🔔 Follow changes to this entry (RSS)

✉️ Get the next source-checked smart-city project in your inbox

One short email a week: the Landmark, one Insight, the new cities. No spam, one-click unsubscribe. About the newsletter · RSS