Data
Microproduct Data Guideintermediate

OpenAQ Air Quality API

Harmonized global air-quality measurements from public monitors for building multi-country pollution alerts outside a single national feed.

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At a Glance

Difficulty
Intermediate — some data preparation helps
Size
Tiny · ≤0.05 GB
Formats
JSON
Access
API
API Key
Required
Provider
OpenAQ
Updates
Near real time
Last Verified
Aug 20, 2026
Source Type
Nonprofit source
Data Terms
OpenAQ Terms of Use with upstream source licenses
  • Python syntax checked

From Source to Product Signal

Test a Product Idea in Four Steps

OpenAQ aggregates publicly available air-quality monitors into one API. Start with a handful of locations in one country. U.S. products should start from AirNow; OpenAQ is a multi-country access layer, coverage is incomplete, and callers must follow each upstream source license.

1

Check the Setup

  • Python 3.10 or newer
  • A notebook environment such as Jupyter or Google Colab
  • An OpenAQ API key saved in the OPENAQ_API_KEY environment variable
2

Access the Data

  1. 1.Register for a free OpenAQ API key and save it in the OPENAQ_API_KEY environment variable.
  2. 2.Read the Terms of Use, including upstream source-license and attribution rules.
  3. 3.Request a bounded page of locations for one ISO country code.
Open Official Source
3

Run the Python Example

Install the packages, then run the notebook cell.

python -m pip install pandas requests

import os
import pandas as pd
import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.openaq.org/v3/locations",
    headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["OPENAQ_API_KEY"]},
    params={"iso": "IN", "limit": 5, "page": 1},
    timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
locations = pd.json_normalize(response.json()["results"])
locations["retrieved_at_utc"] = pd.Timestamp.now(tz="UTC")
print(locations.head(20))
4

Test a Useful Signal

List recent monitors in one country

Test whether OpenAQ locations can power a bounded non-U.S. air-quality lookup.

  1. 01Keep location id, name, coordinates, and any license or provider fields from the page.
  2. 02Choose one location and note whether it is a government monitor or a sensor.
  3. 03Explain that U.S. products should use AirNow, that coverage is incomplete, and that source licenses still apply.

Related Datasets

Dataset Details

OpenAQ is a nonprofit source. Last verified 2026-08-20. Temporal coverage: location-dependent historical measurements through near-real-time updates.

Geography

Global

Formats

JSON

Provider

OpenAQ

Data Terms

OpenAQ Terms of Use with upstream source licenses

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