Pollen Data: Best Pollen Datasets & Databases

What is Pollen Data?

Pollen is the grain which is produced by plant male flowers to aid in the fertilization process of female flowers. Because they are the sperm carrying reproductive units of most plants, each of these units has its own exclusive characteristics as per the plants they come from. Pollen data count is an important aspect of the National Allergy Bureau of the United States. Higher pollen count translates to higher cases of symptoms for people suffering from hay fever. In the US alone, close to 50 million people suffer from allergies. It is therefore important that this data provides a clear picture of pollen count in the air.

How is Pollen Data collected?

Pollen data is collected by various data providers who use advanced algorithms to carry out pollen counts from monitoring stations, available via regional geographical models and exclusive pollen emission models. Pollen data collection algorithms encompass a number of data sources and models that are combined to form a single, complete model that can cover a wider geographical information. In the US, the National Allergy Bureau (NAB) reports a 24 hour average coverage of pollen counts. The spatially distributed stations across the country are run by allergists and researchers who are tasked with collecting sample sizes and analyzing them in order to give account of pollen distribution in the air.

What are the attributes of Pollen Data?

Pollen data defines the key features of pollen count, that entails actual pollen count data (real-time figures), as well as predicted pollen forecasts. Also known as modelled counts, predicted pollen forecasting involves looking at previous years, and data researchers using these historical figures to make a prediction of future count.

What is Pollen Data used for?

Pollen is considered one of the most common causes of seasonal allergies. During this time, integrated pollen data is crucial because of the following key reasons:

• It is a critical indicator of the levels of pollen in the atmosphere. This information is particularly important to the people suffering from hay fever, as well as pharma companies which manufacture drugs to treat hay fever.
• When this information is made available, it can help notify people with hay fever when they are most likely to be exposed to risky pollen levels.
• Pollen data also reveals information concerning the pollen level heat-maps across a given geographical area. This data can play a vital role for pollen count forecast.

How can a user assess the quality of Pollen Data?

On face value, a user can assess the quality of pollen data through evaluating its continuity, repeatability and reproducibility. However, the quality of pollen data goes deeper than that. It is necessary that pollen data providers consults a number of knowledge sources. The data ought to clearly outline the biogeography of the region of interest. This is because geographical information, climate, and other related factors play an important role in highlighting the distribution of species. As such, different vegetation patterns reflect different pollen loads. Because pollen forecasting is an important attribute of pollen data, the quality of forecast can carry a lot of weight for a given pollen data dataset. This is because premature forecast can mislead the public, leading to unnecessary or even overdosage of medication for people with hay fever. Lastly, forecast expertise is another measure of quality for pollen data, which can be ascertained by checking the accuracy of the provider’s previous predictions when it comes to pollen forecasts.

Where can I buy Pollen Data?

Data providers and vendors listed on Datarade sell Pollen Data products and samples. Popular Pollen Data products and datasets available on our platform are Gspatial Historical Pollen Data by GSpatial.ai.

How can I get Pollen Data?

You can get Pollen Data via a range of delivery methods - the right one for you depends on your use case. For example, historical Pollen Data is usually available to download in bulk and delivered using an S3 bucket. On the other hand, if your use case is time-critical, you can buy real-time Pollen Data APIs, feeds and streams to download the most up-to-date intelligence.