The AIR, or the Area's Immediate Reading, is designed by Preemptive Media and is on display at Eyebeam's exhibition space in New York City. It's a GPS-equipped handheld device that'll let you know everything you didn't want to about where you're standing — at least, if you wanted to continue breathing as you stood there.

The AIR keeps its holder updated with readings about the surrounding air quality for excess pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and ground-level ozone. It'll also communicate with other units nearby for a larger sampling and upload its findings onto a centralized database that can be viewed on Preemptive Media's website. It doesn't only raise your awareness about what's slowly killing you in the air, but functions as a digital compass and is able to give directions for where you want to go.

Check out the gallery below for more views of the AIR.

Preemptive Media, via Eyebeam