Case Study

Aclima is an environmental intelligence company that delivers hyperlocal air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) data to cities, public agencies, and private organizations. By combining mobile sensors, cloud computing, and advanced analytics, Aclima helps users identify pollution hotspots, assess environmental justice concerns, and design targeted mitigation strategies.

To bring this vision to life, Aclima partnered with Top Remotely to engineer a scalable, real-time environmental monitoring and analytics platform. From fleet-based sensor integration to high-volume data processing pipelines and public dashboards, Top Remotely led the development and deployment of core technical infrastructure across cloud, AI, and API integration layers.

Today, Aclima’s platform serves municipal governments, urban planners, and ESG teams—transforming fragmented environmental data into actionable intelligence that drives measurable urban sustainability outcomes.

Challenges

City governments and environmental planners struggled with:

• Relying on sparse, stationary air quality sensors with limited coverage.

• Inability to measure real-time pollution variations at the neighborhood or street level.

• Lack of data to support equitable environmental policy development.

• Difficulty engaging citizens with credible, actionable environmental insights.

Top Remotely’s first step was to build data architecture and processing logic that could handle mobile sensor fleets streaming live pollutant data at scale—something traditional fixed-station infrastructure simply couldn’t support.

Objectives

Working alongside Aclima’s data science and policy teams, Top Remotely helped convert strategic goals into technical milestones, including:

• Measure air pollution (NO₂, PM2.5, CO₂, etc.) at the hyperlocal level across urban areas.

• Enable data-driven planning for public health and infrastructure projects.

• Support environmental equity by identifying overburdened communities.

• Provide verifiable emissions baselines for ESG and climate action initiatives.

Top Remotely translated these objectives into user-ready features, real-time APIs, and visual dashboards for city-wide deployments.

Solutions

Top Remotely co-developed and launched a robust, modular platform for Aclima that included:

1. Mobile Mapping
   Integrated real-time data pipelines from vehicle-mounted sensor units. Designed fault-tolerant edge-to-cloud syncing protocols for urban environments with variable connectivity.
2. Environmental Intelligence Platform
   Built cloud-based processing workflows using Apache Spark and Python, enabling rapid transformation of raw pollutant data into actionable reports.
3. Community Exposure Mapping
   Developed equity-focused geospatial overlays using custom GIS layers and Mapbox, highlighting areas with compounded exposure risks.
4. Public Dashboards
   Designed and deployed open-access dashboards for transparency and community engagement—crafted for both desktop and mobile use.
5. APIs for Integration
   Created scalable REST APIs to support integration with city planning platforms, ESG tools, and public health databases—complete with role-based access control and encryption layers.

Deployment Process

Aclima and Top Remotely executed a phased rollout for major U.S. cities, with Top Remotely managing the end-to-end technical deployment:

1. Fleet Activation
   Partnered with municipal vehicle fleets to host mobile sensor units. Top Remotely ensured seamless data ingestion from distributed, moving edge devices.
2. Data Collection
   Engineered cloud-based ingestion pipelines with data deduplication and auto-calibration features—optimizing accuracy and uptime.
3. Cloud Processing
   Developed backend logic to support anomaly detection, real-time calibration, and historical data warehousing.
4. Policy Integration
   Delivered APIs and GIS-ready datasets to public health, environmental justice, and city zoning departments—customized to each jurisdiction’s policy needs.

Results

Aclima’s platform—backed by Top Remotely’s full-stack environmental technology engineering—delivered high-impact results:

• 100x denser air quality dataset compared to traditional fixed stations.

• 29% reduction in NO₂ exposure in school zones, achieved through data-informed planning.

• Data-driven green investments in high-pollution areas (trees, bike lanes, clean transit).

• Hyperlocal emissions baselines now used in ESG and climate reports across multiple cities.

Top Remotely ensured platform reliability, scalability, and extensibility—allowing Aclima to serve urban regions of any size with accuracy and speed.

Technology Stack

• Hardware: Custom-built mobile sensor arrays
  
• Data Processing: Apache Spark, Python (NumPy, Pandas), proprietary calibration algorithms
  
• Cloud Infrastructure: AWS (EC2, Lambda, S3)
  
• Visualization: Mapbox, D3.js, React
  
• APIs & Integration: REST APIs for GIS tools, municipal dashboards, and ESG platforms

Aclima’s mobile-first approach to environmental monitoring is revolutionizing how cities manage pollution, public health, and environmental justice. By leveraging Top Remotely’s expertise in scalable cloud architecture, geospatial analytics, and API integrations, Aclima was able to transition from pilot deployments to full urban coverage.

This case study illustrates how data science meets public service—turning street-level air quality readings into real-world policy shifts, cleaner neighborhoods, and empowered citizens. Aclima’s success proves that with the right tech partner, urban sustainability can go from aspiration to action.