Introduction

Welcome to the OpenAQ Documentation Site. This site provides technical guidance on how to access air quality data on the OpenAQ Platform.

OpenAQ provides foundational data infrastructure. We were the first to aggregate ground-level ambient air quality data on an open-source platform, making the data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. OpenAQ provides unique value due to a combination of attributes that make these global data easily accessible, interpretable and actionable. We:
-harmonize the data into a single, uniform format so that they are easily comparable
-share the data in physical units rather than as an air quality index
-host near real-time and historical data
-share “metadata” (the data that provides the context for individual data points)
-make the data available programmatically via an API
-keep the underlying data-fetching software fully open
-provide tools for users of all abilities to access and use the data

Data on OpenAQ’s open-source platform are available for free up to certain rate limits.

OpenAQ is open-source and available on GitHub at https://github.com/openaq.

If you have any questions regarding the OpenAQ Platform, join us on OpenAQ Slack.

Learn more about OpenAQ on our website at https://openaq.org.